2beerguys beer blog

2012 World Beer Cup – New England Breweries bring home 3 golds and 6 silver medals

Congratulations to New England Breweries for bring home 9 World Beer Cup Medals!

During the 2012 Craft Brewers Conference, held in San Diego last week, 99 breweries entered 3,921 beers in the 2012 World Beer Cup Competition.  The competition is held every other year and the 2012 event included breweries from 54 countries competed for a gold medals in 95 beer style categories.  Out of the 285 medals awarded, New England Breweries brought home 9 medals, which include 3 golds and 6 silver medals.

Tip of the hat to all who entered and especially to the breweries that were awarded medals:

• Category 6: Herb and Spice Beer, 80 Entries
• Gold: Sgt. Pepper, Cambridge Brewing Co., Cambridge, MA
• Category 9: Specialty Beer, 38 Entries
• Silver: Maple Tripple, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Warren, VT  (which also was awarded a Bronze in 2010)
• Category 18: American-Style Sour Ale, 14 Entries
• Silver: Mattina Rossa, Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, ME
• Category 21: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, 91 Entries
• Gold: Samuel Adams Utopias 2011, The Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA
• Category 55: Belgian-Style Witbier, 50 Entries
• Gold: Allagash White, Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, ME (which also was awarded a Gold in 2010)
• Category 60: Belgian-Style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale, 16 Entries
•  Silver: Monomoy Kriek, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket, MA
• Category 73: English-Style Brown Ale, 30 Entries
•  Silver: Nut Brown Ale, Redhook Ale Brewery, Woodinville, WA (and Portsmouth, NH) (which was awarded a Bronze in 2010 entered as the “Mudslinger Ale”)
• Category 75: Robust Porter, 68 Entries
•  Silver: Pro-Am Porter, Wormtown Brewery, Worcester, MA
• Category 79: British-Style Imperial Stout, 40 Entries
•  Silver: Luscious, The Alchemist, Waterbury, VT

Having enjoyed most of these beers, and the ones that I have had are top-notch!

Congrats and good luck to all New England Breweries next year.

Sean

2Beerguys.com

2012 World Beer Cup Winners Announced

Exceptional beers and brewers recognized in the largest global competition

BOULDER, CO • May, 2012—Brewers from around the world received awards from an elite international panel of judges in the 2012 Brewers Association World Beer Cup. The ninth bi-annual competition boasted the strongest field of entrants on record, with 799 breweries from 54 countries and 45 U.S. states entering 3,921 beers in 95 beer style categories. A 17.7 percent increase over 2010, the entries were eligible for gold, silver and bronze awards in their respective categories. Judges presented a total of 284 awards.

A detailed analysis of the entries and awards can be found in the 2012 World Beer Cup Fact Sheet (PDF).

“It’s called ‘The Olympics of Beer Competition’ for good reason,” said Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association, the U.S.-based trade association that has put on the competition every two years since 1996. “The event brings together great brewers from all corners of the globe. Plus, the awards are highly regarded. A brewer who wins a World Beer Cup gold award knows that their winning beer represents the best of that beer style in the world. Congratulations to all the winners of the 2012 World Beer Cup. The Brewers Association and the proud sponsors of our event thank all participating brewers for their involvement.”

Judges

The 2012 judging panel was the largest and most international in the history of the World Beer Cup. Judges from 27 countries conducted blind tasting evaluations of the beers to determine the winners. Drawn from the ranks of professional brewers and brewing industry experts, these 211 judges came mostly from international breweries, with some 67 percent from outside the U.S. In addition to the judging panel, over 250 volunteers helped sort beer entries and steward the competition.

The judging criteria are exacting—some categories are not given the full slate of awards if the panel decides that the entries do not merit recognition.

Award Highlights and Trends

Highlights from the competition:

• The average number of beers entered per category was 41.
• The category with the most entries was American-Style India Pale Ale, with 150 entries. The second most-entered category was Imperial India Pale Ale, with 93 entries. The German-Style Sour Ale category had the fewest number of entries at 11.
• The 2012 World Beer Cup saw substantial growth of entries in the American-Style India Pale Ale category. Category entries grew 41.5 percent over 2010 to make it the largest category of the 2012 competition.
• Additionally, Champion Brewery and Champion Brewmaster awards are given in each of five brewery categories based on the awards won by each brewery in the given size category.

The five Champion Brewery/Brewmaster award winners are:

• Small Brewing Company Category Brauerei Michael Plank, Michael Plank
• Mid-Size Brewing Company Category Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Matthew Brynildson
• Large Brewing Company Category AB InBev, Claudio Ferro
• Small Brewpub Category Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant-Media, Iron Hill Brewery Team
• Large Brewpub Category Pelican Pub & Brewery, Darron R S Welch

The complete list of award winners is available for download.

Presenting Sponsor Krones, and Partner Sponsors Ball, Barth-Haas Group, Sahm, Siemens and Verallia, proudly supported the 2012 World Beer Cup.

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About the Brewers Association

The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America, SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience and American Craft Beer Week. The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine and its Brewers Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and relevant brewing literature for today’s craft brewers and homebrewers.

Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.