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The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s some more of what’s been happening in the beer world, while many of you were enjoying the GABF out in Denver.
The Great American Beer Festival ‘Inside Skinny’ (Denver, CO) – The GABF, started Saturday with a huge awards ceremony that’s one of the festival’s most anticipated events. The several hour celebration, which returned to the Belico Theater across from the Convention Center, proceeded to anoint the best beers in the nation and send many an up-and-coming brewery into the stratosphere.
This year’s GABF competition was as massive as it was ferocious. 239 judges from 13 countries oversaw 8,496 entries (plus 101 Pro-Am and 49 Collaboration entries) submitted by 2,404 breweries from 49 states and DC. Whew!
537 breweries were new to the competition. 306 medals were awarded to 280 breweries and 31 of them took home a win for the first time.
Saint Arnold Brewing scored their 26th win at this year’s GABF taking home a bronze for its Amber Ale and a silver for its Oktoberfest Lager. And amazingly this was the fourth win for each of these beers, both with legacies that date back to the 90’s.
Words To Drink By (Houston, TX) – “Amber Ale and Oktoberfest were delicious 20 years ago and they are delicious now…I plan on having one of each in celebration today.”
A History Making GABF Willing Streak (Wilmington, DE) – And Saint Arnold wasn’t the only American brewery adding to its amazing GABF legacy…
Delaware-based Iron Hill Brewery earned its 48th medal at the Great American Beer Festival, extending their record-setting consecutive winning streak to 22 years, the longest by an independent craft brewery in GABF history.
This year, Iron Hill won a Bronze Medal for Solzhenitsyn in the Aged Beer category, which was brewed at their Media, Pennsylvania hub .
