Saturday, September 26, 2009

Some Beers just became a little harder to find

Guess what? Even when outlet shopping (yes, I admit) in the shadows of the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant and having dinner at the Craft Ale House afterward, I still managed to find some rabid beer geeks to dine with who were not in the mecca for beer geekery this weekend (that'd be Denver, CO, in case you're not keeping up around here). In any case, some of our bestest friends brought home some serious hardware this weekend as proof of their dogged determination to make the best beer around. Others came up conspicuously empty-handed, but that won't stop us from continuing to tout the greatness of their beer. Without further ado, here's a quick rundown of the 2009 Great American Beer Fest (GABF) stats from a Philadelphia-centric perspective, and then some.... Delaware - Dogfish Head, collect 'em all ---->Gold (Chateau Jiahu); Silver (Palo Santo Marron); and Bronze (Midas Touch) - Iron Hill, one of the winningest all-time at GABF ---->Gold (Schwarzbier-Phoenixville, PA->Tim Stumpf & Matthew Gundrum); Silver (Raspberry Torte-Media->Bob Barrar & Kevin Walter) New Jersey - Flying Fish, pride of the Garden State...and the NJ Turnpike ---->Gold (Exit 4); Bronze (HopFish) Pennsylvania - Erie, yeah that's Pennsylvania too ---->Gold (Railbender Ale) - Fegley's Brew Works, better known as Allentown & Bethlehem Brew Works ---->Silver (BagPiper's Scotch Ale); Bronze (Rude Elf's Reserve) - McKenzie Brew House, after this the second Gold maybe it's time to bury the hatchet? ---->Gold (Saison Vautour) - Nodding Head, again it's still George's Fault...but what about DA Phunk? ---->Silver (George's Fault); Bronze (Phruit Phunk) - Stoudt's, only one but it's one of the right ones ---->Bronze (Kölsch) - Triumph, still bringing it strong ---->Gold (Hefeweizen-New Hope, Brendan Anderson & Kinder Pils-Philadelphia, Patrick Jones) - Tröegs, 'nuff said ---->Gold (Troegenator); Silver (Dead Reckoning Porter); and Bronze (Sunshine Pils) I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one of my favorite beers of the last few years, the Rosso e Marrone from Captain Lawrence finishing with a Gold in the American-Style Sour Ale category. Well done. In terms of Multiple locations of Restaurants/Brewpubs - Pizza Port, 6 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze - Rock Bottom, 3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze - Gordon Biersch, 2 silver, 2 bronze - Iron Hill, 1 gold, 1 silver - Great American Restaurants, 1 gold, 1 bronze - BJ's, 1 silver - Ram Restaurant & Brewery, 1 silver - Pyramid, 2 bronze As far as the non-craft boys go... - Anheuser-Busch brought home a gold, a silver, and a bronze - Coors brought home 2 gold, 3 silver, and the coveted Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year (if you include The Sand Lot, that'd be an additional gold and two silvers) - Michelob brought home 1 bronze - Miller brought home 1 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze By organization, the only clear-cut run-away winner this year was Pizza Port, no stranger to multiple acceptance speeches - Pizza Port Carlsbad 7 - Miller Brewing Co.6 - Coors Brewing Co. 5 - Chuckanut Brewery 4 - Devil's Backbone Brewing Co. 4 - Flying Dog Brewery Count 4 - Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group 4 And finally, with 38 states represented by at least one medal...total medals by state... Colorado...45 California...39 Oregon...22 Washington...13 Pennsylvania...12

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