Brewing Report

Santa Barbara Pro Brewers Kicking A**! Well Done!

Glenn — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:42:48 +0000

from left: Island Brewing’s Shaun Crowley, Paul Wright, and Ryan Morrill.

Santa Barbara Brewers Best in World

Firestone Walker, Telegraph, and Island Brewing Companies Claim Golds and More at World Beer Cup

Santa Barbara County vintners better watch out because the region’s brewers are rising to the top of the global ale-crafting crop. Every two years, the Brewers Association hosts the World Beer Cup to recognize the planet’s best beer-makers, and this year’s showdown on May 5 in San Diego featured nearly 4,000 beers in 95 categories from 799 brewers.

When the suds settled, Carpinteria’s Island Brewing Company, Santa Barbara’s Telegraph Brewing Company, and Paso Robles’ Firestone Walker Brewing Company (which was founded in Buellton) emerged with an impressive list of gold medals and other awards. Firestone Walker, in fact, won the title of best midsize brewery for an unprecedented fourth time in a row. Said Brewers Association president Charlie Papazian, who founded the event in 1996, “A brewer who wins a World Beer Cup gold award knows that their winning beer represents the best of that beer style in the world.”

Here’s the rundown:

Island: Gold Medal for Starry Night Stout in Foreign-Style Stout category. Said owner Paul Wright, ”Our goal has always been to brew the best beers we can for our community, and to have this kind of international recognition for what we do everyday in our little beach town is humbling.” (5049 6th St., Carpinteria; [805] 745-8272; islandbrewingcompany.com)

Telegraph: Gold Medal for Petit Obscura in Experimental Beer category. Bronze Medal for Rhinoceros rye wine ale in Other Belgian-Style Ale Category. Said head brewer Scott Baer, “It’s daunting to put our beers up against the best in the world, but then to walk away with both a gold medal and a bronze medal is validation that we’re doing a lot of things right.” (416 N. Salsipuedes St., S.B.; [805] 963-5018; telegraphbrewing.com)

Firestone Walker: Champion Brewery and Brewmaster (Matt Brynildson) for Mid-Size Brewing Company; Gold Medal for Pale 31 and Silver Medal for Mission Street Pale in American-Style Pale Ale category; Gold Medal for 805 IPA in International-Style Pale Ale category. Said co-owner David Walker, “We are proud to be a part of the American craft beer revolution.” (620 McMurray Road, Buellton; [805] 225-5911; firestonebeer.com)

Good Stort on Miami Homebrewers!

Glenn — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:39:35 +0000

Misfit Home-Brewers Help Lead Miami’s Craft Beer Invasion

Neftali “Nifty” Medina opens the door to a spare bedroom, which he calls the “man cave,” in his modest Southwest Dade house. The skinny, goateed 30-year-old squeezes between standing guitars and a drum set and then walks over to a large freezer fitted with a tap and thermostat. He flips open the lid and grabs two five-gallon kegs, one in each hand. He turns and gives them to his stout and brawny friend, Robert Tejon, who carries them outside to the back yard in preparation for a weekend barbecue.

There’s Buddha’s Sweat American Stout, Kiwi IPA, Pineapple Xpress, Wheat Pale Ale, Wheat-R-Melon IPA, and Bust a Nut Peanut Butter Porter.

Medina, Tejon, and eight other friends made the stuff themselves. They are all members of the five-year-old club Misfit Home-Brewers, a local pioneer on the do-it-yourself brewing scene.

“We experiment with a lot of things — barrel-aging, additives, fruit, peanut butter, chocolate — and it doesn’t end up costing us thousands of dollars,” the 29-year-old Tejon says. “If we want to add some fruit, we just go out and spend $15 and buy like ten pounds. That’s what sets us apart from a lot of microbreweries. We get to use a lot more exotic ingredients.”

The Misfits are just a small part of South Florida’s renaissance of craft beer, which is celebrating American Craft Brew Week, May 14 through 20. Last month, the area got its first brewery in decades when Schnebly Redland’s Winery & Brewery completed a home-built brewing setup. Florida International University is preparing to build a research microbrewery for its Chaplin School of Hospitality students in January 2013. CerveTech, a place where people gather to brew smaller batches of beer, took off just a few months ago.

And dozens of restaurants and bars have begun stocking exotic suds that until recently were available only in California and New England. There’s even a relatively new, tiny store just off Galloway Road that sells all the fixings, so homebrewers don’t have to get all of their supplies over the Internet. “We have veterans and rookies,” Tejon says. “Everybody is connected by the fact that they brew their own beer.”

Nationally, craft brew retail sales have grown by about 15 percent in the past two years as sales of conventional beer have fallen slightly, according to the Brewers Association, a trade group. That continues a trend that began years ago in colder parts of the country, where big brewers have cut back and little guys have picked up business.

For decades, Miami was left out of the craft brew trend. Hot weather, a leaning toward hard alcohol, and easy access to inexpensive, high-quality Latin beers put the city behind the curve.

Or at least that was the case when Medina, Tejon, and company started the Misfits. That was in August 2011. Their hip-hop/rock fusion band, Nature’s Fury, was jamming out during a Coconut Grove tattoo festival when they were shut down for playing too loudly. Pissed off, they took a short walk to Big Daddy’s Liquors and combined their cash to snag a six-pack of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale, a craft beer from Chico, California. “We took them back like Coronas,” Medina says. “We were drunk for hours!”

Tejon purchased a small beginner’s do-it-yourself homebrewing kit and made a five-gallon batch of what turned out to be a high-gravity Belgian pale ale. He thought it sucked. It was heavily carbonated and smelled funny, but his buddies enjoyed the high alcohol content. Within two months, Medina and Tejon had formed a homebrewing club called Nifert’s Strong Ales — an amalgamation of their first names, Nifty and Robert.

Soon Tejon and Medina were hosting parties and barbecues with their homebrew. It made such an impression on their friends George Garcia (who would learn to make kiwi and peanut butter beer) and Piero Rodriguez that they wanted in on the action. Others followed. Five years later, Misfit Home-Brewers club was born.

For Tejon, who customizes trucks as a day job, everything came together after he did more research into homebrewing. It took him about a year to produce what he considered a great batch of pale ale. “Once I started using good ingredients,” Tejon says, “it all got better.”

Five years and more than $10,000 later, the Misfits have begun showing up at craft beer festivals across Florida. Now they are hooked on using local tropical fruits to produce Berliner Weisse beer, a sour wheat brew originally from northern Germany with an alcohol content of about 3 percent. “The main reason why we make beer is because we make stuff you can’t find,” Medina says. “That’s why people like our stuff.”

Miami retailers are ordering more craft beer too. In the past two years, Kendall liquor store Sunset Corners has seen a 30 percent increase in craft beer sales. The shop now stocks more than 300 varieties, including rarities such as Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA and Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale, which can be aged in the bottle.

“We’ve gone from putting them all in boxes up front to putting them in one aisle and building shelves,” assistant manager John A. McGriff says. “That gives you an idea of how craft beer has taken off — when we have to make space in our store for them.”

Now Sunset Corners receives Bigfoot Ale — the brew that Medina and Tejon’s band drank that day in the Grove — by the pallet. “People have no qualms about paying $100 for a case of craft beer,” McGriff says.

Tejon the Misfit doesn’t spend that kind of money, though. “I’m very picky,” he says. “That’s kind of the reason why I brew my own.”

Very Cool Idea! Would You Sign Up?

Glenn — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:34:45 +0000

CerveTech Offers a New Take on Homebrewing

Enter a nondescript warehouse near the junction of the Palmetto Expressway and Bird Road in Miami and you’ll smell something like supercharged cream of wheat. Move in a few steps and you’ll find Nick Armada, a 31-year-old man of average stature with salt-and-pepper hair, stirring a kettle of grain mash ever so diligently.

“When you’re not paying attention, you’ll get a boil-over easy,” he says. “You get a boil-over and you lose two gallons right off the bat.”

Mixing and mashing the wackiest flavor combinations is all part of homebrewing. And Armada’s business, CerveTech, is the eye of the new beer brewing storm that’s overtaking South Florida (read more on all the new local beers here). His
Brown Spice took the Best Florida Brew award at the New Times Beerfest this year, another step in his effort to convert regular folks to the sophisticated art of handcrafting small batches of beer.
Opened by Armada this past September, CerveTech is a place where, for a small fee, folks can learn how to boil wort, add yeast, bottle, and wait — in just the right proportions. After helping found B.R.E.W. FIU — a club at Florida International University’s North Campus for people interested in beer — Armada wanted to spread his expertise further.

Membership, which starts at $25 per month, allows access to the warehouse on 74th Court and use of all the brewing equipment: kettles, fermenting jars, taps, propane burners, kegerators, and a freezer. For $25 more, members receive ingredients such as barley, hops, and malt — enough to brew a five-gallon batch of beer, which is equal to about 54 bottles. And $100 per month buys all the fixings for three five-gallon batches of varying flavors.

So far, 25 people have joined CerveTech. And they have crafted many a strange brew. Three members — Danny Morales, Christopher Campos, and Diego Ramirez — created a flan-flavored beer that tastes like a caramel cream ale.

Mississippi updates beer laws

Vicki — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:59:57 +0000

Good news for beer nerds trapped in the Magnolia State – starting July 1st, you’ll be able purchase beers with up to 8% alcohol by weight (roughly 10% ABV) without playing Smokey and the Bandit and making a run to Alabama or Louisiana (or eBay). The previous limit was 5% alcohol by weight (about 6.25% ABV). The bill to make this happen was championed by the group Raise Your Pints and signed into law by Governor Phil Bryant in early April (hey, news moves slow in the South!).

Even better news for brewers in the Magnolia State, As of July 1st you can brew beer with any level of alcohol content you choose, you just can’t sell it in your home state if it’s over 8% ABW. Still, this will open up new opportunities for Mississippi brewers who want to make big beers for the big boys and big girls in states that don’t treat them like nannies.

Overall, things are looking up for beer geeks in Mississippi. Now they just gotta work on legalizing homebrewing down there.

Another Homebrewer Gone Pro, Nice Work!

Glenn — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:15:36 +0000

From hobby to business: Son used education to construct brewery’s business plan

John A. Huber Brewing Co. CEO Matt Huber, right, inspects a bottle of blonde ale April 23 before placing it in a box as his father, Hubrew head brewer John Huber, watches.

John A. Huber’s brewing hobby has become a microbrew business with a growing customer base.

John A. Huber Brewing Co. started producing its flagship beer, Hubrew Blonde Ale, earlier this year near Fruitland.

He started brewing in 2003, after his sons, Matt and Chad, gave him a home brew kit for Christmas.

When he got tired of driving to St. Louis or paying to have online supplies shipped, he started Homebrew Supply of Southeast Missouri.

Customers who sampled his work encouraged him to take his brewing to the next level.

“People were asking, ‘Can we buy this?’ We said no so many times, we started thinking about what would it take,” said Matt Huber, CEO and business manager.

Huber, who also works as a project coordinator at the Southeast Missouri State University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, began researching the microbrew industry while completing his degree.

“I tied in the business plan to a lot of my entrepreneurship classes and papers I had to do,” Matt Huber said.

After a guest lecture in one of his classes, Matt Huber was so inspired, he called his dad.

“I said, let’s just do it. We had talked about it for a couple years, but not seriously. That’s when the research started on my end,” Matt Huber recalls.

While researching the microbrewing industry, he was surprised to learn that despite a down economy, craft beer makers were still making a profit and selling at a higher price point.

In 2011, craft beer’s U.S. market share surpassed 5 percent for the first time, according to the Brewers Association. Its market share has grown from just 3.8 percent in 2007 to 5.6 percent last year. In 2011, the overall U.S. beer market volumes declined 1.3 percent, the Brewers Association reports.

“The craft beer movement in general is just on fire,” said Keller Ford of Primo Vino, which sells Hubrew. “I just think that there are more and more people every month that are discovering that there are better beers out there than the mass-produced beers.”

Ford said he’s been getting positive comments from customers about Hubrew.

“There’s obviously a trend for people supporting local,” Matt Huber said. “I think that’s what’s helped a lot of small ones be able to start in their local area and then, as they get popular, expand from there.”

Because John A., Matt and Chad still have their day jobs, they brew on the weekends and bottle or keg their beer in the evenings. They stick to traditional ingredients for their blonde ale — malted barley, hops, water and yeast.

“You can buy your grains already cracked, but we crack them ourselves right before we brew to ensure the best flavor characteristics,” Matt Huber said.

After brewing for eight hours, the fermentation process takes three to four weeks.

The beer is bottled at a rate of 72 22-ounce bottles an hour.

“It’s all hands-on, there’s really not much automation we use,” Matt Huber said. “We have control over the whole process this way.”

The Hubers have been taking their Hubrew to a variety of local restaurants, wineries and bars for tastings. A schedule and a list of retailers can be found at facebook.com/Hubrew.

More on the Craft Beer Revolution!

Glenn — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:11:33 +0000

Bubble has not burst on craft beer market

Craft beer sales grew by 15 percent in 2011. “The world almost seems flipped on its side — a revolution has happened,” reported Benj Steinman, president of the trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insight, in assessing the state of craft brewing.

Steinman was addressing a crowd at the 2012 Craft Brewers Conference that unfolded May 2-5 amidst the gentle sea breezes and swaying palms of San Diego. Most of the news from the conference was good, often spectacularly so. Craft beer finished 2011 up 13 percent in volume and 15 percent in dollars, according to Paul Gatza, president of the Brewers Association, which organized the event. There were 250 openings and only 37 closings last year, pushing the total number of breweries in the United States to 1,989. That figure has now exceeded 2,000, he added, joking that another two nanobreweries probably went online during his turn at the podium.

Under the circumstances, keynote speaker Steve Hindy, former AP Middle East correspondent and co-founder of the Brooklyn Brewery, could be forgiven a little boasting. “I’m sure you all had someone walk into your brewery and ask, ‘Did you ever imagine it getting this big?’ I answer, ‘Hell, yes!’”

The disturbing news was that, according to Gatza, there are currently 1,119 additional breweries in the planning stage.

Disturbing?

There is fear within the industry that there might be a bubble about to burst, that the burgeoning number of new brands could push distribution channels to the breaking point. It scares at least one Mid-Atlantic brewer, who nevertheless was planning an expansion to keep apace with the competition.

But those worries didn’t spoil the party.

The BrewExpo Trade Show was rife with innovations in packaging, including a disposable clear plastic keg; a growler that resembles a milk carton; and a spout-top can with a resealable screw-on cap. The latter is “great for kickball; you can knock it over and not spill any,” said Chad Melis, spokesman for the Colorado-based Oskar Blues brewery.

Oskar Blues was certainly the biggest newsmaker of the conference, announcing that it’s opening an East Coast branch in Brevard, N.C. It will thus become the third western brewer, after Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, to move into the Tarheel State. The new facility, said Melis, will become operational later this year and be capable of churning out 40,000 barrels right from the start. It will include a restaurant and feature live music.

Local beermaker DC Brau made a splash by winning a “Canny” award (second place, best overall design) for its Corruption IPA. This beauty contest for aluminum containers was sponsored by the Ball Corp., worldwide manufacturer of beverage cans, and several other industry suppliers of packaging and machinery.

(Incidentally, there are now 179 craft brewers canning beers, stated Gatza. “A decade ago, there were zero.”)

The conference drew a record 4,500 attendees. Apparently none of the San Diego breweries could accommodate a crowd that size, so the BA held the opening reception at the San Diego Zoo. On subsequent nights, guests could slake their thirst at a gazebo outside the convention site offering 140 draft beers.

Even the Mainstream is Looking at Craft Beer….

Glenn — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:26:35 +0000

Can beer save America?

The redemption of the economy may start with the type of brew you keep in your fridge

(Credit: iStockphoto/Stratol)

The grand unifying theory of the American consumer has been that we are, first and foremost, low price fetishists. There’s ample evidence supporting this view: From Wal-Mart’s prominence to the fast food industry’s ongoing success, vast swaths of the economy are indeed built on the premise that buyers will prioritize discounts and quantity over premium prices and quality.

But ever so quietly, we are starting to see the rise and success of a competing vision, one that turns the old assumption on its head. In the technology arena, for instance, Apple is successfully challenging the PC world with a business model that convinces consumers to pay higher prices in exchange for better reliability, durability, efficiency and customer service. Likewise in the transportation world, more and more consumers are willing to pay higher prices upfront for hybrid and electric vehicles in exchange for the promise of lower long-term energy costs. This has encouraged companies like Philips to introduce more expensive light bulbs, in hopes that consumers will pay more for illumination that promises to use less electricity and last 20 years.

Nowhere, though, is the battle between the low-price/quantity business model and the higher-price/quality business model more clear than in the world of beer. In the fevered battle between the macrobrew behemoths and the craftbrew insurgents, both sides are digging in for an epic confrontation.

The history of the face-off is illustrative. For decades, the big brewers (Anheuser Busch, MillerCoors, etc.) have marketed their products less on the basis of taste or quality than on identity branding. What you drank subsequently became a statement not necessarily of what your taste buds enjoyed, but of your self-image. The Miller versus Budweiser wars and Old Milwaukee ads, for instance, were so often a pitch to guys looking for working-class street cred. Meanwhile, Pabst Blue Ribbon lately has been pitched as a retro-themed statement of hipster style.

This kind of marketing made a certain sense, because while macrobrew brands are certainly appealing, the actual beers in question are basically terrible. Produced through the macrobrews’ low-price, high-volume process, they don’t contain high-quality ingredients, they don’t contain much alcohol and, thus, they simply don’t taste good. Knowing this, the macrobrews have logically designed their marketing campaigns to focus on everything (the can, the type of people who drink it, the logo, etc.) but the actual product. Indeed, if there’s one ubiquitous reference that macrobrewing companies make to the beer itself, it’s usually one telling you how cold the beer is or should be — a temperature that, quite deliberately, helps hide just how bad the beer actually is.

The obvious assumption in this business model is that Americans generally reward low price over everything else, and specifically preference beer that is cost-effective to drink in mass quantities, rather than beer that delivers more alcohol or taste in less volume of liquid. In other words, the model assumes consumers see beer as a homogenized, undifferentiated commodity and that therefore less can never be more. In this view, more is always more, and since cheaper means more, cheaper is inherently better.

This is not a silly assumption, of course, in a country whose college binge-drinking culture teaches kids to prefer quantity at an early age. However, it ignored a potentially profitable market of beer drinkers with a different set of priorities. That’s where the craft brew industry came in.

In the last few years, small brewers have filled the vacuum left by macrobrewers, specifically marketing higher-priced products based on premium quality and taste. It’s been a wildly successful endeavor. 2011’s sales results tell that story: In a year that saw an overall decline in the beer market, the craft brewing industry increased its year-to-year sales by 15 percent and substantially grew its share of the total market. And here’s the key stat: according to the Brewer’s Association, “craft brewing sales share in 2011 was 5.7 percent (of the total beer market) by volume and 9.1 percent by dollars.”

That gap between share of total volume and share of total dollars generated is the high-price/high-quality/low-volume business model at work. Basically, craft brewers are generating a much larger share of beer revenue than they are contributing to the overall volume of beer in America — meaning that, contrary to previous trends, a growing share of consumers are willing to pay more for less, as long as the product is the comparatively higher-quality product that craft brewers provide.

Will this trend continue? Will the craft brew industry follow in, say, Apple’s footsteps and become the next high-quality David vanquishing the quantity-over-quality Goliath? It’s hard to say, but unlike in most other industries, the battle doesn’t look like it will be muddled by compromise — which makes it a hugely important test case.

Recall that in other major industries, the establishment’s low-price titans have typically tried to crush the high-price/high-quality upstarts by partially mimicking them — think Microsoft copying Apple or Wal-Mart partially pantomiming Whole Foods. In the beer industry, by contrast, it’s the opposite. Save for a few mini-brands like Coors’ Blue Moon line, which pretend to be a craft brew product, the macrobrew moguls are largely doubling down on their old low-price/low-quality/high-volume formula.

So, for example, Coors Light isn’t changing its watered-down product; it’s simply going with color-changing cans. Pabst is thinking about introducing not any higher-quality lines, but instead trying to brand its products to the military. And most blatantly, Miller has just launched this television campaign promoting a new can that allows the beer to be consumed as quickly as possible.

Though thinly veiled as a mechanism for better drinkability, the new “punch-top” can is obviously developed as the first specifically engineered to shotgun beer — that is, specifically designed to drink beer in a way that makes sure you don’t actually taste the beer. The unique selling proposition of the campaign is incredibly blatant in its embrace of the low-price/high-volume model: It is screaming at you to buy the cheap product exclusively because everything about it — the beer and even the can — is aimed at helping you pour it into your body without even having to taste or savor it. In this “punch top” innovation, Miller is effectively acknowledging that its customer base is those who drink only for volume — and it’s trying to thus convince more beer enthusiasts that speed drinking is a virtue.

The craft brewing industry, by contrast, is going in the opposite direction, trying to direct the beer-drinking population away from volume for volume’s sake. Visit a liquor store with a wide selection of microbrews and you’ll find an ever-more diverse selection of specialized offerings, from double IPAs to sour beers to barley wines. Notably, many of these products are sold in smaller sizes — four-packs or single pint-size bombers — making their price-per-ounce of beer far higher than the typical macrobrew. Additionally, what innovations the industry has made to beer technology tend to be fundamentally different from those of the macrobrew companies: They tend to be aimed at making the beer itself actually taste better (best example: Left Hand’s breakthrough creation of a bottled, widget-free milk stout on nitro).

In the competition for the future of drinking, both sides are obviously trying to exploit their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. The massive macrobrewing corporations are trying to take advantage of their size and corresponding ability to produce volume — all while playing down the fact that their beers have little local character or quality. The craft brewing industry, composed mostly of independent small and medium-size businesses, know they can’t compete in a volume game, and so they are trying to promote quality and diversity. It’s a straightforward fight — one that may seem only interesting to drinkers, but one that truly transcends the inebriation industry. It underscores both consumer shifts and questions about what kind of economy we want in the future.

Will we be a country of high volume and low quality? Or can we become an economy of quality and price premium? Whether it’s drinking, buying computers or choosing what industrial policy to support, we are in the process of answering those questions.

A Macrobrew Economy — a high-volume, low-price model — asks us to compete with other such economies throughout the world, and the problem is that countries like China will always have lower-priced labor, more lax environmental regulations and lower production standards to win a battle that rewards more and cheaper for more’s and cheaper’s sake. By contrast, a Craft Brew Economy — a high-quality, lower-volume model — is a different proposition. It follows the German model, which, as Time magazine notes, is all about being “committed to making the sort of high-quality, high-performance, innovative products for which the world will pay extra.”

The choice is ours — and it starts with the beer in your fridge.

AHS Belgian Stout

Vicki — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:55:46 +0000

Style Information Recipe Type: Extract Category: stout Grains & Extracts Name Amount Notes Black Roasted Barley .25 lb Special B Malt .75 lb Chocolate Malt .50 lb Black Patent Malt 2 oz Extra Pale Extract 7 lb Hops Name Amount … Continue reading →

Ligero Brewing ” Gwyndolyn, Eastern PA Cream Ale”

Vicki — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:42:23 +0000

Style Information Name: Gwyndolyn Recipe Type: Extract Category: Cream Ale Type: Ale Grains & Extracts Name Amount Notes Golden Light 4.75 Lbs Carafoam 8 oz Carapils 8 oz Honey 4 oz Hops Name Amount Alpha Acid % AAU Time … Continue reading →

Do not disturb

Vicki — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:03:37 +0000

When siphoning beer into the bottling bucket aerate as little as possible. Do this by holding the tube as close to the top of the liquid as possible. The object is to get as little air as possible into the beer before going into the bottle.

2012 World Beer Cup Winners, Well Done To All!!!

Glenn — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:49:29 +0000

Category 1: American-Style Wheat Beer, 23 Entries
Gold: Wagon Box Wheat, Black Tooth Brewing Co., Sheridan, WY
Silver: 1919 choc beer, choc Beer Co., Krebs, OK
Bronze: DD Blonde, Hop Valley Brewing Co., Springfield, OR
Category 2: American-Style Wheat Beer With Yeast, 28 Entries
Gold: Whitetail Wheat, Montana Brewing Co., Billings, MT
Silver: Miners Gold, Lewis & Clark Brewing Co., Helena, MT
Bronze: Leavenworth Boulder Bend Dunkelweizen, Fish Brewing Co., Olympia, WA
Category 3: Fruit Beer, 41 Entries
Gold: Eat A Peach, Rocky Mountain Brewery, Colorado Springs, CO
Silver: Da Yoopers, Rocky Mountain Brewery, Colorado Springs, CO
Bronze: Blushing Monk, Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids, MI
Category 4: Fruit Wheat Beer, 28 Entries
Gold: Minoh Beer YUZU-WHITE-ALE, A•J•I Beer, Minoh City, Japan
Silver: Blue Moon Vintage Blonde Ale, Blue Moon Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Bronze: Amsterdam Framboise, Amsterdam Brewing Co., Toronto, Canada
Category 5: Field Beer or Pumpkin Beer, 19 Entries
Gold: Turnip the Beets, Bull & Bush Brewery, Denver, CO
Silver: Saint Arnold Pumpkinator, Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX
Bronze: The Great Pumpkin, Elysian Brewing Co., Seattle, WA
Category 6: Herb and Spice Beer, 80 Entries
Gold: Sgt. Pepper, Cambridge Brewing Co., Cambridge, MA
Silver: Ring Of Fire, Dragonmead Microbrewery, Warren, MI
Bronze: Hardywood Gingerbread Stout, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Richmond, VA
Category 7: Chocolate Beer, 34 Entries
Gold: Házmela Rusa, La Chingonería, Mexico City, Mexico
Silver: X-1 Chocolate Imperial Rye Porter, DuClaw Brewing Co., Bel Air, MD
Bronze: Odin’s Raven, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA
Category 8: Coffee Beer, 56 Entries
Gold: Bacon and Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA
Silver: Drunken Elf Stout, Columbia River Brewing Co., Portland, OR
Bronze: Coffee Stout, Rock Bottom Arlington, Arlington, VA
Category 9: Specialty Beer, 38 Entries
Gold: Hangar 24 Winter Warmer, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, Redlands, CA
Silver: Maple Tripple, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Warren, VT
Bronze: Donner Party Porter, FiftyFifty Brewing Co., Truckee, CA
Category 10: Rye Beer, 29 Entries
Gold: Ruthless Rye IPA, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Silver: 3 Flowers IPA, Marin Brewing Co., Larkspur, CA
Bronze: Jopen Jacobus RPA, Jopenkerk Bierbrouwerij, Haarlem, Netherlands
Category 11: Specialty Honey Beer, 23 Entries
Gold: Boréale Dorée, Les Brasseurs du Nord, Blainville, Canada
Silver: Ménage a Trois Braggot, Crabtree Brewing Co., Greeley, CO
Bronze: Killer Bee, Dragonmead Microbrewery, Warren, MI
Category 12: Session Beer, 33 Entries
Gold: Vienna Lager, Squatters Pub Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT
Silver: Kellerweis, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Bronze: Revelations Stout, The Public House Brewing Co., Rolla, MO
Category 13: Other Strong Beer, 35 Entries
Gold: Star Brew, Marin Brewing Co., Larkspur, CA
Silver: Imperial Cream Ale, Nexus Brewery, Albuquerque, NM
Bronze: Double Pilsner, Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
Category 14: Experimental Beer, 42 Entries
Gold: Petit Obscura, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA
Silver: Noble Rot, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE
Bronze: Where There’s Smoke…, Manzanita Brewing Co., Santee, CA
Category 15: Indigenous Beer, 26 Entries
Gold: Got Beer, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Tacoma, Huntington Beach, CA
Silver: Hqt, 21st-Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA
Bronze: Oyster Stout, Upright Brewing Co., Portland, OR
Category 16: Gluten-Free Beer, 15 Entries
Gold: Glutenberg Rousse, Brasseurs Sans Gluten, Montreal, Canada
Silver: Glutenberg Pale Ale, Brasseurs Sans Gluten, Montreal, Canada
Bronze: Glutenberg Blonde, Brasseurs Sans Gluten, Montreal, Canada
Category 17: American-Belgo-Style Ale, 48 Entries
Gold: Last Chance, The Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago, IL
Silver: Blue Reserve, Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, VA
Bronze: Le Freak, Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Category 18: American-Style Sour Ale, 14 Entries
Gold: Ching Ching, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR
Silver: Mattina Rossa, Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, ME
Bronze: Supplication, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA
Category 19: American-Style Brett Ale, 28 Entries
Gold: Peche ‘n Brett, Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, Hood River, OR
Silver: Peche, AC Golden Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Bronze: Wild Wild Brett Rouge, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Fort Collins, CO
Category 20: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer, 34 Entries
Gold: Sarah’s Two Headed Buffalo, Rock Bottom Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Silver: Brandy Barrel Abbey Normal, Fox River Brewing Co., Oshkosh, WI
Bronze: Central City Oaked Porter, Central City Brewing Co., Surrey, Canada
Category 21: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, 91 Entries
Gold: Samuel Adams Utopias 2011, The Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
Silver: King Henry, Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL
Bronze: Bourbon Abominable Winter Ale, Fremont Brewing Co., Seattle, WA
Category 22: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout, 58 Entries
Gold: Barrel Aged BORIS The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Co., Akron, OH
Silver: Great Grandfather Raven, Black Raven Brewing Co., Redmond, WA
Bronze: The Event Horizon, Olde Hickory Brewery, Hickory, NC
Category 23: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer, 42 Entries
Gold: Lovibonds Sour Grapes, Lovibonds Brewery, Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom
Silver: Le Serpent Cerise, Snake River Brewing Co., Jackson, WY
Bronze: Melange #1, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA
Category 24: Aged Beer, 20 Entries
Gold: Samichlaus “2004”, Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg, Vorchdorf, Austria
Silver: Vintage Horn Dog, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD
Bronze: Release the Hounds Barley Wine Vintage 1999, Bull & Bush Brewery, Denver, CO
Category 25: Kellerbier/Zwickelbier, 45 Entries
Gold: Ketterer Zwickel Pils, Familienbrauerei M. Ketterer, Hornberg, Germany
Silver: VIÆMILIA, Birrificio del Ducato, Roncole Verdi, Italy
Bronze: 5 O’Clock Shadow, Grand Teton Brewing Co., Victor, ID
Category 26: Smoke Beer, 48 Entries
Gold: Fujizakura Kogen Beer Rauch, Fujizakura Kogen Beer, Minamitsuru, Japan
Silver: BraufactuM Roog, Die Internationale Brau-Manufacturen, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Bronze: Grodzinski, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Newark, Newark, DE
Category 27: Australasian, Latin American or Tropical-Style Light, 12 Entries
Gold: Quilmes Cristal, Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Silver: Anchor Ice, Hainan Asia Pacific Brewery Co., Haikou, China
Bronze: Norte Blanca, Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Category 28: International-Style Lager, 63 Entries
Gold: Paceña Pico de Oro, Cervecería Boliviana Nacional, La Paz, Bolivia
Silver: Cisk Export Premium Lager, Simonds Farsons Cisk, Mriehl, Malta
Bronze: Birra Moretti, Heineken Italia, Milan, Italy
Category 29: Baltic-Style Porter, 28 Entries
Gold: Baltic Gnome Porter, Rock Bottom Denver, Denver, CO
Silver: Battle Axe Baltic Porter, Fat Heads Brewery, North Olmsted, OH
Bronze: Dan – My Turn Series, Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee, WI
Category 30: European-Style Low-Alcohol Lager/German-Style, 18 Entries
Silver: Beck’s Premier Light, Brauerei Beck & Co., Bremen, Germany
Bronze: Hochdorfer Hopfen-Leicht, Hochdorfer Kronenbrauerei Otto Haizmann, Nagold-Hochdorf, Germany
Category 31: German-Style Pilsener, 74 Entries
Gold: Brio, Olgerdin Egill Skallagrimsson, Reykjavik, Iceland
Silver: Schönramer Pils, Private Landbrauerei Schönram, Schönram, Germany
Bronze: Baumgartner Pils, Brauerei Jos. Baumgartner, Schaerding, Austria
Category 32: Bohemian-Style Pilsener, 62 Entries
Gold: Starobrno Ležák, Heineken Czech Republic, Krušovice, Czech Republic
Silver: Krušovice Imperial, Heineken, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bronze: Gambrinus Premium, Plzeňský Prazdroj, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Category 33: Münchner-Style Helles, 68 Entries
Gold: Urtyp Hell, Löwenbrauerei Passau, Passau, Germany
Silver: Löwenbräu, Löwenbräu, München, Germany
Bronze: Helles, Kitzmann Bräu, Erlangen, Germany
Category 34: Dortmunder/Export or German-Style Oktoberfest, 39 Entries
Gold: Švyturys Ekstra, JSC Švyturys-Utenos Alus, Vilnius, Lithuania
Silver: Tauras Tradicinis, Kalnapilio-Tauro Grupe, Panevezys, Lithuania
Bronze: Schlappeseppel Export, Brauerei Schlappeseppel, Grossostheim, Germany
Category 35: Vienna-Style Lager, 41 Entries
Gold: Vienna Lager, Devils Backbone Brewing Co., Roseland, VA
Silver: Heavy Seas Marzen Vienna Lager, Clipper City Brewing Co., Baltimore, MD
Bronze: Belle Gueule Originale, Brasseurs RJ, Montreal, Canada
Category 36: German-Style Märzen, 39 Entries
Gold: Florhosen, The SandLot, Denver, CO
Silver: Rocktoberfest, Rock Bottom Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Bronze: Ur-Saalfelder, Bürgerliches Brauhaus Saalfeld, Saalfeld, Germany
Category 37: European-Style Dark/Münchner Dunkel, 34 Entries
Gold: Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel, Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg, Kelheim, Germany
Silver: King Dark Lager, King Brewery, Nobleton, Canada
Bronze: Riegele Aechtes Dunkel, Brauerei S. Riegele, Augsburg, Germany
Category 38: German-Style Schwarzbier, 40 Entries
Gold: Art of Science Schwarzbier, Dillon DAM Brewery, Dillon, CO
Silver: Point 2012 Black Ale, Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point, WI
Bronze: Cameron’s Dark 266, Cameron’s Brewing Co., Oakville, Canada
Category 39: Traditional German-Style Bock, 30 Entries
Gold: Doppel-Hirsch, Der Hirschbräu, Immenstadt, Germany
Silver: Winter Bock, Silver City Brewery, Bremerton, WA
Bronze: Troegenator, Tröegs Brewing Co., Hershey, PA
Category 40: German-Style Heller Bock/Maibock, 38 Entries
Gold: Maibock, Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant, Topeka, KS
Silver: Der Ulmer Maibock, Familienbrauerei Bauhöfer, Renchen, Germany
Bronze: Blonde Doppelbock, Capital Brewery Co., Middleton, WI
Category 41: German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock, 44 Entries
Gold: Holzfassgelagerter Eisbock, Brauhaus Faust, Miltenberg, Germany
Silver: Hochdorfer Barbara Bock, Hochdorfer Kronenbrauerei Otto Haizmann, Nagold-Hochdorf, Germany
Bronze: Dominator Dopplebock, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN
Category 42: American-Style Cream Ale or Lager, 23 Entries
Gold: Prestige, Brasserie Nationale d’Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Silver: Old Style, Pabst Brewing Co., Allentown, PA
Bronze: Milwaukee’s Best, Miller Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Category 43: American-Style Lager or Light Lager, 39 Entries
Gold: Coors Light, Coors Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Silver: Michelob Ultra, Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, MO
Bronze: Michelob Light, Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, MO
Category 44: American-Style Premium Lager or Specialty Lager, 37 Entries
Gold: Steel Reserve, Miller Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Silver: Evans Original, Cervecería Mexicana, Corona, CA
Bronze: Icehouse, Miller Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Category 45: American-Style Amber Lager, 40 Entries
Gold: Winter Skal, Capital Brewery Co., Middleton, WI
Silver: Colorado Native, AC Golden Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Bronze: Cali Common, Lucky Hand Beer, Novato, CA
Category 46: American-Style Dark Lager, 18 Entries
Gold: Leinenkugel’s Creamy Dark, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., Chippewa Falls, WI
Silver: Shiner Bock, The Spoetzl Brewery, San Antonio, TX
Bronze: Santo, Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX
Category 47: Australasian-Style Pale Ale or International-Style Pale Ale, 22 Entries
Gold: 805 IPA, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Silver: Endeavour True Vintage 2011 Reserve Pale Ale, Endeavour True Vintage Beer,
Macquarie Centre, Australia
Bronze: Benny’s Pale Ale, Shoreline Brewery, Michigan City, IN
Category 48: German-Style Kölsch/Köln-Style Kölsch, 46 Entries
Gold: Sunbru, Four Peaks Brewing Co., Tempe, AZ
Silver: Chuckanut Kolsch, Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA
Bronze: Point Three Kings, Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point, WI
Category 49: German-Style Brown Ale/Düsseldorf-Style Altbier, 29 Entries
Gold: Alt-eration, Hops & Grain Brewing, Austin, TX
Silver: Rhine Heights, Vintage Brewing Co., Madison, WI
Bronze: Real McCoy Amber, Mammoth Brewing Co., Mammoth Lakes, CA
Category 50: German-Style Sour Ale, 11 Entries
Gold: Berliner Weisse, Steamworks Brewing Co., Durango, CO
Silver: Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA
Bronze: Vitis Reductus Weisse, Outer Banks Brewing Station, Kill Devil Hills, NC
Category 51: South German-Style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier, 85 Entries
Gold: HEF, Burleigh Brewing Co., West Burleigh, Australia
Silver: Baltika N°8 Wheat, Baltika Breweries, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Bronze: Edelweiss Hefetrüb, Brau Union Österreich, Linz, Austria
Category 52: German-Style Pale Wheat Ale, 22 Entries
Gold: Boscos Hefeweizen, Boscos Brewing Co., Memphis, TN
Silver: Gold Ochsen Kristallweizen, Brauerei Gold Ochsen, Ulm, Germany
Bronze: Ketterer Ur-Weisse kristall, Familienbrauerei M. Ketterer, Hornberg, Germany
Category 53: German-Style Dark Wheat Ale, 29 Entries
Gold: Brauerei Michael Plank Original Hefeweizen, Brauerei Michael Plank, Laaber, Germany
Silver: Schneider Weisse Original, Weisses Bräeuhaus G. Schneider & Sohn, Kelheim, Germany
Bronze: Unertl Gourmet Weisse, Weißbräu Unertl, Mühldorf, Germany
Category 54: South German-Style Weizenbock/Weissbock, 20 Entries
Gold: Brauerei Michael Plank Heller Weizenbock, Brauerei Michael Plank, Laaber, Germany
Silver: Live Oak Primus, Live Oak Brewing Co., Austin, TX
Bronze: Rhaner Lilly Bock, Rhanerbräu, Schönthal, Germany
Category 55: Belgian-Style Witbier, 50 Entries
Gold: Allagash White, Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, ME
Silver: Hoegaarden, Hoegaarden Brewery, New York, NY
Bronze: La Perouse White, Maui Brewing Co., Lahaina, HI
Category 56: French- & Belgian-Style Saison, 44 Entries
Gold: Carnevale, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA
Silver: Saison Station 55, Hopfenstark Brewery, L’Assomption, Canada
Bronze: Urban Farmhouse Ale, The Commons Brewery, Portland, OR

The World Beer Cup
is presented by the Brewers Association
www.BrewersAssociation.org
Category 57: Belgian- and French-Style Ale, 22 Entries
Gold: FSB Spring Brew, Front Street Brewery, Wilmington, NC
Silver: Saison Noir, Bastone Brewery, Royal Oak, MI
Bronze: Gift of the Magi, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA
Category 58: Belgian-Style Blonde Ale or Pale Ale, 32 Entries
Gold: Ommegang Rare Vos, Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY
Silver: Leffe Blonde, AB InBev, New York, NY
Bronze: Troubadour Blond, Brouwerij The Musketeers, Ursel, Belgium
Category 59: Belgian-Style Sour Ale, 27 Entries
Gold: Oude Geuze Boon, Brouwerij Frank Boon, Lembeek, Belgium
Silver: Oude Kriek Oud Beersel, Oud Beersel, Beersel, Belgium
Bronze: Fifth Element Vintage 2011, Squatters Pub Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT
Category 60: Belgian-Style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale, 16 Entries
Gold: Oude Tart, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA
Silver: Monomoy Kriek, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket, MA
Bronze: Oud Jeremiah, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Brea, Huntington Beach, CA
Category 61: Belgian-Style Dubbel, 39 Entries
Gold: Leffe Brown, AB InBev, New York, NY
Silver: Belgian Dubbel, Bier Brewery, Indianapolis, IN
Bronze: Ovila Dubbel, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Category 62: Belgian-Style Tripel, 57 Entries
Gold: Westmalle Trappist Tripel, Westmalle Trappist Brewery, Westmalle, Belgium
Silver: Nectar des Dieux, Bastone Brewery, Royal Oak, MI
Bronze: Steenbrugge Tripel, Palm Breweries, Steenhuffel, Belgium
Category 63: Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale, 33 Entries
Gold: Piraat, Van Steenberge, Ertvelde, Belgium
Silver: Thor’s Hammer, Bastone Brewery, Royal Oak, MI
Bronze: Prisoner of Hell, Dock Street Brewery, Philadelphia, PA
Category 64: Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale, 41 Entries
Gold: Batch 333: The Velvet Fog, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN
Silver: Two Tortugas Belgian Quad, Karl Strauss Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Bronze: Grand Prestige, Hertog Jan Brouwerij, Arcen, Netherlands
Category 65: Other Belgian-Style Ale, 41 Entries
Gold: Seef, Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie, Hove, Belgium
Silver: Gauloise Amber, Brasserie du Bocq, Purnode, Belgium
Bronze: Rhinoceros, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA
Category 66: English-Style Summer Ale, 32 Entries
Gold: Cross of Gold: Revolution Brewing, Chicago, IL
Silver: Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, Stone & Wood Brewing Co., Byron Bay, Australia
Bronze: Mother Lode Golden Ale, Laurelwood Brewing Co., Portland, OR
Category 67: Classic English-Style Pale Ale, 33 Entries
Gold: Annadel Pale Ale, Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA
Silver: Summit Extra Pale Ale, Summit Brewing Co., St. Paul, MN
Bronze: Caldera Ashland Amber, Caldera Brewing Co., Ashland, OR
Category 68: English-Style India Pale Ale, 48 Entries
Gold: Man Beer, Bull & Bush Brewery, Denver, CO
Silver: IP’Eh!, Russell Brewing Co., Surrey, Canada
Bronze: Intercontinental Pale Ale, Flossmoor Station Brewing Co., Flossmoor, IL
Category 69: Ordinary or Special Bitter, 32 Entries
Gold: Redoak Bitter, Redoak, Sydney, Australia
Silver: Happy Hour Hero Ale, Montana Brewing Co., Billings, MT
Bronze: 8th Street Ale, Four Peaks Brewing Co., Tempe, AZ
Category 70: Extra Special Bitter, 49 Entries
Gold: Red Racer ESB, Central City Brewing Co., Surrey, Canada
Silver: GAR Pale Ale, Great American Restaurants, Centreville, VA
Bronze: The Tower E.S.B., Bull & Bush Brewery, Denver, CO
Category 71: Scottish-Style Ale, 26 Entries
Gold: MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR
Silver: Redhawk Ale, Rockyard Brewing Co., Castle Rock, CO
Bronze: Beltaine Scottish Ale, Shoreline Brewery, Michigan City, IN
Category 72: English-Style Mild Ale, 27 Entries
Gold: Crown Brown, Crown Brewing, Crown Point, IN
Silver: Alyssa’s Attitude, Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co., San Clemente, CA
Bronze: Nerf Herder, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA
Category 73: English-Style Brown Ale, 30 Entries
Gold: Longboard Brown Ale, Rock Bottom La Jolla, La Jolla, CA
Silver: Nut Brown Ale, Redhook Ale Brewery, Woodinville, WA
Bronze: Sweet George’s Brown, Dillon DAM Brewery, Dillon, CO
Category 74: Brown Porter, 42 Entries
Gold: Double Nut Brown, Mammoth Brewing Co., Mammoth Lakes, CA
Silver: Poundage Porter, Sound Brewery, Poulsbo, WA
Bronze: Chocolate Porter, Bayhawk Ales, Irvine, CA
Category 75: Robust Porter, 68 Entries
Gold: Pier Rat Porter, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA
Silver: Pro-Am Porter, Wormtown Brewery, Worcester, MA
Bronze: Chocolate Porter, Kumazawa Brewing Co., Chigasaki, Japan
Category 76: Sweet Stout, 25 Entries
Gold: Steel Toe Stout, Ska Brewing Co., Durango, CO
Silver: Outlaw Oatmeal Stout, Great Basin Brewing Co., Sparks, NV
Bronze: Blackjack Stout, Feather Falls Casino Brewing Co., Oroville, CA
Category 77: Oatmeal Stout, 49 Entries
Gold: Naked Oat Stout, Rock Bottom College Park, Indianapolis, IN
Silver: Stumblers Stout, Columbia River Brewing Co., Portland, OR
Bronze: Alaskan Oatmeal Stout, Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK
Category 78: Scotch Ale, 51 Entries
Gold: Wee Heavy, Dry Dock Brewing Co., Aurora, CO
Silver: Way Heavy, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA
Bronze: Cold Smoke Scotch Ale, Kettlehouse Brewing Co., Missoula, MT
Category 79: British-Style Imperial Stout, 40 Entries
Gold: Russian Imperial Stout, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Media, Media, PA
Silver: Luscious, The Alchemist, Waterbury, VT
Bronze: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY
Category 80: Old Ale or Strong Ale, 51 Entries
Gold: Old Ale, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Media, Media, PA
Silver: AleSmith Decadence 2010 Old Ale, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Bronze: Old Scrooge, Silver City Brewery, Bremerton, WA
Category 81: Barley Wine-Style Ale, 62 Entries
Gold: Stormwatcher’s Winterfest, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR
Silver: Barley’s Wine, La Cumbre Brewing Co., Albuquerque, NM
Bronze: AleSmith Old Numbskull, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Category 82: Irish-Style Red Ale, 31 Entries
Gold: Red Trolley Ale, Karl Strauss Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Silver: Alaskan Amber, Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK
Bronze: McLovin, Vintage Brewing Co., Madison, WI
Category 83: Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout, 30 Entries
Gold: Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout, Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA
Silver: Ring of Dingle, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN
Bronze: Breakside Dry Stout, Breakside Brewery, Portland, OR
Category 84: Foreign-Style Stout, 37 Entries
Gold: Starry Night Stout, Island Brewing Co., Carpinteria, CA
Silver: Malpais Stout, La Cumbre Brewing Co., Albuquerque, NM
Bronze: Voo Doo, Left Coast Brewing Co., San Clemente, CA
Category 85: Golden or Blonde Ale, 46 Entries
Gold: Foam Top, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, Long Beach, CA
Silver: Labatt 50, Labatt Brewing Co., LaSalle, Canada
Bronze: Steelhead Extra Pale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake, CA
Category 86: American-Style Pale Ale, 84 Entries
Gold: Pale 31, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Silver: Mission Street Pale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Bronze: BrickStone APA, BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery, Bourbonnais, IL
Category 87: American-Style Strong Pale Ale, 82 Entries
Gold: Hop Knot, Four Peaks Brewing Co., Tempe, AZ
Silver: Odell IPA, Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
Bronze: Alaskan IPA, Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK
Category 88: American-Style India Pale Ale, 150 Entries
Gold: DRIPA, Kuhnhenn Brewing Co., Warren, MI
Silver: Head Hunter IPA, Fat Heads Brewery, North Olmsted, OH
Bronze: Elevated IPA, La Cumbre Brewing Co., Albuquerque, NM
Category 89: Imperial India Pale Ale, 93 Entries
Gold: Poor Man’s IPA, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Silver: Saint Arnold Endeavour, Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX
Bronze: Palate Wrecker, Green Flash Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Category 90: American-Style Amber/Red Ale, 68 Entries
Gold: Big Cottonwood, Utah Brewers Co-op, Salt Lake City, UT
Silver: Swan Lake Beer Amber Swan Ale, Hyokoyashikinomori Brewery Tenchokaku Co., Agano, Japan
Bronze: Mavericks Amber Ale, Half Moon Bay Brewing Co., Princeton-by-the-Sea, CA
Category 91: Imperial Red Ale, 38 Entries
Gold: G’Knight Imperial Red Ale, Oskar Blues Brewery, Longmont, CO
Silver: Bigfoot, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Bronze: Pursuit of Hopiness, Grand Teton Brewing Co., Victor, ID
Category 92: American-Style Brown Ale, 47 Entries
Gold: Face Down Brown, Telluride Brewing Co., Telluride, CO
Silver: Uptown Brown, Galena Brewing Co., Galena, IL
Bronze: Great American Brown, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Category 93: American-Style Black Ale, 49 Entries
Gold: Black Racer, Bear Republic Brewing Co., Cloverdale, CA
Silver: Tarantulas 2.0, Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA
Bronze: Raven, Thornbridge, Bakewell, United Kingdom
Category 94: American-Style Stout, 34 Entries
Gold: Rise American Stout, Revolution Brewing, Chicago, IL
Silver: Pike XXXXX Extra Stout, Pike Brewing Co., Seattle, WA
Bronze: Achievement Beyond Life’s Experiences American Stout Brit Antrim Benefit Beer,
Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA
Category 95: American-Style Imperial Stout, 36 Entries
Gold: Imperial Stout, Silver City Brewery, Bremerton, WA
Silver: The Fundamental Blackhorn, Hornbeer, Kirke Hyllinge, Denmark
Bronze: Imperial Stout, Olde Hickory Brewery, Hickory, NC
Champion Brewery and Brewer Awards
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
Small Brewing Company
Brauerei Michael Plank, Kelheim, Germany
Michael Plank
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
Mid-size Brewing Company
Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, CA
Matthew Brynildson
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
Large Brewing Company
AB InBev, New York, New York
Claudio Ferro
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
Small Brewpub
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Media, Media, PA
Iron Hill Brewery Team
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
Large Brewpub
Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR
Darron R S Welch

More women are brewing at home

Vicki — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:35:57 +0000

HOUSTON—When most adults feel like having a cold one, they usually go the store and pick up a six-pack. Now, there’s a growing trend among people who really love their beer.

People have been making beer in their own homes for years, but the industry is still pretty male-dominated. That is, until now.

Jessica Anderson is not your average housewife.

“I used to make cakes, but everybody loves beer,” she laughs.

Anderson is part of a growing legion of women who brew beer at home.

“It actually takes people by surprise,” she said.

What may also be surprising is the cost. Anderson says after investing in some basic equipment, she can make recipes for five gallons of beer for just $20.

Anderson also briefly walked us through the brewing process.

After steeping the grains, we poured scorching hot water to get all the sugars and flavor out. When the mixture comes to a boil, we add the malt extract and then mix in the hops. Fast-forward through fermentation, which takes a few weeks, and we’ve saved the best step for last—taste testing!

“Here in the garage is where we have the kegerator,” Jessica showed us. After the fermentation process, we do a little taste testing. Jessica had copper ale, cream ale, and pineapple ale on-tap in the kegerator. She also bottles some varieties.

Jessica’s only been at it for a year, but she’s perfecting the process; trying Pilsners, Bocks, and other beer varieties.

HOUSTON—When most adults feel like having a cold one, they usually go the store and pick up a six-pack. Now, there’s a growing trend among people who really love their beer.

People have been making beer in their own homes for years, but the industry is still pretty male-dominated. That is, until now.

Jessica Anderson is not your average housewife.

“I used to make cakes, but everybody loves beer,” she laughs.

Anderson is part of a growing legion of women who brew beer at home.

“It actually takes people by surprise,” she said.

What may also be surprising is the cost. Anderson says after investing in some basic equipment, she can make recipes for five gallons of beer for just $20.

Anderson also briefly walked us through the brewing process.

Jessica’s only been at it for a year, but she’s perfecting the process; trying Pilsners, Bocks, and other beer varieties.

4 more Amazing Women of Craft Beer

Vicki — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:02:43 +0000

Photo: Entrepreneur Magazine

Kim Jordan

CEO & President, New Belgium Brewing

Biographical Snapshot: As CEO and President of New Belgium Brewing, Kim is active in day-to-day sales, Branding, and Organizational Development aspects of the business with a huge focus on mid-range and long-range strategical development. She cultivated her passion for social work, the environment and community to develop one of the fastest growing craft breweries in the U.S. Under her leadership, New Belgium boasts a healthy internal culture with progressive policies such as employee-ownership, open book management and philanthropic giving. She negotiated New Belgium’s transition to wind powered electricity through an employee vote and as over seen the implementation of Colorado’s largest private solar array at the Fort Collins facility.

In her twenty years as an entrepreneur, Kim has spoken to thousands of people in the business, nonprofit and academic worlds about how to create a vibrant and rewarding work culture that enhances the bottom line. Kim graduated from Colorado State University with a Master’s Degree in Social Work. Her early work included being an advocate for women’s rights and family health at Project Self Sufficiency.

Photo: Facebook

Lisa Morrison

Author, Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest

Biographical Snapshot: Known amongst the craft beer community as The Beer Goddess, Lisa is a Portland-based freelance beer writer, published author, beer instructor, beer judge and general crusader for the craft beer movement. Her freelance writing work includes: the Brewers Association’s New Brewer, Celebrator Beer News, Northwest Brewing News and more. Lisa is also the host of Beer O’Clock, a radio program on Newsradio 101 FM KXL connecting beer lovers from around the world to the best in great beer through exclusive interviews, brews news, event listings, and tasting notes, etc.

Lisa is also the author of Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest, the first book in more than a decade that brings beer lovers the very best insider information on the best places to source Northwest beer. Lisa graduated Colorado State University with a degree in Technical Journalism.

Photo: Jon Weber, BeerObsessed.com

Nicole Erny

Exam Manager, Cicerone Certification Program

Biographical Snapshot: By far the youngest on this list, Nicole Erny was recently crowned the first woman Master Cicerone, and is one of four people in the world to claim the title. Her main responsibilities at the Cicerone Certification Program include planning and managing all aspects of the Certified Cicerone Exam; leading trainings for distributors, brewery sales teams, and other groups of beer industry professionals; Administering the Cicerone Exam at various locations throughout the US and beyond.

As a native Northern Californian with a special focus on Belgian beer, Nicole has created fantastic beer menus and formulated pairings that have captured the interest of beer drinkers from novice to expert. She has a Bachelor’s Degree,Interdisciplinary Humanities with emphasis in Media Studies from New College of California.

Photo: Melissa Cole

Melissa Cole

Author, Let Me Tell You About Beer

Biographical Snapshot: Melissa is an expert beer writer, beer event organizer, bar staff training and corporate events. Melissa Cole is also the founder and author of the popular UK beer blog, Taking the Beard Out of Beer. Melissa has been invited to judge at beer competitions from London to Italy and Amsterdam to America, having built a reputation as having a fine palate and fun approach to all things brewed. She is lead partner in London’s only dedicated beer tasting business, lovebeer@borough in Borough Market.

Melissa recently published her début book on beer, Let Me Tell You About Beer. She is also London’s leading exponent of corporate tastings and beer experiences, with everything from 10 cover high-end beer matched dinners for senior executives of blue chip companies to themed canape receptions for 300 delegates under her belt. Melissa was also named one of the Most Powerful Women in the Drinks Industry by Channel4 Food.

Photo: ryan tillotson

Gwen Conley

Quality Assurance Manager, Lost Abbey

Biographical Snapshot: Gwen got her start in the beer biz as microbiologist for Coors in Golden, Colorado. She left Coors to work for the Ball Corporation, where she went through their sensory training program and became an expert on how colors, aromas, and flavors work together to create sensory experiences. After that, Gwen took her experience to Flying Dog, where she managed their QA efforts and conducted educational programs in beer and food pairings.

Gwen is currently manages the brewing and production processes at Lost Abbey where she is “putting all that fancy science equipment in the lab to work”. She also oversees Lost Abbey’s sensory sessions and assists in production of its much sought after barrel blends. Gwen is an instructor at the American Brewers Guild, instructing aspiring brewers on the subjects of Quality and Microbiology. She graduated the University of Colorado with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology.

Next Time You’re in Orlando………..

Glenn — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:12:23 +0000

Disney gets a brew: An oasis of craft beer

After a few days in Disney World, you may find yourself in need of a good brew.

At Walt Disney World, a beer geek can get pretty thirsty.

While it’s a bastion of family entertainment, the house of the mouse is a veritable desert when it comes to craft beer. There are many stands that sell beer throughout the Disney parks, but these are dominated by industrial light lagers. Sure, you can get Newcastle and cans of Guinness Draught in the England section of Epcot, but if you’re craving a hop bomb or a craft brew gushing with malty goodness, you’re out of luck. Well, almost out of luck.

There’s an oasis in the desert that is the Disney beer scene: Nestled in the bosom of Disney’s Boardwalk hotel is the Big River Brewing Company, an honest-to-goodness brew pub, complete with a 10-barrel brewing rig and, depending on the season, five or more very good craft beers on tap. The brew pub has been at the Boardwalk since 1997, when Disney approached Big River’s parent company, Gordon Biersch, about creating a brewery in the park.

Kent Waugh, Big River brewer, poses with his serving vessels.

Kent Waugh, Big River’s brewer. He’s a one-man band at the restaurant, in charge of all of the brewing, equipment cleaning, and management. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a labor of love.

Kent mills his own grains and brews all the beers on site, then transfers them to one of six fermentation tanks. Once fermentation is complete, Kent transfers the beers to tanks he calls “serving vessels” because the beer flows directly from them to the taps in the restaurant. It doesn’t get any fresher than that.

Southern Flyer Light Lager, a craftier version of what the big boys brew. It was refreshing and smooth, with a nice hint of caramel down the middle of the flavor. Next up was Gadzooks Pilsner, a crisp take on a Czech pilsner that had a very nice Saaz hop kick on the back end. That was followed by the award-winning Rocket Red Ale, a caramel treat chock full of crystal malts that are chased by a Cascade hop finish.

The final beer in the sampler was a seasonal offering, a Maibock with a huge and sweet malt body and a slightly boozy finish.

It’s mostly simple bar fare, but after eating very average meals at very expensive prices in the parks, it was nice to have a well-made, affordable meal.

If you’re a beer geek headed to Disney World, you have to put Big River Brewing Company on your list of destinations. Kent is there on weekdays from the time the place opens until late afternoon, and loves to sit down and talk beer. Be sure to ask him about his brewery days out in Colorado in the mid-90s; he was in the center of a pretty amazing scene.

And wait a few days into your trip before checking the place out – you’ll want to give your thirst for good beer the chance to build up a bit. When it comes to craft brews, absence makes the heart grow fonder!

“Iron Brewer”? Sounds Pretty Cool!

Glenn — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:03:37 +0000

Calling all beertestants

Mellow Mushroom Charleston and Holy City Brewingare teaming up to host “Iron Brew,” an Iron Chef-style home brewing competition where homebrewers will have just over a month of time to brew a beer using a secret ingredient.

The secret ingredient will be announced at a Mellow Mushroom Avondale Happy Hour launch party on Thursday, June 14.

After a period of six to eight weeks, the “brew”-testant’s beers will be sampled by a judging panel of Holy City Brewery owners, Mellow Mushroom Beer Club members, and select special guests. The winner of the competition will receive a Mellow-Holy City prize pack and the winning beer will be put into limited production, which will then be tapped and sold exclusively at Mellow Mushroom Avondale and Mellow Mushroom King St. The winning entry, runners-up, and “People”s Choice Award” will be announced the night of judging.

Registration opens Sat., May 12 and can be done in person at the Holy City Brewery, Mellow Mushroom Avondale and Mellow Mushroom King Street, or online on the Mellow Mushroom Avondale Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/mellowavondale

The unveiling of the winning beer will take place in mid-September at Mellow Mushroom Avondale, which will include a Holy City Brewery tap takeover.

Iron Brew is free to compete and open to the public. Teams are limited to no more than two members, and there’s only one entry per group allowed. Participants can buy ingredients at Holy City Brewing in North Charleston.