2009 GABF Results

The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) Competition continued its record setting ways, crushing last year's entries by 16%. GABF remains the largest commercial beer competition in the world with 3,308 entries.

Colorado and California typically dominate the competition each year for the most medals won by each state, with Colorado breweries and brewpubs coming out ahead for 2009.

The top five medal winning states were: CO (45), CA (39), OR (22), WA (13), PA (12).

The GABF competition attracted 132 international beer judges from ten countries. Award-winning brewers received prestigious gold, silver and bronze medals in 78 beer categories, establishing the best examples of each style in the U.S.

2009 Brewery and Brewer of the Year Awards:
Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO; Dr. David Ryder

Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Crosby & Baker Ltd.
Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD; Robert Malone

Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Microstar Keg Management
Dry Dock Brewing Company, Aurora, CO; Dry Dock Brewing Team

Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group
Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA; Pizza Port Brew Guys

Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.
Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA; Will Kemper

The most competitive category was American Style India Pale Ale with 134 entries. The gold medal went to Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA for Union Jack for the second straight year. The second most hotly contested category was Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer with 110 entries (up from 79 in 2008). The gold medal went to Arcadia Brewing Co., Battle Creek, MI for Cereal Killer Barleywine.

Great American Beer Festival 2009 Statistics:
457 breweries in the festival hall
2,100 beers served at the festival
49,000 attendees (includes brewers, volunteers and ticket holders)
3,000 volunteers
495 breweries in the competition
3,308 beers judged in the competition
78 categories judged + Pro-Am category
132 judges from ten countries
Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 42
Category with highest number of entries: 134, American Style India Pale Ale

Brewpublic Turns 1 Year Old

Celebrate Brewpublic's 1 Year Anniversary with a special event at one of Portland's best craft beer bars, Saraveza (1004 N. Killingsworth, PDX, OR).

Join them Friday, October 9th for a stellar line-up of world class beer.

What will be pouring:
*Lagunita's Fresh Hopped Mystery Brew (Lagunita's Brewing, Petaluma, California)
*Caldera Ginger Pale Ale (Caldera Brewing/Ashland, Oregon)
*Hitachino Nest XH Shocyu Sake Barrel-aged Strong Ale (Kiuchi Brewery/Naka, Ibaraki, Japan)
*Sierra Nevada Chico Estate Harvest Ale (Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico, California)
*Urthel Hop-It Belgian IPA (De Leyerth Brouwerijen, Ruiselede, Belgium
*Lucky Labrador Pavlov Port Barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout (Lucky Lab, Portland, Oregon)
*Schneider Hopfen-Weisse Weizenbock (Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn GmbH, Kelheim, Germany w/Brooklyn Brewing, Brooklyn, New York)
*Upright Turkey on Rye Chili Brew (Upright Brewing, Portland, Oregon)
...and more!

There will also be giveaways, cake, and a special video art installation by artist, Matthew DiTullo.

Cascade Brewing takes Gold and Silver medals at 2009 GABF

Cascade Brewing continued its winning ways at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition, taking home the top two medals in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category: a gold medal for Bourbonic Plague and a silver for Vlad the Imp Aler. A total of 45 beers were entered in the class.

GABF award winners were announced Saturday in Denver, Colorado.

Brewmaster Ron Gansberg, production brewer Curtis Bain and brewery owner Art Larrance were all in attendance for the announcement, and were thrilled with the outcome.

"It's accreditation and acknowledgment of what we're doing across the broad field of our industry at this moment," explained Gansberg, who has developed a reputation for pioneering the Northwest Sour Beer Style. "Assessing these beers is a very serious endeavor for the judging panel and it's completely altruistic. There's no agenda: it's about tasting beers and selecting the best."

Added Gansberg, "The brewing industry is vibrant and always changing, but at that moment, when they were judged, our beers were considered the finest in their field."

The gold-medal winning Bourbonic Plague is a Belgian Spiced Double Porter aged for more than six months in bourbon barrels filled with dates. A wild-yeast blended beer, Vlad the Imp Aler is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale derived from a blend of oak barrel-aged 23- and 25-degree Plato sour blonde quadruppel, sour bourbon barrel tripel and sour strong spiced blonde.

The GABF medal wins in the sour category reinforce Cascade Brewing's mission to create full-bodied, sophisticated barrel-aged Northwest sour beers. Beer lovers in Portland have long recognized Cascade Brewing as a brewery to watch as it creates masterful sour beers through yeast and barrel-aging under the direction of Gansberg.

This marked the second year Cascade Brewing has entered the GABF; in 2008, it took home a Bronze medal for its Cascade Kriek, a Flanders Style Red Ale re-fermented with a sweet blend of fresh whole northwest cherries.

GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world with 3,308 entries. This year's competition attracted 132 international beer judges from 10 countries. Award-winning brewers received prestigious gold, silver and bronze medals in 78 beer categories, establishing the best examples of each style in the US.

Cascade Brewing was in stellar company, joining 21 other Oregon craft breweries with its medal wins!

Sampson Joins the ECB Team

President David Stark of Eugene City Brewery has formally appointed Nate Sampson to the brewer position in his cabinet. After spending the last 22 years studying and working in the field of microbiology, Nate realized his true passion in this world; brewing. Nate started home brewing in 1992 and became the President of the Cascade Brewers Society in Eugene. The society meets once a month in the Tiki room at the Eugene City Brewery and now Nate has become the brewer of his home brewing stomping grounds. In his previous life Nate was a sponsored amateur skateboarder and a semi-professional pilot. Nate’s best friend in the entire world is his 10 year old daughter, Rhiannon.

The Eugene City Brewery’s award winning ales include 200 Meter Ale, Honey Orange Wheat, and Triple Jump.

200 Meter Ale
2009 World Beer Championships — Silver
2009 New Zealand International Beer Awards — Bronze
2009 Australian International Beer Awards — Bronze

Honey Orange Wheat
2008 World Beer Championships — Silver
2008 Australian International Beer Awards — Bronze
2008 U.S. Beer Tasting Championships — Pacific N.W. Champ

Triple Jump
2009 World Beer Championship — Gold
2008 U.S. Beer Tasting Championships — Pacific N.W. Champ
2008 New Zealand International Beer Awards — Best in Class; Silver
2008 North American Beer Awards — Silver

Meet the Brewer!

Join the kids from Block 15 tomorrow at the Green Dragon (928 SE 9th, PDX) and get your beer on!

SeaPort Offers a Direct Flight to Yakima for Fresh Hop Fest

For one weekend only, SeaPort Airlines will be transporting “Hop Heads” direct to Yakima for the 7th Annual Fresh Hop Ale Festival.

On October 3rd, SeaPort Airlines will offer a direct flight from their private PDX terminal to Yakima, WA making the Fresh Hop Ale Festival more accessible to the Portland Metro area. SeaPort Air will deliver festival-goers on Saturday, October 3rd from PDX at 2:30pm direct to Yakima and bring them back to Portland on Sunday, October 4th at 11:30am. The cost is $298 roundtrip, subject to a $3.60 Federal Segment Fee.

“I’ve attended this festival and look forward to it every year,” says Kent Craford, President of SeaPort Airlines. “The only thing better than attending the Fresh Hop Ale Festival is avoiding the drive home!” Nothing celebrates the superior taste of craft beer better – and the fact that Yakima produces 77% of the US hop crop – than the 7th Annual Fresh Hop Ale Festival.

For a brew to be considered a “fresh hop ale” for the festival competition, it must be produced with hops that were picked no more than 24 hours prior to brewing. Brewers then bring their freshly brewed kegs of beer to the fest, where an expert panel of judges, selects first, second, and third place Fresh Hop Ales. Festival-goers also vote, with their taste buds, and a “Most Pours Award” crowns the crowd favorite.

Come to the source: Saturday, October 3, 2009, 6pm-11pm (21 and over only, ID required) at the Millennium Arts Plaza downtown Yakima. Tickets are $30 in advance, or $35 at the gate. Hilton Garden Inn room packages are available by calling 509.454.1111. All festival proceeds benefit the Allied Arts of Yakima Valley (est. 1962) – a nonprofit organization dedicated to the coordination and promotion of arts events and programs in the valley.

1st Annual Beer Can Derby

The Greenwood Pub Association presents the 1st Annual Beer Can Derby to benefit Northwest Harvest. Join the fun on Saturday, October 3rd at Naked City Brewery & Taphouse in the Greenwood Neighborhood (8564 Greenwood Avenue N., Seattle, WA 98103)

To enter the race: Entry fee is one can of food. Contestants design and construct race cars, which must contain at least one recognizably whole and uncrushed beer can. Please pre-register with Rachaal Steele (rachaal@nakedcitybrewing.com, 206.838.6299) to insure entry.

For Full Tournament Rules visit: here

Sponsored by New Belgium Brewing and Oskar Blues Brewing

The Greenwood Pub Association (GPA) is proud to announce the 1st Annual Beer Can Derby to benefit Northwest Harvest and to celebrate Great Beer in north Seattle. All profits go directly to Northwest Harvest.

GPA was founded to celebrate and promote great food, craft beer, and community involvement in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood.

Beer Northwest Pairing Dinner

TASTE may be known for its “all northwest” wine program with awards from the Washington Wine Commission, but they also support the local microbrew community.

This fall they'll be celebrating this relationship with a Northwest beer dinner on October 21st in collaboration with Beer Northwest Magazine.

Featuring signature brews from Pike, Dick’s and Elysian Brewing Companies, the menu will include TASTE’s signature “flight and bites” (3 bites perfectly paired with 3 tastes of beer) to start, followed by two entrees and a sweet to finish; a steal at only $60 per person plus tax and gratuity.

Details:
Beer Dinner | featuring Pike Pub and Brewery, Dick’s and Elysian Brewing Companies
Oct. 21, 6 p.m. reception; 6:30 p.m. dinner
$60 per person
Space is extremely limited. Call 206-903-5291 or email here to reserve.

Menu: flight & bites
Pizzette | lemongrass salumi, coconut crème, basil
Dick’s Bavarian Style Hefeweizen

Sweet corn grits | caramelized onions, peanut butter, fried sage
Pike Monk’s Uncle Tripel Ale

Fried calzone | italian sausage, provolone, tomato-fennel ketchup
Elysian Loser Pale Ale

Seared scallop | sweet, sour & spicy pickle
Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA

Brown butter gnocchi | house-foraged chanterelles, cream
Dick’s Silk Lady Belgian Style Golden Ale

Warm chocolate doughnettes | stout panna-cotta cappuccino
Pike Entire Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

Lompoc Brewing Hosts End of Summer Brewers BBQ

Tickets are on sale now for Lompoc Brewing's End of Summer Brewer's BBQ, a laid-back brewers dinner featuring a five-course menu served family style and paired with select barrel aged Lompoc beers. The event will take place Oct. 3 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Sidebar, Lompoc's new tasting room located at 3901A N. Williams, as well as inside the brewery. Lompoc's staff of brewers will be onsite to mix and mingle. Tickets are limited in number and cost $50.

The menu begins with pineapple and lime glazed tuna and black tiger prawn skewers paired with Summer Sunset Saison. The dry and earthy Belgian style saison is brewed with imported Pilsner malt. Its explosive citrus aroma comes from a late addition of fresh grapefruit rinds along with whole black peppercorns and candied ginger for a hint of spice (5.8% ABV, 15 IBU).

The second course of grilled vegetable caponata is coupled with Smoked Gold, a twist on the brewery's popular Fool's Gold that includes the addition of beechwood smoked malt for a subtle note of wood smoke (4.6% ABV, 16 IBU).

Course three features Cape Town lamb with a spicy sweet mint sauce, served with Barrel Fermented C-Note. Lompoc's best selling beer is 100% fermented in a vintage white English oak barrel for pine and caramel flavors with a touch of oak at the finish (6.9% ABV, 100 IBU).

The fourth course of Memphis style baby back ribs is paired with Bourbon Barrel Aged LSD, a deep mahogany strong ale crafted with seven specialty malts and aged in Bourbon barrels for three months, then cellared for an additional 10 (6.9% ABV, 58 IBU).

The final course is smoked stuffed pears with a Monster Mash caramel sauce, paired with Lompoc's Halloween seasonal, Monster Mash. An imperial porter, Monster Mash is a dark ale with strong chocolate and roast flavors and a touch of red fruit (8% ABV, 50 IBU).

Tickets must be purchased in advance by Sept. 30. Click the button below to buy now, or call 503.288.3996 for more info.

Call for Volunteers!

The Green Dragon is looking for volunteers to help out with the First Annual Mini Beer Fest at THIS WEEKEND.

If you have some time you would like to donate, and you are OLCC certified (with license) give Grant a shout at: 503.551.8505

In addition to being a part of this brand new event, you will be thanked for your time with Rogue and Green Dragon products.