Perth Royal Beer Awards: Judge Jayne Lewis reveals secrets to judging Australia’s best beer

It’s a tough job, but Jayne Lewis is one of several keen beer judges putting their hand up to rate the nation’s best brews at the Royal Agricultural Society of WA’s 2026 Perth Royal Food Awards, held at Claremont Showgrounds.

Established in 2007, the Perth Royal Beer Awards category has become one of its most hotly anticipated, with judging taking place across Wednesday and Thursday this week before awards are handed out on May 1.

A beer judge for 17 years, including nine at the Perth show, Ms Lewis said there is in fact a science to rating the best brews, with each measured against a style guideline pertaining to its category.

“We score the beers against appearance, aroma, flavour and then also technical quality and style,” she told The West Australian.

While the term “snob” is often reserved for those who know their wine, beer-lovers might be surprised to learn the methods adopted to judge their favourite brews are not too dissimilar.

“It‘s the same glassware, we swirl the beer as well, we stick our nose in there. So we want to get the aroma, which I think a lot of people miss when they drink the beer,” Ms Lewis revealed.

“And then we sip, we don’t spit beer, so that’s an important differentiation. We actually swallow the beer when we’re judging it, and we’re looking at how the beer tastes and how it all fits together.”

Born in Perth and moving to Melbourne 18 years ago, Ms Lewis founded Two Birds Brewing in 2011 and now works as a consultant within the industry.

However, she still has a soft spot for WA’s fine drops.

“WA has a fantastic beer scene, and obviously was at the pioneering end of starting beer in this country and it’s still doing amazing stuff. There are a lot of awesome beers coming out of WA,” she said.

While unable to offer any scoreboard leaders from day one, the experienced judge said she has a personal preference for juicy, hazy beers, and has branched out into zero alcohol beers which now make up 45 per cent of all non-alcoholic drinks sales in Australia, and 10 per cent of beer sales.

Rating anything from crisp lagers, to juicy IPAs and experimental brews, you might be wondering — is beer judging the best job in the world?

“It definitely is. We get to sit here, and we get to drink all of these fantastic beers, and we get to talk about them all day,” she declared.

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do. It’s a lot of training. It’s a lot of really honing your palette, honing your conversational skills, building your vocabulary on talking about beer and the different kind of characters that can be in it. But yes, I can’t actually think of a better way to spend a day.”

In 2025, WA’s own Margaret River Brewing Co. claimed the top gong for its In the Pines IPA.

Completing up to 40 blind tastings on Wednesday, Ms Lewis will discuss her ratings with her broader team following Thursday’s judging before crowning a Champion Beer from a shortlist of 18-20.

With a nose for the finest brews, she offered advice to those keen to enhance their own credentials: “Smell your beer.”

“Don’t miss that opportunity to, once you’ve had enough of a drink, to be able to get your nose into it, don’t miss that aroma, because it’s such a big part of it.”