Here is the second half of the photos I took at the 2008 World Beer Cup Gala Awards ceremony, which was held last Saturday in San Diego, California.
Brendan Moylan and Arne Johnson, from Marin Brewing, picking one of the three medals Arne won.
The hard-working staff of the Brewers Association who put on Craft Brewers Conference and the World Beer Cup competition. For many more award photos, go to part 1 of the photo gallery, followed by part 2.
For many more photos from the second half of this year’s World Beer Cup Awards, visit the photo gallery.
The 2008 World Beer Cup Gala Awards ceremony was held last Saturday in San Diego, California. 2,864 from 644 breweries in 58 countries competed for medals in 91 categories. In each category, usually a distinctive beer style, a gold, silver and bronze is awarded, though on occasion one medal within a category is not given if none of the beers meet the written criteria for the style. Approximately 268 medals were awarded (91 x 3 = 273, minus 5 awards not given).
Of the 91 categories, an average of 32 beers was entered in each, with IPAs getting the most (77) followed by German-style Pilsener (72). Of the 58 countries entering, beers from 21 won medals, with the US winning the most (158), Germany in second (25) and Belgium in third (11). Beers from the State of California itself won 35 medals, with Colorado winning 22 and Oregon 16.
Bas and Hildegard, from Urthel, accepting their award. For many more award photos, go to the photo gallery.
For many more photos from the first half of this year’s World Beer Cup Awards, visit the photo gallery.
The Craft Brewers Conference, this year held in San Diego, officially began last Thursday — as it always does — with all the Brewers Association members assembled in a large hall for the “Welcome and Keynote Address.” During this time, they also present three awards important within the craft beer industry.
After opening remarks from BA President Charlie Papazian, Tom Nickel gave the history of San Diego, the area’s beer community, along with tips on what to see and do in the city.
Dr. Michael Lewis, from U.C. Davis, received one of the three awards.
As did Vinnie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewing.
For more information and photos from this year’s first day of the Craft Brewers Conference, visit the photo gallery.
On Saturday the Portland Spring Beer & Wine Festival took place at the Oregon Convention Center. Awards were given in eight categories, with a gold and silver awarded in each. The results are listed below:
Amber, Brown & Red
Gold - Pelican Pub & Brewery Anglers Amber
Silver - Lost Coast Brewery Downtown Brown
Belgian-Style
Gold - North Coast Brewing PranQster
Silver - Widmer Belgian Golden Ale
Double IPA and other Strong Ales
Gold - Stone Brewing Ruination IPA
Silver - Lang Creek Brewing Zeppelin Imperial Ale
Golden & Pale Ales
Gold - Stone Brewing Pale Ale
Silver - Pyramid Curve Ball Blond Ale
IPA
Gold - Laurelwood Public House & Brewery Organic Green Elephant IPA
Silver - Henry Weinhard’s IPA
Lager
Gold - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Silver - Kona Longboard Lager
Porter & Stout
Gold - Stone Brewing Imperial Stout
Silver - Deschutes Obsidian Stout
Wheat
Gold - Deschutes Wolf Mountain Wit
Silver - Blue Moon Belgian White
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Here are the results from the 2008 Hard Liver Barleywine Fest in held at Brouwer’s Cafe in Seattle, Washington:
Congratulations to all the winners.
I confess that when the e-mail came across my screen from Forbes inviting me to take a look at their choices for America’s Best Beer Bars that I was more than a little skeptical. Forbes has managed to mangle beer stories a number of times since I’ve been monitoring the mainstream media’s beer coverage, but this was from Forbes Traveler, a subdivision that, according to their e-mail, “focuses on the ultimate travel experience and [for which they] create features to keep [their] users up to date on the best vacations and newest travel trends around.”
In their latest feature, they set out to pick “The Best American Beer Bars,” no small feat. So there was a certain amount of schadenfreude that made me check out their list, expecting the worst. What I found was a pleasant surprise. I’ve been to seven of their ten choices, and was very familiar with all but one of the remaining three. And by personal knowledge or reputation, I’d say they put together an astonishingly good list, as these things go. And while there is plenty of personal bias that might cause any of us to wish they’d substitute this one or that one with a personal favorite, it’s hard to really quibble with any of these bars as being deserving. The one I would personally substitute is Monk’s Cafe (Philadelphia, PA), with which I’d replace the Brick Store Pub, but only because I’ve never heard of that one. It may very well be a fine place. It does appear as #16 on Rate Beer’s Best Beer Bars 2008 and #49 on Beer Advocate’s list of the Top 50 Beer Bars from 2005. And it came in at #2 on the Beer Mapping Project’s Highest Reviewed Locations, though it’s worth noting that #1 was Monk’s. There are also plenty of other great places that I’d wrestle with, too, like O’Briens or the Liar’s Club (both in San Diego), Lucky Baldwin (in Pasadena) or the Standard Tap (in Philly).
The Forbes’ choices are also accompanied by a nice story about the recent gains craft beer has been making in terms of both success and respect. The ten bars are listed below in the order they appear in the slideshow, which has photos of each bar along with what makes them special and useful contact information. I’m not clear if they’re meant to be in any particular order or not, but all in all a good list.
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On Saturday, Matt Venzke became the 12th recipient of the coveted title “Beer Drinker of the Year,” and marked the second year in a row someone from Virginia won the title. Venzke is an aircraft maintenance manager in his daily life. This is his fourth time entering and last year was a semifinalist.
Matt Venzke moments after winning. Behind him are judges that he had to impress to be crowned this year’s Beer Drinker of the Year.
From the Press Release:
“For four years now,” Venzke said, “it’s been a dream of mine to win the Beerdrinker of the Year title. It’s great to now be recognized by the judges and previous winners. I’m proud to be among this very select group of beer lovers.”
“I feel like I’ve been given a flag to carry,” Venzke adds, “for all of the great things beer has to offer.”
Venzke’s home beer bar is The Taphouse on Queensway in Hampton, Virginia. He is the second straight Virginia resident to win the competition. (Diane Catanzaro of Norfolk, Virginia was the 2007 Beerdrinker of the Year.)
Venzke beat out finalists J Mark Angelus (of Nehalem, Oregon) and Richard Pedretti-Allen (McKinney, Texas). He landed the title with a combination of impressive beer drinking experiences, humor and beer ambassadorship.
Venzke’s resume boasted of many beer drinking experiences. Venzke has visited 454 breweries in 69 nations and 39 states. Over the past five years, he has recorded tasting notes on over 3200 different beers in 69 different styles.
He logged 3,000 miles in 2007 while traveling to breweries across North America. While stationed in alcohol-free Kuwait on a military deployment a few years ago, Venzke conducted a tasting of 17 non-alcohol beers.
Questions from the Finals judges elicited some revealing info from Venzke. When asked what he’s doing to get around the current ban on carry-on beer for US air travelers, Venzke winkingly cited an upcoming effort to petition US brewers to start packaging beer in 3-ounce portions.
Congratulations to Matt.
Here are the results from the 2008 Toronado Barley Wine Festival in San Francisco:
Congratulations to all the winners.
Flying Dog’s Double Dog was chosen best in show at the 8th annual Double IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full winner list is below.
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Here are the winners from this weekend’s Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival in Anchorage, Alaska.
And here are a few photos from the event, courtesy of Tom Dalldorf from the Celebrator Beer News.
Dick Cantwell, brewer/co-owner of Elysian Brewing in Seattle, with an English volunteer, and Sam Calagione, from Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware, enjoying themselves at the Elysian Booth during the festival.
Adrienne McMullen, Nico Freccia, both from 21st Amendment Brewery, with presumably a volunteer, all sporting their watermelon wheat chapeaus.
John Burket, head of craft brands for Odom Distributing, Sam Calagione, from Dogfish Head in Delaware, and Dick Cantwell, from Elysian Brewery in Seattle, Washington, checking out the selection offered in a staggering 42 cold box doors at a retail outlet in Anchorage, Alaska.
UPDATE: The Beer Geeks, Chris & Meridith, have a great write-up on their own trip to the Alaska festival, and they’ve also posted a blizzard of photos from the festival and its surroundings.
Saturday began, as it always does, with a media brunch sponsored by Samuel Adams, followed by the GABF awards ceremony, which is essentially the craft beer industry’s Oscars. Afterwards, there were many side events on the last day, along with the crowded Saturday Night Session and the inevitable trip to Falling Rock to end the evening.
From the awards ceremony. Arne Johnson and Shane Aldrich, from Marin Brewing in Larkspur, California, winning one of their four gold medals, this one for Triple Dipsea Belgian-Style Ale in Category: 61 Belgian Style Abbey Ale. Marin Brewing also won three more gold medals, for Tiburon Blonde in Category: 59 Belgian and French-Style Ale, Pt. Reyes Porter in Category: 64 Robust Porter, and Star Brew Triple Wheat in Category: 74 American-Style Wheat Wine Ale.
Geno Acevedo, from El Toro Brewing in Gilroy, California, at the beginning of Saturday’s evening session.
For many more photos from Saturday at GABF, visit the galleries for the Saturday Awards Ceremony and the Rest of Saturday’s events.
Although in its fifth year, the Craft Lager Fest is a festival I have not had the opportunity to attend. But I like the idea of it, being another niche festival that highlights a particular style of beer, in this case lagers broadly. But since the majority of craft beer is undoubtedly ales, shining a spotlight on lager styles is a great idea. In fact, I have an article coming out in the next issue of American Brewer on this very subject, the rise of the small, niche festival.
The Craft Lager Festival takes place in a small town in Colorado, Manitou Springs, which is near Pikes Peak. This year they got 30 breweries from Hawaii to Boston participating. The winning breweries are listed below.
PILSENER
EXPORT/HELLES:
BOCK:
STRONG LAGER:
OKTOBERFEST/VIENNA/MARZEN:
OTHER SPECIALTY LAGER:
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