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Wednesday, 27 June 2007 00:00 |
At Alaskan Brewing Co., we’re enjoying a heavy medal summer, with four medals from the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest, two awards from the San Diego County Fair and two from the West Coast Brewfest.
At Alaskan Brewing Co., we’re enjoying a heavy medal summer, with four medals from the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest, two awards from the San Diego County Fair and two from the West Coast Brewfest.
“To us, winning these awards means we make high-quality beer that has wide appeal, from San Diego to Idaho Falls,” said General Manager Linda Thomas. “There’s nothing that makes us happier than people who appreciate our beer.”
We were rockin’ when the North American Brewers Association announced the North American Beer Award winners on June 1 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Alaskan Amber won a gold in the Double/Imperial Irish Red Ale category, Alaskan Smoked Porter a gold in Smoke Flavored Beer, Alaskan Raspberry Wheat a silver in Fruit Beers and 2006 Alaskan Big Nugget Barley Wine a bronze in American Barley Wine.
This was the first win for Alaskan Raspberry Wheat, which is a Rough Draft. The Rough Draft program affords brewers a chance to be creative and experimental. Rough Drafts are not widely available, but favorites often end up joining Alaskan’s permanent family of beers.
Judging for the North American Beer Awards was performed in a blind format, and judges included brewmasters, beer journalists and certified judges. It was a very competitive field this year, with more than 1,000 beers entered.
The North American Brewers beer competition is part of the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest, which drew about 5,000 craft beer lovers and more than 100 breweries. The annual event raises money for local charities. This year’s event raised more than $40,000.
We also were among more than 50 craft brewers from all over the country that entered the first annual Craft Brewers Festival & Competition at the San Diego County Fair, and we were rewarded with two honors. Our Alaskan Smoked Porter took first place in the Smoke flavored and Wood-aged Beer category and Alaskan Amber took second in the Amber Hybrid Beer.
More than 250 beers were entered the inaugural competition, which was held June 9 at the fairgrounds in Del Mar, Calif. More than 1.2 million visitors are expected to attend the San Diego County Fair by its closing on July 4th.
The wins at the San Diego County Fair came on the heels of our recognition at the West Coast Brewfest commercial craft competition in Sacramento, Calif., on May 19. Alaskan Smoked Porter took second place in the Other category and Alaskan Amber placed third in Mixed. |
