Bright Brewery has won the Gold Award for Tourism Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries at the RACV Victorian Tourism Awards 2018 for the second year running.

Laura Gray, Marthijs Heuperman, Scott Brandon and Sarah Higman receive Bright Brewery’s Gold Award for Tourism Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries at the 2018 RACV Victorian Tourism Awards from Visit Victoria CEO Peter Bingeman.

Bright Brewery was last night announced as the Gold Award winner for Tourism Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries at the 2018 RACV Victorian Tourism Awards, backing up its 2017 win in the same category.

The awards, which were held at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium on November 22, are Victoria’s highest honour for tourism businesses around the state.

Bright Brewery Founder Scott Brandon said he was thrilled with the Gold Award, which recognises the hard work and dedication of the Bright Brewery team, and its commitment to bringing his vision to life.

“We are immensely proud to have won this award again in 2018, and we were chuffed to be in such excellent company, competing for our award against some truly great Victorian businesses such as Domain Chandon (Silver), The Shiraz Republic (Bronze) and Sedona Estate (Finalist),” Mr Brandon said.

“At Bright Brewery, we are driven by three values: to be active – in both the physical lifestyle which is so synonymous with mountain life and also active in our community; to be sustainable – both as a business and in the way we tread on the environment; and to be authentic – we do what we say we’re going to do. Bright Brewery was founded on these values and we live them every day.

“I am immensely proud of all of our staff, and this award is for every one of them. It would not have happened without them.”

Mr Brandon also paid tribute to Bright and the surrounding communities, which work together to make Victoria’s Alpine region a magnet for visitors.

“We live in a spectacularly unique part of the world and we love to share the delights of our region with visitors,” he said. “So we were especially thrilled to see our friends at Falls Creek Alpine Resort take home Gold in their category (Major Tourist Attraction).

“Bright Brewery is passionate about making our region an even better place to live, work and play, through supporting local businesses, events and clubs. Our region is the best place to visit in Australia and we want everyone to experience a slice of what we enjoy every day.”

Bright Brewery has a long association with the Awards, being named a finalist in 2011 and taking home Silver Awards in 2015 and 2016 before taking top honours in 2017 and 2018.

“The Awards are very important to us as a business,” Mr Brandon said. “And we appreciate the experience and expertise of the judges, mentors and whole VTIC team in helping to grow not only our business, but the entire Victorian tourism industry.

“We look forward to defending our title again next year as we strive for Hall of Fame status by winning three Gold Awards in a row.”