Big congratulations are needed for a few of our local breweries as they bring home some medals from this year’s Indiana Brewers’ Cup at the Indiana State Fair as well as the U.S. Open Beer Championship in Oxford, Ohio.
The Indiana Brewers’ Cup
The professional category of the competition saw 650 entries, and out of those we had three local breweries and five different medals left after the dust settled.
Christian Moerlein
- Saengerfest – The delicous Maibock won first place in the Bock Category
- Hudepohl Pure Lager – One of my go-to beers, it won second place as a Hybrid Amber Beer
- Third Wave IPA – This new addition to the Moerlein family brought home second place in ‘American IPA’
Rhinegeist
- Streaker – I love this beer, and it seems the judges did too! It got a first place in the American Ale category
Rock Bottom
- Three Pepper Ale – Don’t overlook Cincinnati’s oldest craft brewery in my book, the won second place in the big Spice/Herb/Vegetable category.
The U.S. Open Beer Championship
This massive competition saw nearly 5000 beers competing for medals in over 90 different style categories. Out of that, our local breweries managed to bring home 4 medals:
MadTree
- Identity Crisis – this favorite of so many people around Cincy brought home a bronze medal in the American Style Black Ale category.
Quarter Barrel
- Chapeau Gris – this Saison brought home a Gold medal in the French/Belgian Saison category.
- Sestina – brought home a bronze medal in the “out of bounds” IPA category.
Rhinegeist
- Puma – won a gold medal in the international style Pilsner category.
Don’t think that this is trivial information when you look at brewery awards. It’s all a piece of the bigger puzzle that makes our city attract other beer drinkers. The more medals that we bring home in these competitions, the more that people hear about what is happening in our beer scene. And that is good for all of us!