This year's 3-day Great American Beer Festival in Denver was EPIC: 7,227 entries from 1,752 breweries competing for 286 medals. And our hometown heroes did great as usual—probably better than ever before, actually.
This was the first year OC Weekly was able to cover the festival in person, so forgive me if I didn't try the following, since I'll just get to them this month…HA! But here are our local winners:
- The Bruery took Gold in the American Belgian style Ale category for Mischief! and a silver medal in the Experimental Beer category for something called Wineification II.
- Noble Ale Works won a Silver medal for Nobility in the Imperial IPA category
- B.J.'s Pizza won Gold in Fruited Wood-Barrel Aged Sour category for Razz-Jerry Tart.
- Riip
BrewingBeer Co. from Huntington Beach took Silver for Super Cali IPA in the American IPA category. - Taps Fish House and Brewery won Gold for Silent Warrior, a Wood and Barrel Aged Strong Beer
- Pizza Port in San Clemente won Gold in the Coffee Beer category for Dusk 'till Dawn
- Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach took home a Silver for a Belgian Style Lambic Sour called Chaos is a Friend of Mine.
- And while Karl Strauss is based in San Diego, they've got two OC locations, so #respect to them for their three gold medals (including a win for Best Mid-Sized Brewing Company) and a Silver medal
According to our imperfect archives, this is the biggest haul EVER for OC breweries at the GABF, proof that our scene is getting better every year—BOOM.
Out of the 7,227 entries, I tried about, as Beetlejuice on Howard Stern would say, a thousand. But the one that stood out the most came from Binghampton, New York's Binghampton Brewing Company: XOCOKAHN Mayan Porter (6.6% ABV), with cayenne, coco, cinnamon and vanilla. It was along the lines of Stone's Xocoveza, but spicier!
Again, congrats to all the winners and see ustedes soon!
