Holy smokes, Big Timber Porter does it again

Having your beer win a World Beer Cup® (WBC) medal once is quite an accomplishment — one for which any brewer would be most proud. But to have that same beer winning a World Beer Cup medal for a second year in a row — that places you in very rarified air.

That’s exactly what Big Timber Brewing (BTB) accomplished this year with its Porter. When the Medal Awards were announced yesterday from the 2024 World Beer Cup in Las Vegas, Big Timber Porter took home the Gold Medal in its Robust Porter style category.

WOW!!! West Virginia beer fans should be proud of this feat. It’s so tough to repeat medaling two years in a row at World Beer Cup. Last year (2023), Big Timber Porter beer won the Bronze Medal in its category. This year, competing against 62 other robust porters from across the planet, Big Timber Porter bested them all.

We had to talk with Matt

We couldn’t wait to talk with Matt Kwasniewski, Big Timber’s co-owner and leader of its brewing program.

“We’re super pumped about getting this news the week before our 10-year anniversary,” Matt explained. “It’s really great to win the Gold in the Porter category, especially since our Porter has now medaled three years in a row at one of the Brewers Association competitions.”

Big Timber’s 10th anniversary celebration comes up on Saturday, May 4, in Elkins. Read about it here.

WV’s most-medaled brewery

Big Timber Brewing is not only West Virginia’s largest craft brewery but also its most-medaled one at top national competitions. In 2022, it took silver at the Great American Beer Festival to go along with its World Beer Cup medals in 2023 and 2024.

Brewers tend to enter only their very best beers in the World Beer Cup® competition. It’s too expensive and too time-consuming to enter a bunch of beers that won’t really compete well with the best in their style categories.

Then, if they win at WBC, brewers know the resulting publicity will make it all worthwhile. While the bragging rights help ring cash registers, a gold medal also brings big-time, good vibes to the brewing team. That gold medal euphoria makes all the years of hard work worthwhile.

What do you do next?

“We’re always looking for ways to improve our beer,” says Matt. “And we always have a hard time finding anything to improve on with the Porter. Pulling a gold at World Beer Cup is awesome because it helps confirm what we’re finding.”

You’d have to agree that Matt, along with his brewers Chris Newsom and Brian Reymiller, and the entire Big Timber team, have their Porter recipe and brewing process nailed down. It makes you want to Ax for a Big Timber. We hope everyone in our WV craft beer community will drink one to celebrate this gold medal victory.

We asked Matt what his guys were going to do for an encore.

“It was always a goal of ours to medal, and then we wanted to get a gold. So now the goal is to maintain that standard with Porter and try to reach it with some of our other beers.”

Hopefully, we’ll be writing an article next year about another Big Timber medaling beer. Links to past BTB Porter medaling articles: 2022 and 2023

Background on the 2024 World Beer Cup

Las Vegas • April 24, 2024—The World Beer Cup (WBC), the largest beer competition in the world hosted by the Brewers Association (BA)—the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American craft brewers—honored the best beers in 110 categories covering 172 different beer styles (including all subcategories).

The World Beer Cup awards ceremony was held on April 24, 2024, on the final day of the Craft Brewers Conference® & BrewExpo America® at the Venetian Convention and Expo Center in Las Vegas, NV. Throughout 14 sessions spanning seven days, a panel of 280 judges hailing from 37 countries meticulously evaluated 9,300 entries. Representing 2,060 breweries across 50 nations, this year’s World Beer Cup competition solidified its status as the premier international professional beer contest.

“Each award represents not only exceptional quality but also innovation and creativity, driving the global craft beer industry forward,” said Chris Williams, World Beer Cup competition director. “This year’s winners exemplify the spirit of craftsmanship and ingenuity and showcase the diverse flavors and techniques that make beer an art form. Congratulations to this year’s winners for their outstanding achievements in brewing.”

WORLD BEER CUP COMPETITION STATISTICS

1.    15th competition (skipped 2020; annualized starting 2022) 
2.    Entries: 9,300
3.    Breweries: 2,060
4.    International breweries: 25%
5.    Countries: 50
6.    First-time brewery entries: 436
7.    Judges: 280
8.    International judges: 103
9.    Judge countries: 37
10. First-time judges: 39
11. Judging sessions and days: 7 days, 14 sessions
12. Beer style categories: 110
13. Beer styles: 172 (includes all subcategories) 
14. Avg number of beers in each category: 54

Most entered style categories:

1.    Category 109, Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale: 326 entries
2.    Category 110, West-Coast Style India Pale Ale: 281 entries
3.    Category 40, German-Style Pilsener: 221 entries
4.    Category 108, American-Style India Pale Ale: 213 entries
5.    Category 29, Wood & Barrel-Aged Strong Stout: 198 entries

Category 86: Robust Porter – 63 Entries

Gold: Porter, Big Timber Brewing Co., Elkins, WV
Silver: Peaklet Porter, Mountain Rambler Brewery, Bishop, CA
Bronze: Blimp Hangar, Tustin Brewing Co., Tustin, CA

The 2024 World Beer Cup competition was made possible by the generous support of its sponsors: ABS Commercial, Fermentis, First Key, Haas, Rahr Malting Co, Sahm, and Siemens.