It's well-known that craft beer sales in New Zealand are booming - what's less obvious is exactly what makes a good brew.
Nineteen elite beer experts have converged on Wellington hoping to provide the answer.
Two days, 2500 glasses, filled with 520 different beers and ciders - those are the numbers that make up the 2017 New World Beer and Cider Awards.
It's a lot of sniffing and sipping, so what makes one beer hop to a medal?
Beer writer and chair of judges Michael Donaldson says a good beer is "what actually tastes great and you'd like to drink more of. That's the sole criteria for an award-winner."
The judges are looking for things like smell, taste and mouth-feel.
"The key to me is about balance," Mr Donaldson says.
Fellow judge Tracy Banner says a bad beer "will jump out the glass at you".
The judges' senses are so acute no one at the awards can wear aftershave, or eat garlic or chili the night before - in case it comes out of their pores and throws the judges off.
"If you've sat next to people with a strong cologne on, or they've had the clothes on from the previous day and they've had cologne on it, then you can pick it up and it can actually throw the aroma," says Ms Banner, who's also head brewer at the Sprig and Fern Brewery in Nelson.
It's also shrouded in secrecy - the judges don't know what the beers are, to keep impartiality and to avoid insulting someone who may have brewed it sitting at the next table. If it sounds a bit serious, it is.
"It's an important part of society. It's a thing that makes people happy. They enjoy it, it's a brilliant thing," says Mr Donaldson.
It sounds like the best job in the world - but how do you become a beer judge?
"It really helps if you know your beer styles and have been in the brewing industry a while," says Ms Banner.
Unless you count occasional homebrews with friends or my dad, I'm not in the industry. So, with Mr Donaldson at my side, I was tested to see if I had what it took to be a beer and cider judge.
It was a resounding failure. But at least I got some free beer at work.
As for what's won what - all is kept secret until April.
Newshub.
