Sunday, September 19, 2010

GABF 2010. More states, more brewers, more beers, more awards...more of the same from California and Colorado

California and Colorado must be especially proud this year. Granted they are usually proud this time of year during post-GABF wrapup and analysis every year, but this year Northeast brewery operations must be scratching their collective brew kettles a little more than in recent years. Proportionately, California and Colorado took home more medals compared to the rest of the country...along the lines of what they formerly accustomed to. Roughly 40% of all 245 awards went to California- and Colorado-based breweries. Still, more states are represented with an award-winning brewery than last year (38 versus 30), which means there's more diversity out there, yet more awards disproportionately went to CA and CO this year. Interesting, I suppose. From my local perspective comprised of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, the latter two states were shut out. That includes the venerable and highly vaunted Dogfish Head from Delaware. Though, interesting too that Russian River only took home one medal this year. First, a list of PA/NJ/DE winners (oops, make that just PA--even though Iron Hill is headquartered out of Delaware, their two golds this year were brewed in Pennsylvania by "medal machine" Bob Barrar). And then, following is a bit of a wonk-ier breakdown. Do you want to see the full list? Head over to Great American Beer Festival's official listing of all winners. Bullfrog Brewery- Williamsport, PA- The Jaspers (Bronze: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer) ~~I've only been to Bullfrog once...gosh, I wish I lived closer to Williamsport. Iron Hill- Media, PA- Pig Iron Porter (Gold: Robust Porter) Iron Hill- Media, PA- Russian Imperial Stout (Gold: Imperial Stout) ~~"Medal Machine" Bob Barrar from Media location brewed both and continues his path to world brewing dominance McKenzie Brew House- Malvern, PA- Saison Vautour (Gold: French- and Belgian-Style Saison) ~~3 golds in the last 4 attempts for this beer ain't too shabby for Ryan Michaels and Gerard Olson Stoudt's Brewing- Adamstown, PA- Heifer-in-Wheat (Gold: South German-Style Hefeweizen) ~~I like to see these guys continuing to win awards 25 years after blazing a new path for Pennsylvania brewing Triumph- Philadelphia, PA- Dunkel Lager (Silver: European-Style Dunkel) Triumph- Philadelphia, PA- Kellerbier (Silver: Kellerbier/Zwickelbier) ~~The beer is by Patrick Jones, recently departed from Triumph. Has there been a faster unemployed double-winning GABF brewer? Potentially more to come on this story front. Oh, and they've got a new website too. Tröegs- Harrisburg, PA- Flying Mouflan (Gold: Barley Wine-Style Ale) Tröegs- Harrisburg, PA- Troegnator (Silver: Bock) Tröegs- Harrisburg, PA- Hopback Amber (Silver: American-Style Amber/Red Ale) ~~Speaking of dominance, this makes 2 in 3 years for the Flying Mouflan and 4 GABF and 1 WBC medals for the Troegenator in the past 5 years Weyerbacher- Easton, PA- Imperial Pumpkin (Bronze: Field Beer) ~~Are my records wrong or has Weyerbacher never been on GABF stage in Denver before? Congratulations!!! Breweries with Restaurant/Brewpub-oriented businesses and more than 1 award Pizza Port 12 (Carlsbad with 8, San Clemente 3, Ocean Beach 1) Rock Bottom 7 Gordon Biersch 2 Iron Hill 2 Ram Restaurant & Brewery 2 The "non-craft" brewhouses AC Golden 3 Blue Moon 3 Miller 3 Pabst 3 Michelob 1 By state (38 states with at least one medal, up from 30 in 2009. Diversity?) California 56 Colorado 42 Oregon 19 Michigan 10 Pennsylvania 9 Utah 8 (!) Illinois 7 Virginia 7 Washington 7 Wisconsin 7 Remaining interesting notes - only one for Russian River - none for Dogfish Head - Smoked Porter from Alaskan Brewing back on top for first time at GABF since '05

1 comment:

Brandon Worrell said...

I think Utah (Salt Lake City) won 7 beer awards, the 8th is the "Mid-Size Breing Company" award -- very impressive for a state that's just starting to come into it's own for beer. Note that two of the 7 were for session beers -- something we have a lot of because of our 4.0ABV (3.2ABW) heritage.