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Access the newest issue of Zymurgy magazine digitally!

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WAYNESBORO, VA – (October 20, 2020) – Central Virginia’s Stable Craft Brewery at Hermitage Hill, an authentic working farm brewery and winery, was the site of a World Record record-shattering performance by Stephen Clarke, the World’s Fastest Pumpkin Carver on Saturday, October 17.  Clarke broke his Guinness World Record of 16.47 seconds for speed carving a single pumpkin by carving a Jack O’ Lantern in 9.4 seconds in front of an enthusiastic outdoor audience at Stable Craft Brewing’s Fall Harvest party.

According to Clarke, a Philadelphia school teacher who also holds the Guinness World Record-holder for speed carving a ton of pumpkins, “I didn’t grow up wanting to be a pumpkin-carver, but it’s something I’ve always loved and was good at, so I tell my students to make the most of the things you’re good at.  I’ve more than exceeded my 15 minutes of fame appearing on national television and traveling the world, carving pumpkins, setting world records and doing what I love.”

Immediately following his record-setting performance, Clarke carved Jack O’ Lanterns for the families in attendance to take home.  With Stable Craft’s rural location and acres of open farmland with multiple covered and uncovered outdoor locations, masked guests were able to keep safe and socially distant while enjoying craft, beer, cider, wine and food including festival favorites cotton candy and funnel cakes. Several other safety measures have been implemented to provide guests with a safe and fun experience while complying with Virginia’s Governor Northam’s guidelines. 

For hours of operation and directions, visit www.stablecraftbrewing.com or follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stablecraftbrewing/.  For more information, call 540-490-2609.

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272 medals awarded to 240 breweries in world’s most prestigious professional beer competition

Boulder, Colo. • October 16, 2020 — The Brewers Association (BA) awarded 272 medals* to 240 breweries across the country during the 2020 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition awards ceremony. The best beers in 91 beer categories covering 170 different beer styles (including all subcategories) were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals during a virtual ceremony hosted on The Brewing Network.

Judges for the 34th edition of the celebrated competition evaluated 8,806 entries from 1,720 breweries from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. Socially distanced judging took place in 35 sessions over 18 days with strict safety measures in place. The awards ceremony was held virtually on Friday evening, kicking off the two-day online programming portion of the Great American Beer Festival.

“This year’s GABF competition may have looked a little different, but the beers entered into the competition were as impressive and innovative as ever,” said Chris Swersey, competition manager, Great American Beer Festival. “This has arguably been one of the most challenging years breweries have ever faced, so we hope these awards serve as a symbol not only of brewing excellence but also the resiliency of the craft brewing community as a whole.”

View the 2020 winners or download a PDF of the winners.

GABF Competition Statistics

• 34th edition of the GABF competition
• 8,806 beers judged
• 1,720 breweries in the competition from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C.
• 115 judges from 21 states
• Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 97
• Category with the highest number of entries: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (377)
• 272 total medals awarded
• 240 medal-winning breweries
• 337 first-time GABF entrants
• 19 first-time GABF winners

Most-Entered Style Categories

The winners of the top five most-entered categories were:

Category 58: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (377 entries) – Sponsored by The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

GOLD: Spellbinder, Wren House Brewing Co., Phoenix, AZ

SILVER: Yojo, Moonraker Brewing Co., Auburn, CA

BRONZE: Wicked Pawesome, Metazoa Brewing Co. – Stringtown Production Facility, Indianapolis, IN

 

Category 57: American Style India Pale Ale (355 entries) – Sponsored by The Ardagh Group 

GOLD: IPA, Perry Street Brewing, Spokane, WA

SILVER: Updrift India Pale Ale, Pelican Brewing Co. – Tillamook, Tillamook, OR

BRONZE: Nothing Noble, Von Ebert Brewing – Pearl, Portland, OR

 

Category 39: German Style Pilsener (200 entries) – Sponsored by Micro Matic

GOLD: Sprockets, Gravely Brewing Co., Louisville, KY

SILVER: Prost Pils, Prost Brewing Co., Denver, CO

BRONZE: Pils, Kansas City Bier Co., Kansas City, MO

 

Category 28: Wood & Barrel-Aged Strong Stout (199 entries) – Sponsored by BeerHole

GOLD: A Night to End All Dawns, Kane Brewing Co., Ocean, NJ

SILVER: Ruckus, Melvin Brewing – Thai Me Up, Jackson, WY

BRONZE: Grasp of Oak, Moksa Brewing Co., Rocklin, CA

 

Category 60: Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale (192 entries) – Sponsored by The Alison Group

GOLD: The Hopsplainer, Burke-Gilman Brewing Co., Seattle, WA

SILVER: Not A Scientist, Cloudburst Brewing, Seattle, WA

BRONZE: Sugar on My Tongue, Highland Park Brewery, Los Angeles, CA 

 

Most Medaled Breweries

The most medals won by individual breweries included:

Sun King Brewery – Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN – 4 medals 

GOLD – Afternoon Delight, Category 26 – Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer

BRONZE – Cherry Busey, Category 30 – Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer

BRONZE – Pachanga, Category 34 – Light Lager

BRONZE – Sunlight Cream Ale, Category 49 – Golden or Blonde Ale

 

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO – 3 medals

GOLD – Featherweight Pale Ale, Category 53 – American-Style Pale Ale

BRONZE – Vladimir Brutin, Category 18 – Experimental India Pale Ale

BRONZE – Let’s Talk About Mex, Category 37 – American-Style Cream Ale

 

Chuckanut Brewery – North Nut, Bellingham, WA – 3 medals 

GOLD – Chuckanut Maibock, Category 47 – Bock

SILVER – Chuckanut Chuck Lite, Category 34 – Light Lager

BRONZE – Chuckanut Rye, Category 12 – Rye Beer

 

Riip Beer Co., Huntington Beach, CA – 3 medals

GOLD – Tangible Passion, Category 82 – Belgian-Style Specialty Ale

SILVER – The Riizzo, Category 10 – Coffee Stout or Porter

SILVER – Black the Riipper, Category 69 – American-Style Black Ale or American-Style Stout

• 23 individual breweries won 2 medals
• 213 individual breweries won 1 medal

Brewery and Brewpub of the Year Awards

See criteria here.

Packaging Breweries

Very Small Brewing Company of the Year – Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group 

<1,000 barrels produced in 2019 

Five Branches Brewing, Tarpon Springs, FL; Jerry Brown

 

Small Brewing Company of the Year – Sponsored by ABS Commercial

1,000 – 14,999 barrels produced in 2019

Big aLICe Brewing Co., Long Island City, NY; Big aLICe Production Team

 

Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year – Sponsored by MicroStar Logistics

15,000 – 6,000,000 barrels produced in 2019

Lost Forty Brewing, Little Rock, AR; Lost Forty Brewing Team 

 

Brewpubs

Small Brewpub of the Year – Sponsored by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.

<750 barrels produced in 2019

The Good Society, Seattle, WA; Phil Cammarano & Nick Berger

 

Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year – Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group

750 – 1,500 barrels produced in 2019

Monkless Belgian Ales, Bend, OR; Todd Clement & Chris Dinsdale

 

Large Brewpub of the Year – Sponsored by Ska Fabricating

Over 1,500 barrels produced in 2019

The Freehouse, Minneapolis, MN; The Freehouse Team 

 

Large Breweries and Multiple Location Breweries

Brewery Group of the Year – Sponsored by Live Oak Bank

Over 6,000,000 barrels produced in 2019 or multi-location breweries wishing to compete as a group

Three Creeks Brewing Co., Sisters, OR; Team Three Creeks 

 

Editor’s note: Photos for media use are available on the GABF website.

*Out of a possible 273 medals in 91 beer style categories, 272 were awarded. The bronze medal was not given in Category 20, Gluten-Free Beer.

The 2020 Great American Beer Festival was made possible in part by the generous support of its sponsors.

Media contact: Jenelle Scott (on behalf of the Brewers Association): [email protected], 970.963.4873 x224

###

About the Brewers Association

The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The BA represents 4,800-plus U.S. breweries. The BA’s independent craft brewer seal is a widely adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup^®, Great American Beer Festival^®, Craft Brewers Conference^® & BrewExpo America^®, SAVOR^™: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, Homebrew Con^™, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week^®. The BA publishes The New Brewer^® magazine, and Brewers Publications^® is the leading publisher of brewing literature in the U.S. Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com^® and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association^® and the free Brew Guru^® mobile app. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Brewers Association is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital/familial status. The BA complies with provisions of Executive Order 11246 and the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.

The post Winners of 2020 Great American Beer Festival Competition Revealed During First-Ever Virtual Ceremony appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Boulder, Colo. • June 19, 2021 — Micro Homebrew of Kenmore, Wash., was recognized with the 2021 Homebrew Shop of the Year Award at the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) National Homebrew Competition. The 43rd annual awards ceremony celebrated the most outstanding homemade beer, mead, and cider, presenting more than 120 medals in 40 categories. 

Micro Homebrew was selected from among 54 homebrew shop nominations and evaluated by the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee on the merits of community support, education, customer service and engagement, promotion of homebrewing, and responsible business practices.

This year’s finalists included Atlantic Brew Supply, Raleigh, N.C.; High Gravity Fermentations, Tulsa, Okla.; Keystone Homebrew Supply, Montgomeryville, Pa.; and Patriot Homebrew Supply, Elkhorn, Neb. Micro Homebrew is the fourth recipient of this award since it began in 2018.

“The last year has been a bit of struggle, but one thing that we could always count on was that our homebrew community would continue to support us. We are so lucky to be a part of such a supportive community and we couldn’t be more proud to have won the Homebrew Shop of the Year Award,” said Tony Ochsner, owner of Micro Homebrew and BJCP Certified judge.

“The American Homebrewers Association is pleased to recognize Micro Homebrew as the 2021 Homebrew Shop of the Year,” said John Moorhead, AHA Competition Manager. “Micro Homebrew has gone above and beyond to create a safe and welcoming environment, offer a wide selection of products, and exemplify what it means to be an asset to their community and promote the hobby of homebrewing.”

Over its 43-year history, 156,830 brews have been evaluated since the inaugural AHA National Homebrew Competition in 1979 in Boulder, Colo. This year’s competition saw more than 4,400 entries from 2,037 homebrewers located in 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and 13 countries. 

A complete list of winners of the 2021 National Homebrew Competition can be found here.

Editor’s note: Photos for media use are available upon request.

The 2021 AHA Homebrew Shop of the Year Award was sponsored by BSG HandCraft.

The 2021 AHA National Homebrew Competition was made possible in part by the generous support of its sponsors.

About MicroHomebrew

Opened in February 2014 by long time home brewer Tony Ochsner and his wife Kat, Micro Homebrew is a friendly, informative place for home brewers from beginner to expert.

Tony started brewing after receive a Mr. Beer kit as a Christmas present. Over the years he has improved his processes and brewed on all types of extract and all grain equipment. He has won a few medals in home brew competitions and has even had the opportunity to brew some of his recipes at commercial breweries. He is also a BJCP Certified judge, passing his exam in 2020!

Kat has over 30 years of retail and customer service experience. In addition to helping Tony fine tune his recipes, she has brewed a few batches of her own.

The post Micro Homebrew Honored as 2021 Homebrew Shop of the Year appeared first on American Homebrewers Association.

Private Igloos Offer Perfect Answer for Outdoor Winter Dining

WAYNESBORO, VA – (October 21, 2020) –Starting this November, Central Virginia’s Stable Craft Brewery at Hermitage Hill, an authentic working farm brewery and winery, will once again offer its private igloos for outdoor dining at its best.

Stable Craft’s heated igloos are available by advance reservations only and come with a private server.  The igloos seat up to eight guests and have panels that can open up and help adjust airflow inside.  Reservations are for one hour and 45 minutes.  To book a private igloo experience online, visit https://stablecraftbrewing.simplybook.me/v2/.

According to Stable Craft owner Craig Nargi, “the igloos have grown in popularity each winter since we started offering them three years ago.  Guests love having their own private igloo and dining under the stars or when it’s snowing.  The igloos are also perfect for small corporate outings, small office and private parties, Christmas parties and special occasions.” 

Stable Craft Brewings’s rural location offers acres of open farmland with multiple covered and uncovered outdoor locations to keep guests physically distant while enjoying craft beer, cider, wine and food.  Several other safety measures have been implemented to provide guests with a safe and fun experience while complying with Virginia’s Governor Northam’s guidelines. 

For hours of operation and directions, visit www.stablecraftbrewing.com or follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stablecraftbrewing/.  For more information, call 540-490-2609.

 

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(SAN DIEGO, CA) – North Park’s Original 40 Brewing Company and Downtown’s Mission Brewery have joined forces with their latest brew collaboration – Team Meeting….
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By John Moorhead, National Homebrew Competition Director

We are extremely proud to have been able to hold the National Homebrew Competition (NHC) amidst COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings, and we could not have done it without the support and dedication of all our judges, competition staff, and volunteers.

We know we changed a lot of things to make NHC happen this year. In the spirit of continuous improvement, I’d like to address a few of the larger themes I’ve heard about from entrants surrounding the competition.

How was this year’s competition format different from previous years’?

Each category in the 2021 NHC was divided among multiple judge panels—think of each category as its own bracket. Each judging panel evaluated a flight of entries within a category at one time; all entries in that flight were presented at once. Each panel evaluated the entries in front of them, discussed the flight, and advanced three entries to the next round until a final round of no more than 12 entries existed. This format was much different than queued judging, in which a panel evaluates and discusses one entry at a time.

The final round of each category was judged by a panel of four judges who determined first, second, and third place. First-place entries in each category moved on to the best-of-show round to determine the major awards for beer, mead, and cider.

Throughout the process, judges only saw entries in sample cups, never in original containers, and never with any identifying information about the brewer or entry (e.g., brewer name, entry name, email address, etc.). The entries were prepared in a staging room by highly trained volunteers to ensure quality control.

Why did the Rules & Regulations change? 

The Rules & Regulations are released in the months leading up to the competition. While we work hard to get everything as close to concrete as possible as early as possible, some things do change. With a year of new processes, procedures, and format, part of competition planning is to update information. 

A group of 20 experienced judges tested comment sheets with scores and comment sheets without scores. Discussions with those judges revealed that eliminating the scoring process would save time while still giving every beer a fair evaluation and a fair shot at moving to the next round. Such time-saving methods were necessary to complete judging on time without running 14-hour days.

The base style is in the entry name. Why wasn’t that shown? 

The National Homebrew Competition is a double-blind competition, which means entries are renumbered after receiving and prior to judging, and all identifying information and markers are removed. Bottles are handled in a staging room, and entry names are never displayed. We cannot assume an entry’s base style based on a name.

The Rules & Regulations state which entries require a base style per the 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines (entry instructions may be found in the 2015 BJCP Style Guideline based on the subcategory). Identifying information found in the Specialty Information section is removed to maintain blind judging and the integrity of the competition. For example, if you use an identifying marker such as a geographical term or brand, that is removed. This is not a new rule and has been a policy of the competition for over a decade.

Why do comment sheets only have a Judge ID?

The primary motivation for anonymity is to provide judges a comfortable space to share impressions of an entry, consistent with the competition’s blind nature. We believe this process provides more unvarnished feedback and further enhances competition integrity.

The judge pool is audited every year to ensure quality comment sheets. It is challenging to ensure that each judge provides adequate feedback until after the competition is complete—the system is not perfect, but it continuously improves and evolves.

Judges are selected based on a combination of formal sensory training, experience judging in competitions, positive judging demeanor, advanced knowledge of beer styles and brewing process, and peer recognition.

Remember that all judges are different, as are all drinkers and homebrewers, and it is unrealistic to expect uniform sensory evaluations from a judge panel in a competition.

Here is a list of the 2001 National Homebrew Competition judges.

Do we receive certificates based on how an entry advanced?

Unfortunately, we will not be able to deliver certificates in 2021. In the past, we have had certificates based on scores.

We had originally planned to provide certificates based on how an entry advanced in the competition. As we migrated the competition software to a new system and worked to put on the competition, we prioritized competition software functionality and reporting to ensure data integrity and accuracy, followed by emailing out comment sheets. We will look into an effective way to provide certificates in the coming years and apologize for not having them this year. 

Should I have two comment sheets for each round?

No. There are comment sheets for the first round only. As in other competitions, judge panels evaluate entries in the first round, advance entries, and perform mini-best-of-shows in subsequent rounds until a final round of a category is reached.

This is the same as in years past. The difference is that the 2021 competition was a single-site location, while NHC has historically used a two-site model. With no need for entrants to rebrew and reship after advancing from a first site to a second, we did not re-evaluate entries after the first round of judging.

Why did the feedback sheets remove scoring?

We did not communicate the changes effectively enough, and we did not notify entrants early enough. We recognize that the timing of the announcement of the change and the removal of numerical scoring have left some entrants with a sense of violated expectations. We regret not doing better in our communications. 

We ultimately made a group decision to remove the scoring component in the interests of executing the competition successfully and accommodating as many entries as possible. We felt that the disappointment of not being able to host the 2020 National Homebrew Competition made this especially important.

Moving away from queued judging changes the function of a score. In queued judging, one judge may assign a high score while another assigns a low score, and a consensus is found prior to moving on to the next entry. Scoring in these situations is useful because the number offers the basis of consensus; however, a score doesn’t necessarily indicate whether an entry advances or not. 

Judge panels evaluating an entire flight find consensus through notes and discussions, by which they advance the top three entries to the next round. In this format, scores, which are assigned prior to discussion and not used to form consensus, carry less meaning. After discussion, an entry one judge scored highly could be excluded, just as an entry another judge scored less highly could still advance. In a flight-based competition model, discussion and deliberation form the basis of consensus, not a numerical score.

Discussions of the best evaluation model for 2021 NHC occurred after the competition opened. We made changes to the comment sheet after many conversations and timing tests with our competition operations team and with members of the AHA competition subcommittee. The change grew out of a concern that we would not be able to offer sufficient time to each entry using the previous document, given the time available for judging.

Understanding that it was an impactful change and remaining committed to hosting the competition, we announced the new comment sheets prior to judging. We communicated the changes in an email to all registered entrants and published an announcement on the competition website in mid-April, along with attachments of the new comment sheets. We updated the rules and regulations to reflect the changes.

Final thoughts

We are proud of the 2021 National Homebrew Competition and our ability to hold an incredible event despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we do every year, we are already looking at ways to improve the 2022 competition and make it an even better experience for our members. We look forward to sharing those improvements with you all later this year.

The post 2021 Post-Competition FAQ appeared first on American Homebrewers Association.

San Diego, CA (October 22, 2020) – PourMyBeer partners with Tappizza, San Diego’s latest pizza destination, to provide the ultimate pizza and beer experience with a 21-tap self-serve beer and hard seltzer beverage wall.

Tappizza, located at 8242 Mira Mesa Blvd, is elevating the dining experience by putting its customers in control of their drinks, letting them be their own bartenders. By partnering with PourMyBeer, the innovative company changing the standards of self-serve, the establishment has locked in the final piece of their design in which guests use self-pour taps for beverages and pay by the ounce.

PourMyBeer’s self-pour technology enables faster, more efficient access to beverages by allowing consumers to pour their own drinks and pay by the ounce. PourMyBeer is the world leader of self-pour technology with 7,000 taps around the world, and their presence at Tappizza includes 21 taps of beers and hard seltzers to choose from.

Tappizza has already been generating buzz, not only for their specialty Neapolitan style hand-stretched pizzas but also due to the fact that the establishment will be offering Indian fusion pizzas for the first time in San Diego. Other specialty menu items will include poutine fries, mac, and cheese egg rolls, and bangers and mash, promising an array of international options unavailable elsewhere in the city.

Owner, Shaila Srinagesh, is excited to bring the dining experience more into the 21st century, saying, “The concept of inviting customers to belly right up to the taps and serve themselves ounce by the ounce…is driven by endless exploration and beer rotation. It’s the Snapchat of drinking experiences.”

The Mira Mesa neighborhood Tappizza will be joining is known for its diverse and inclusive environment – Sheila goes on to share, “As a part of the Mira Mesa community, Tappizza aims to have a laid back, fun, inviting vibe with plenty of opportunities for beer conversation starters at the “pour my beer” wall. We have a simple mantra to bring people together over beer and pizza.”

As distancing and safety operations continue to be a priority, PourMyBeer’s technology allows establishments like Tappizza to serve consumers quickly and more conveniently, reducing operating costs, crowding, and touchpoints, making the experience safer for both employees and customers alike. 

Tappizza’s grand opening will be October 26th, 2020. 

The post San Diego Now Home to a Pizza and PourMyBeer Haven appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Coming in 2022 – Hard Mtn Dew. You 100% read that right. 

PepsiCo and Boston Beer Co. are currently working on the new alcoholic beverage, slated to be released in multiple flavors next year. 

This release is hot on the heels of Coca-Cola’s Topo Chico Hard Seltzer that hit the market earlier this year, leveraging Topo Chico fame to grab some of the hard seltzer market. Energy drink maker Bang, as well as Four Loko have made hard seltzers, with Rock Star Hard Seltzer coming to market in the near future.  

At least three flavors of Hard Mtn Dew are planned, including Black Cherry, Watermelon, and regular Mountain Dew, each 5% alcohol by volume and boasting zero sugar. 

The announcement of Hard Mtn Dew comes just weeks after Boston Beer announced that hard seltzer darling Truly are down 26% – most likely due to an increasingly crowded seltzer market. 

The post Hard Mtn Dew is coming in 2022 appeared first on Beer Street Journal.

Read on to learn how to win one of two generous beer prize packages from our partners at Pure Project, now headquartered out of Vista, CA. 

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