The winners in the 2015 United States Open Beer Championship have been announced, and Florida breweries did well, bringing home a dozen medals between them.
Cigar City Brewing placed fifth in the Top 10 breweries, based on the number of medals it received. Also, in the playful “Judges Award” for “Most Creative Names,” Sarasota’s Big Top Brewing Company came in ninth for its Pumpkin Stiltskin.
Congratulations to all the winners.
Here’s a list of the Florida breweries and the awards each garnered.
Motorworks Brewing
Bronze in Imperial IPA category for Two Stroke.
Florida Beer Company
- Silver in Robust Porter for Gaspar’s Porter.
- Gold in American Premium Lager for Florida Lager.
- Silver in English Cider for Kelly’s Traditional Hard Cider.
Cigar City Brewing
- Gold in Imperial Stout for Marshal Zhukov’s.
- Bronze in Strong Scottish Ale for Big Sound.
- Silver in Belgian Witbier for Florida Cracker.
- Gold in Strong Imperial Brown Ale for Bolita.
Cigar City Brewpub
- Gold in Robust Porter for Cacique.
- Bronze in Chocolate/Cocoa Beer for Popol Vuh.
Cigar City Cider and Mead
Gold in Fruit Ciders for Rambunctious.
Green Bench Brewing
Bronze in French/Belgian Saison for Les Grissettes.
From the international competition’s website:
Oxford, OH (July 4, 2015) – Breweries from China to the Czech Republic sent in almost 4,000 beers and ciders representing 90 different styles for the 2015 U.S. Open Beer Championship. This competition includes professional breweries and award-winning home-brewers. Today, judges from England, Canada and the U.S. announced the winners.
More than 20 international breweries from Australia, China, Czech Republic, Venezuela, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Scotland and England competed.
Ballast Point Brewing in San Diego, California was named Grand National Champion by winning three gold medals and one silver medal. Their three beers that were awarded gold medals were Ballast Point Pale Ale, Calico Amber Ale and Sculpin IPA.
Lakewood Brewing from Garland, Texas place second while Revelry Brewing of Charleston, South Carolina took home third.
Judging in the U.S. Open Beer Championships is blind; the judges do not know what beers they are tasting.
Gold medal winners from last year’s American Homebrewers Association’s National Homebrew Competition also competed. Homebrewer Scott Hinson took home a silver medal for his YYY’s Man Says in the German Wheat Category while Jeff Carlson grabbed the bronze medal for his Westside Sweet Heat spiced cider.
“It’s amazing what brewers will do to enter the U.S. Open. In the past, brewers have personally delivered their craft beers from Columbia and Brazil. This year, Joshua Deitner from Shanghai Brewery in China traveled 7,263 miles to deliver his beers personally,” said Dow Scoggins, Director of the U.S. Open. He added that the effort paid off: Shanghai Brewery’s Imperial American Brown Ale was awarded a silver medal.
In addition to craft beer, hundreds of ciders were sent to the U.S. Open. This was the second year that the U.S. Open has judged ciders. 2 Towns Ciderhouse from Corvallis, Oregon was name Cidery of the Year. The cider judges wanted to commend Appalachian Brewery and Cidery for their creativity and imagination. Unfortunately, most of their ciders were entered in the same category and only took home 1 medal.
Other “winners” from The U.S. Open Beer Championship are the Oxford and Cincinnati Soccer Clubs and YMCA Camp – Campell Gard, which benefited through the donation of hundreds of ice packs used to pack and deliver U.S. Open Beer entries.
The U.S. Open also puts on the “Beer Academy” in Oxford, Ohio. All proceeds go the the Oxford Community Art Center.
