IT'S not just in Rio de Janeiro where they're handing out medals: Mourne Mountains Brewery has been topping the podium recently at the Great Taste Awards.
Their red IPA 'Red Trail' carried off a two-star Great Taste Award, impressing over 500 judges from across the food and drink industry in a blind taste test.
It's a resounding endorsement for a brewery started by Warrenpoint man Connaire McGreevey, which only flung its doors open a year ago.
McGreevey and head brewer Tom Ray decided early on a slightly more innovative take on beer styles which are familiar to Irish palates, hence the birth of the red IPA, borrowing the well-known aspects of an Irish red ale with the hoppy, dry finish of an IPA.
So, I took a spin down to the where the magic happens in south Down for a chat with Tom and Conor O'Hare, interrupting a pretty intense bottling session in the process (I did liberate a freshly bottled Mourne Mist pilsner later that evening, to be fair).
Tom explained the thinking behind the now award-winning Red Trail: "We were talking about doing a big, hoppy IPA and we started talking about where could we take IPA, what could we do differently with IPA to stand out, to offer something a bit different.
"So we said what about a red IPA, let's add a bit of roasted barley into the grist.
"It's still a very hoppy beer, there's still American hops in there, there's New Zealand hops in there. It's quite assertively bitter.
"There's a nice gentle hop aroma from it, quite a resinous, piney hop aroma, but you've got this roasted barley in there giving this sweet background."
As we talk, Tom has three or four whiskey barrels nestling in his cold room containing a vanilla and whiskey stout which should be seeing the light of day in the coming weeks.
Conor also let's me know he's working on a seasonal offering for Christmas which is a beery twist on an old after-dinner family favourite.
I'm already working up a thirst.
