As well as taking out a top prize in this year's Port Macquarie Business Awards, the Brewery has been awarded a gold medal at the recent Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show.

Black Duck Brewery's top performer, the Phoenix Migration Stout scored 90.33 out of 100 and took gold medal honours in an exemplary field that included over 39 exhibitors from across Australia.

Al Owen is understandably thrilled with the announcement and clearly proud of the winning stout.

"It's our first gold and it's very exciting," said Mr Owen.

"Last year's grand champion was a stout so I was fairly confident ours would be well received.

"We use three different dark roast malts including a pale chocolate malt that gives it its sweetness with chocolate and coffee flavours," he said.

The Phoenix refers to the hops used that give a lingering aniseed aftertaste and adds to the complexity of the beer.

The 'dangerously' drinkable Export Stout has earned the local business gold medal notoriety and hopefully more visitors to the brewery.

"We did receive a bronze last year for our Heron's Craic, Irish Red Ale but this is fantastic news that will certainly raise our profile," said Mr?Owen.

"The results are broadcast across the industry and will hopefully draw people to the brewery to try it and the other beers and ciders we have and bring visitors to our area".

Sydney Royal is the brand name for the competitive events that the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW organises every year.

An impressive line-up of judges took on the arduous task of tasting their way through a variety of Golden Lagers, Dark Lagers, Pale and Golden Ales, Amber and Dark Ales, Stouts and Porters, Wheat Beers, Strong Beers, Reduced Alcohol Beer, Cider, Perry and Speciality Beer.

Respected industry expert and well-known author, Neal Cameron took the reins as Chair of Judges, leading an experienced panel that consisted of Tina Panoutsos, Sensory Manager at Carlton United Breweries, Ian Kingham, Category Lead Beer at Woolworths Liquor Group, Shawn Sherlock, Head Brewer at Murray's Craft Brewing Company and Karina Dambergs from Dickens Cider and Cider Australia.

Mr Cameron said they had enlisted the support of some of the country's most respected and experienced judges for the 2014 Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show.

"When producers enter their products in the Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show, they can be assured that they are being assessed by some of Australia's most experienced judges. Sydney Royal always sets the highest standards with its competitions and this year will be no different," Mr Cameron said.

"What makes winning a Sydney Royal medal even more special is the opportunity for producers to brand their product with a prestigious Gold, Silver or Bronze medal.

"This is a true mark of excellence and something beer and cider lovers can look for when making their in-store purchase, "Mr Cameron said.

With such a huge turnover of product in a ever growing industry, it is easy to lose focus on product improvement and a reason why Al is a regular at the show.

"We enter each year obviously for industry relevance and really as a way of benchmarking our beers and ciders", said Al.

"It's just reassuring to know they're performing well in the company of others".

A sentiment echoed by Neal Cameron who was deeply impressed with the quality of brews, saying it was a sign of the continued drive for excellence in the Australian industry.

"The highlight of the competition was the superb quality of beers presented by the Australian brewing industry.

"With the largest number of entries in the history of the competition, the judges found an unprecedented seven Gold and 40 Silver medals amongst the entries," Mr Cameron said.

Hopefully (our news) is a big enough incentive for people come on over and try the beer for themselves," said MrOwen.