Appalachia breweries medal at GABF

While West Virginia brewers were again shut out of the medals at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), eight other Appalachian-region breweries did manage to take home awards. GABF is the largest and most prestigious beer competition for breweries in the United States.

Breweries from Appalachia took two golds, three silvers, and three bronze medals at the awards ceremony on Saturday in Denver. 

One more time for Vienna Lager

Already a multiple gold-medal winning beer, Devils Backbone Brewing Company scored yet another gold for its Vienna Lager. This is a nearly unheard of accomplishment for a brewery. The beer was brewed by Devils Backbone-Outpost in Lexington, Virginia. Last year, Outpost was named GABF’s medium-sized brewery of the year.

Shortly after the medal was announced, a spokesperson posted on the brewery’s Facebook page, “We’re super psyched to share that our Vienna Lager won gold at GABF 2015…. VA beers got it going on y’all!”

Fonta Flora Brewery gets a well-deserved gold

Fonta Flora Brewery of Morganton, North Carolina, put an exclamation point on its brewing program by snagging a GABF gold medal for the second year in a row. This year it took first place in the Field Beer category. It’s Beets, Rhymes & Life impressed the judges in one of the more broad competition categories. Fonta Flora excels in making creative beers flavored with locally sourced vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs.

Beets, Rhymes & Life is a saison-style ale that includes local Bulls Blood beets from Bluebird Farm operated by William Lyons in Morganton.

Pernicious IPA captures 2nd place in hottest category

Another significant accomplishment was achieved by Wicked Weed Brewing Company in taking the silver medal in American-style IPA, the festival’s most competitive category. The Asheville brewer’s Pernicious IPA scored second best out of 336 entries in the category.

About the win, the brewery commented, “We could not be more excited and honored.” Pernicious IPA is brewed at Wicked Weed’s new production brewery in Candler, NC.

Medals spread across region

Appalachian-region brewers spread the medals around with Pennsylvania’s earning three, North Carolina’s two, and one each for Tennessee, Alabama, and Virginia.

Other winners from Appalachia included:

• Silver in Historical Beer Category for Dortmund Amberbier by Blue Pants Brewery of Madison, Alabama;
• Silver in American-Belgo-syyle Ale for Summer Saison by Blackberry Farm Brewery of Walland, Tennessee;
• Bronze in Specialty Beer category for Pack Dog Peanut Butter Ale by Marley’s Brewery of Bloomsbury, Pennsylvania;
• Bronze in Belgian-style Tripel for Millennium Trippel by Church Brew Works/Lawrenceville Brewery of Pittsburgh, Pensylvania; and
• Bronze in Munich-style Helles for Goldencard Lager by Susquehanna Brewing Company of Pittston, Pennsylvania.

Two breweries represented West Virginia

Two West Virginia breweries attended the festival and served beer samples to the record crowd.

Morgantown Brewing Company of Morgantown, WV, sampled its Alpha Blond Ale, Oktoberfest Lager, Jesco’s White IPA, Eighty Shilling Scotch Ale, and Coal City Stout. Morgantown Brewing also participated in GABF last year.

Big Timber Brewing Company of Elkins, WV, made its first trip to the festival this year. It offered samples of Big Timber Porter, Poplar Session IPA,  Bourbon Barrel Porter, Pale Ale, and Dry Stout.

Another West Virginia brewer, Josh Clark, attended the festival this year but his brewery did not take part in the beer sampling. Clark is brewer at Wheeling Brewing Company in Wheeling, WV.

Huntington WV homebrewers attend festival

The festival has always been a big draw for craft beer lovers from Appalachia who make the trek to Denver each September.

Travis King and Brian Staley represented the Greater Huntington Homebrewers Association at the festival. It was their second  trip to the festival, having also attended in 2012.

Medals for other nearby states

While medals by state tend to vary greatly from year to year, some states nearby West Virginia did well at the 2015 GABF. Ohio brewers had a great year by winning 10 medals, four of which were gold. Fat Heads brewery led the way with four medals. For more information on Ohio brewery medals follow this link to the Ohio Beer Blog.

Virginia brewers had another good year winning nine medals, three of which were gold. Port City Brewing Company was named Small Brewing Company of the Year, For more information on Virginia brewery medals follow this link to the Virginia Beer Trail.

North Carolina breweries took home eight medals this year. compared to six in 2014. Two were golds. For more information on North Carolina brewery medals follow this link to Charlotte Beer.

Pennsylvania brewers had their usual nice showing winnings eight medals, including one gold. Maryland and Kentucky breweries took one medal each. For a complete listing of all medals and awards, follow this link.

Largest GABF ever

GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world. Now in its 29th year, the 2015 competition surpassed all previous participation records, exceeding last year’s record-setting competition.

Award-winning brewers received gold, silver, and bronze medals in 92 beer categories covering 145 different beer styles (including all subcategories), establishing the best examples of each style in the country. The Brewer’s Association said winners were chosen from 6,647 competition entries (20 percent more than in 2014) from 1,552 breweries hailing from 50 states plus Washington, DC.

Brilliant Stream congratulates all our Appalachian brewers who competed at this year’s GABF. And many kudos to those who won the medals.