Update: 2018 Winners Announced
Congratulations to the following Austin-area breweries who took home medals this year:
Pinthouse Pizza (Burnet): Gold Medal in American Style Strong Pale Ale Category for Green Battles, and Silver Medal in Fresh or Wet Hop Category for This Year’s Crop Wet Hop
Pinthouse Pizza (Lamar): Bronze Medal in American Style IPA Category for Bailing Room
See the full list of 302 Award Winners from All Styles from from All Countries represented at the 2018 World Beer Cup: here.
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Every two years, 200+ highly qualified beer judges convene to sample 90+ styles of beer and award the most prestigious awards in the commercial beer world. A medal from the World Beer Cup can put a little-known brewery on the map, or maintain ongoing bragging rights for well-established powerhouses. The Austin beer scene has witnessed a steady stream of medals from the past few World Beer Cups, and hopefully 2018 will continue the trend. We interviewed a handful of local breweries who submitted entries this year. Here’s what they had to say about why they deserve to take home the gold.
Last Stand Brewing Company
What they entered:
What makes their beers gold-medal quality:
“Our philosophy is that less is often more, so we make a lot of SMaSHes and other beers with few ingredients. If you can make a great beer with just a few ingredients, it really speaks to the quality of the beer. We pay big attention to the small details.” – Jim Sampson
Adelbert’s Brewery
What they entered:
Why they’re a top contender this year:
“We’re usually too close to the beer ourselves, so we bring in some local judges to help us pick which ones to send. We entered what we felt was our best recipes of the year, matched with the best aging. And we put the beer where it’s going to do its best—there’s a strategy to submitting to the big competitions like this since there’s so much great beer out there. I’ll never enter an IPA until we have one we absolutely cannot keep in stock.” – Sarah Haney
Red Horn Coffee House & Brewing Co.
What they entered:
Bourbon Barrel Aged Suburban Ninja
Why approachability is the answer:
“Our IPA is a no-frills, super clean and approachable beer. Its an ‘entry-level’ IPA that still tastes good to seasoned IPA drinkers. I also really like the balance of our stout. Its one of our flagship releases, and it has a really nice warmth and well-rounded smoke from the char in the Garrison Brothers barrels we use.” – Zack Gardner
Circle Brewing Co.
What they entered:
How they’re defending their title:
“Our strategy is we’re submitting beers that’ve historically performed well in the past, and that we’ve had time to develop further. We think Archetype will do well in the Historical Beers category—it’s got a pedigree behind it and it’s a really interesting beer. What I love is how it evolves over time—last year’s batch tastes amazing now but is still totally different. We think this year’s is the best so far. With Brett you can have some variability, and this year’s batch is just solid.” – Taylor
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