Virginia Craft Beer Cup 2016 Winners Announced

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Virginia Craft Beer Cup 2016 Winners Announced

Virginia Craft Beer Cup Winners Announced at WestRock Tuesday August 16th

Richmond, Va. - The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild hosted the 2016 Virginia Craft Beer Cup Awards Tuesday August 16th at WestRock in Richmond, Virginia. There were more than 280 brewers in attendance to celebrate excellence in craft beer.

The Virginia Craft Beer Cup competition, managed by master Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judge Tom Cannon, had 378 beers entered for review. The judging took place Saturday, July 30th at Fair Winds Brewing Company in Lorton, Virginia.

"The Virginia Craft Beer Cup recognizes outstanding beer made by some of Virginia's best independent craft brewers," said Brett Vassey, President & CEO, Virginia Craft Brewers Guild. "Congratulations to every competitor and this year's award winners."

  

The 2016 Virginia Craft Beer Cup winners are as follows:

Best of Show

First Place Best of Show	James River Brewery	River Runner ESB
Second Place Best of Show	Old Bust Head Brewing Company	Oktoberfest
Third Place Best of Show	Backroom Brewery	Lemon Basil Wheat Beer

Light American Beer
First	Beer Hound Brewery	Olde Yella
Second	Wolf Hills Brewing Company	Carry on Wheatward Sun
Third	Beer Hound Brewery	Teddy

Czech Lager
First	Port City Brewing Company	Downright Pilsner
Second	Lost Rhino Brewing Company	Rhino Chasers Pilsner
Third	Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery	Pony Pasture Pilsner

Munich Lager
First	Fair Winds Brewing Company	Hells Navigator
Second	Three Notch'd Brewing Company	Brew Betties Maibock
Third	South Street Brewery	My Personal Helles

Kolsch
First	Mad Fox Brewing Company	Kolsch Ale
Second	Ornery Beer Company	Kolsch
Third	Bull and Bones Brewhaus	Kolsch

German Pils and International Lager
First	Sunken City Brewing Company	Dam Lager
Second	Back Bay Brewing Company	Gringo
Third	Escutcheon Brewing Company	John Riggins' 4th & 1 Pilsner

Marzen and Vienna Lager
First	Old Bust Head Brewing Company	Oktoberfest
Second	Starr Hill Brewery	Jomo
Third	Caboose Brewing Company	Crossroads Vienna Lager

German Wheat Beer
First	Lost Rhino Brewing Company	Final Glide HefeWeizen
Second	Starr Hill Brewery	The Love
Third	River Company Brewery	Farmhouse Hefeweizen

British Bitter
First	James River Brewery	River Runner ESB
Second	Lake Anne Brew House	Lord Fairfax English Pale Ale
Third	Port City Brewing Company	Monumental IPA

Old Ale and Wee Heavy
First	Backroom Brewery	The Ferminator
Second	Heritage Brewing Company	King's Mountain
Third	Redbeard Brewing Company	221B Baker Brown

Darker European Beer
First	Ardent Craft Ales	Schwarzbier
Second	Big Ugly Brewing Company	Ghost Rider Porter
Third	Bull and Bones Brewhaus	Appalachia Alt

British Dark Ale
First	Pleasure House Brewing	No Waves
Second	Midnight Brewery	Not My Job
Third	Three Notch'd Brewing Company	No Veto Brown Ale

Irish Red Ale
First	Dirt Farm Brewing	Red Merl
Second	Pale Fire Brewing Company	Red Molly
Third	Capitol City Brewing Company	Irish Red Ale

Irish Stout
First	Backroom Brewery	Oatmeal Stout
Second	Final Gravity Brewing Company	Irish Goodbye
Third	Old 690 Brewing Company	Old 690 Chocolate Milk Stout

American Blonde and Brown Ale
First	Caboose Brewing Company	Caboose Brown Ale
Second	Castleburg Brewery and Taproom	Bishop's Brown Ale
Third	Legend Brewing Company	Brown Ale

American Pale Ale
First	Pro Re Nata Brewing Company	Old Trail Pale Ale
Second	Three Notch'd Brewing Company	Ghost of the 43rd Pale Ale
Third	Beltway Brewing Company	Rain or Shine

American Amber Ale
First	Final Gravity Brewing Company	Fire Station 5
Second	O'Connor Brewing Company	Red Nun Red Ale
Third	Lake Anne Brew House	Reston Red

American Dark Ale
First	Old Ox Brewery	Black Ox
Second	Sunken City Brewing Company	The Columbian Coffee Stout
Third	Port City Brewing Company	Porter

American IPA
First	The Answer	Larceny
Second	Fair Winds Brewing Company	Howling Gale IPA
Third	Old Ox Brewery	Hoppy Place

Specialty IPA
First	Sunken City Brewing Company	Red Clay IPA
Second	Lost Rhino Brewing Company	Dawn Patrol Session IPA
Third	Parkway Brewing Company	Factory Girl Session IPA

Double IPA
First	Final Gravity Brewing Company	Venus Rising
Second	Pale Fire Brewing Company	Village Green
Third	Final Gravity Brewing Company	The Message

Strong Ale
First	Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery	Virginia Black Bear
Second	Triple Crosssing Brewing Company	Black Dolphin
Third	Studio Brew	Czardust

Belgian Blond and Saison
First	The Bold Mariner Brewing Company	Scurvy Dog
Second	The Virginia Beer Company	Saison Tournante
Third	Hardywood Park Craft Brewery	Singel

Sour European Ale
First	Strangeways Brewing	Uberlin Berliner Weisse
Second	Ornery Beer Company	Go Go Gose
Third	Corcoran Brewing	Life Gose Round

Belgian Wit, Pale Ale, and Biere de Garde
First	Starr Hill Brewing Company	Sublime
Second	Bull and Bones Brewhaus	Sun Lit Wit
Third	Reaver Beach Brewing Company	Full Broadside

Strong Belgian Ale
First	Apocalypse Ale Works	Brohead Fred
Second	Garden Grove Brewing Company	Death
Third	Chaos Mountain Brewing	Agents of Chaos

Wild Yeast Specialty Beer
First	Triple Crossing Brewing Company	Brett Saison Annivesary Ale
Second	Reaver Beach Brewing Company	Reaver's Salvation
Third	Reaver Beach Brewing Company	Reaver en Noir

Fruit Beer
First	The Answer	Mami Cereza
Second	Midnight Brewer	Watermelon Lime Kolsch
Third	Big Ugly Brewing Company	Mango Rockers IPA

Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
First	Backroom Brewery	Lemon Basil Wheat Beer
Second	Beer Hound Brewery	Snots
Third	Steam Bell Beer Works	Tiramisu Stout

Specialty and Experimental Beers
First	Parkway Brewing Company	Floyd Fest Hi-Test
Second	South Street Brewery	Peanut Butter Cup Soft-Serv
Third	Fair Winds Brewing Company	Sirens Lure

Smoked or Wood-Aged Beer
First	Legend Brewing Company	Bourbon Barrel Brown
Second	Adventure Brewing Company	2nd Anniversary Barleywine
Third	Ardent Craft Ales	Boubon Barrel Aged Honey Ginger

The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild is a coalition of independent, small and commercial breweries dedicated to growing the craft beer industry in the Commonwealth. 

(left to right) James River Brewery's Blake Sherman (brewer), Shannon Brown (owner), and Carlean Stevens hoist the Craft Brewers Cup.
Photo courtesy Lee Graves.

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Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 29/30, 2016.

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 29/30
17 - 30 July 2016

• 29 July 2016
  SABMiller buys its second 'craft' brewery in as many weeks, Hop Valley Brewing, in Oregon. (On 20 July, it acquired a majority interest in Georgia-based Terrapin Beer Company.)
  —Via Brookston Beer Bulletin.



• 29 July 2016
  Goodbye, Alfred E. Newman. Jack Davis, illustrator for Mad Magazine, dies at 91.
  —Via New York Daily News.


• 29 July 2016
  In November 2015, San Diego, California-based 'craft' brewery Ballast Point was puchased by drinks conglomerate Constellation Brands. Eight months later, Ballast Point's founder Jack White Jr., its brewer/distiller/chief operating officer Yuseff Cherney, its president/chief executive officer, and its chief commercial officer all have 'resigned' during the same week. It's "business as usual," Constellation observed. —Via Brewbound.


• 29 July 2016
  

  While the number of small and independent breweries keeps climbing [a record high of 4,656 breweries were operating in the U.S. as of June 30] and the number of SKUs those breweries make continue to rise, breweries are met with a decreasing number of distributors to sell those products. [SKUs, or “stock keeping units," are the manner in which individual products are differentiated within a store.] According to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, a vertical trade organization for beer distributorships, the number of traditional beer distributors has fallen from 4,595 in 1980 to around 3,000 in 2015. In 1996, the typical distributor delivered 190 unique SKUs. In 2015, the average was 981 SKUs.

  —Via Craftbeer.


• 28 July 2016
  California-headquartered, 'craft' brewery, Stone Brewing releases its first Berlin, Germany-brewed beers.

  For generations, America was considered the laughing stock of the world when it came to beer, and while that old image is now decades out of touch, the former low opinion of American beer still survives in Europe. Stone is proud to be able to demonstrate to Europeans that American craft beer is now a proud and mighty part of our culture in the U.S., which is light years beyond the industrialized beer that Americans were subjected to for so very long.

  —Via BeerPulse.


• 27 July 2016
  After shareholders complained that they hadn't been compensated enough for the pound’s recent plunge after the U.K's vote to leave the European Union, SABMiller managers told employees to halt work knitting together the company with Anheuser-Busch Inbev, thereby threatening the proposed $207 billion merger of the the globe's two largest brewing companies.
  —Via Bloomberg.


• 26 July 2016
  As of the end of June 2016, there were 4,656 breweries operating in the United States, and 2,200 more in planning.
  —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.



• 25 July 2016
  The gorgeous soprano voice behind the camera: Marni Nixon has died at 86.
  —Via [U.S.] New York Times.


• 25 July 2016
  Bye, bye, Yahoo! Verizon to buy most of pioneering internet 'portal' company Yahoo for $4.3 billion. Verizon to combine Yahoo's search, email, messenger, and advertising technology assets with its AOL unit, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion.
  —Via Reuters at Yahoo! News.


• 22 July 2016
  He wasn't a P.T. Barnum writing on the 'art' of the deal but a scientist who investigated the science of the deal. Howard Raiffa, economist who made a science of decision-making, dies at 92.
  —Via Washington Post.



• 20 July 2016
  Anheuser-Busch InBev NV wins U.S. antitrust approval from the Justice Department for its takeover of SABMiller Plc, after the maker of Budweiser agrees to give up ownership of the Miller brand and open the door to greater competition from craft beers.
  • —Via Bloomberg.
  • Statement from the [U.S.] Brewers Association on the ruling: trust but verify.

    While we continue to believe that the merger of the world’s two largest brewers is bad for both the beer industry and consumers, the DOJ’s significant requirements, including the termination of incentive programs such as the Voluntary Anheuser-Busch Incentive for Performance Program (VAIP), a cap on ABI’s self-distribution volume, and other measures to protect distributor independence, appear to address some of our major apprehensions with the merger. With effective enforcement of these provisions, small brewers can rely on their independent distributor partners to access the market. [...] The Brewers Association will closely examine the consent decree and compliance with its provisions, as well as monitor ABI’s actions, specifically with regard to the acquisition of independent craft brewers.

    —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.


• 20 July 2016
  In 2014, U.S. hops acreage grew 10.2%; in 2015, 15.4%. For 2016, hop acreage is up by 18.5%, with 53,213 total acres planted, the most since 1915.
  —Via YFGF.


• 20 July 2016
  MillerCoors purchases Terrapin Brewing, a 'craft' brewery in Athens, Georgia.
  —Via The Full Pint.


• 17 July 2016
  Three police officers shot and killed by single gunman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The incident comes less than two weeks after Alton Sterling’s shooting death by Baton Rouge police officers on July 5, sparking both local and national protests.
  —Via The Atlantic.


• 17 July 2016
  Despite one-third of Austria's grape harvest in 2015 being lost to hail, its 2015 white wines are "among the best in the world in terms of value and quality."
  —Via Dave McIntyre at Washington Post.

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Pic(k) of the Week: In front of Ale Asylum

Now, that's a home for a brewpub: Ale Asylum, of Madison, Wisconsin, in panoramic view, on 24 July 2016, as an early evening sun brought a warm glow to it all.

Successful enough of a brewpub, Ale Asylum, in 2012, would move out of its original digs into this much larger space —complete with three grain silos— and begin packaging its beer for sale off-site.

Ale Asylum. Brewed and bottled in Madison. Fermented in sanity.

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The Champion Beer of Britain 2016, with vanilla tossed in.

Oh, the humanity. A cask-conditioned 'vanilla' stout has won Champion Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival.

Binghams Brewery's Vanilla Stout, brewed in Berkshire, was named the best beer of 2016 at the Champion Beer of Britain Awards Dinner held on Tuesday evening (9 August) at the Hilton Hotel, Olympia, London. Bingham’s Vanilla Stout is a 5 percent Dark Stout infused with vanilla and dark malts to create a smooth and dark beer [...]packed full of comforting flavours.

The Great British Beer Festival (GBBF), now in its 39th year, is Britain’s largest beer festival, with over 50,000 attendees. On the festival tasting floor, there are over 900 (cask-conditioned) real ales ranging from "microbreweries to the most well known British brands, and hundreds of bottled and foreign beers, and a selection of real ciders and perries." (Yes, the Brits still say, "microbrewery"!)

Prior to the festival, tasting panels comprised of CAMRA members (Campaign for Real Ale) judge the beers [ALL CASK-CONDITIONED; the size of the brewery, large or small, notwithstanding] in their geographic area of the UK. The recommendations of these panels are put forward to nine regional panels, with the winners of these qualifying for the finals in August."

Rounding out the champions are

• Old Dairy Brewery in Kent, winning the silver for Snow Top, a 6 percent alcohol-by-volume (abv) Old Ale.
• Tring Brewery in Hertfordshire, winning the bronze for Death or Glory, a Barleywine of 7.2 percent abv.

To repeat, all the beers at the GBBF are judged in cask-conditioned real ale form, thus putting all the breweries, large and small, on an even playing field, in ten categories. By comparison, at the Great American Beer Festival, all beers are judged poured from bottles (or cans), in which the technology of better, and thus more expensive, packaging lines can offer a competitive advantage to those breweries that can afford them. And there are ninety-six categories.

The remainder of this year's GBBF winning beer are, by category:

• Mild Ale
  • Gold
    Williams Bros. Brewing (Alloa, Scotland):
    Black (4.2% abv).
  • Silver Mighty Oak Brewing (Essex, England):
    Oscar Wilde Dark Mild (3.7% abv).
  • Bronze
    Acorn Brewery (South Yorkshire, England):
    Darkness (4.2% abv)
• Bitter
  • Gold
    Timothy Taylor & Company (West Yorkshire, England):
    Boltmaker (4.0% abv).
  • Silver
    Tiny Rebel Brewing (Newport, Wales):
    Hank American Pale Ale (4.0% abv).
  • Bronze (tie)
    Hawkshead Brewery (Cumbria, England):
    Bitter (3.7% abv)
  • Bronze (tie)
    Salopian Brewery (Shropshire, England):
    Shropshire Gold (3.8% abv)
• Best Bitter
  • Gold
    Surry Hills Brewery (Surry, England):
    Shere Drop (4.2% abv).
  • Silver
    Salopian Brewery:
    Darwin's Origin (4.3% abv).
  • Bronze (tie)
    Colchester Brewery (Essex, England):
    Colchester No. 1 (4.1% abv)
  • Bronze (tie)
    Tiny Rebel Brewing:
    Cwtch Welsh Red Ale (4.6% abv)
• Strong Bitter
  • Gold
    Heavy Industry Brewing (Denbighshire, Wales):
    77 (4.9% abv).
  • Silver
    Hawkshead Brewery:
    NZPA New Zealand Pale Ale (6.0% abv).
  • Bronze
    Adnams Southwold (Suffolk, England):
    Darkness (4.5% abv)
• Golden Ales
  • Gold
    Golden Triangle Brewing (Norfolk, England):
    Mosaic City (3.8% abv).
  • Silver
    Grey Trees Brewery (Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales):
    Diggers Gold (4.0% abv).
  • Bronze
    Manchester Marble Beers (Manchester, England):
    Lagonda IPA (5.0% abv)
• Speciality
  • Gold
    Binghams Brewery (Berkshire, England):
    Vanilla Stout (5.0% abv).
    Champion Beer of Britain 2016
  • Silver
    Saltaire Brewery (West Yorkshire, England):
    Triple Chocoholic (4.8% abv).
  • Bronze
    Titanic Brewery (Staffordshire, England):
    Plum Porter (4.9% abv)

Congratulations to all.


******************
Even as I was typing this post, a Twitter post was addressed to me by an ex-pat British brewer, long in the U.S.:

Cleaning casks for a friend and came across a West Coast Porter with peanut butter cups in the cask! Thought of you @Cizauskas. #wtf

— stephen jones (@oliverale) August 10, 2016

A 'craft' beer containing such "traditional" and 'craft'-like ingredients as tert-butyl-hydroquinone and polyglycerol polyricinoleate? Ugh. At least the British specialty casks only contained vanilla, cocoa, chocolate 'essence,' and 'natural' plum flavoring.

You and others can have all that. For me, no cocoa-puffs or dingleberries, please. I'll be happy with a slice of bread, a hunk of cheddar cheese, and a glorious pint of cask conditioned ...

Colchester No. 1
1042 og, ABV 4.1%
A classic English best bitter, copper in colour. Whole leaf Boadicea hops for flavour and the definitive aroma of East Kent Goldings. The same recipe as when it was our first ever brew.

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Announcing the 4th annual North American Guild of Beer Writers competition.

UPDATE: The North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW) has extended the deadline for submissions to the 2016 NAGBW competition to this Friday, 8/26 at midnight (Pacific Time).

*****************
The North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW) has announced its 4th annual Awards for beer writers, bloggers, broadcasters, and authors. If you've written (or broadcast) about beer in the past year, you may submit in one of ten categories:

• Best Beer Book
  Book entries must be original works by an author or co-authors. (Recipe-based cookbooks are eligible in this category or Best Beer and Food Writing the Beer and Food Writing category.)
• Best Local Reporting
  Print or online media covering significant issues of local concern (e.g., alt weeklies, brewspapers, local newspapers).
• Best National/ International Reporting
  Print or online media covering significant issues of national or international concern (eg., magazines, online magazines and newspapers with national/ international circulation or readership).
• Best Beer and Food Writing
  print or online media that places beer in the context of food, including but not limited to recipes and pairings.
• Best Beer and Travel Writing
  Print or online media that transports the reader to a place and provides guidance or insight to the location’s unique features and beer landscape. (Beer travel books are eligible in this category or Best Beer Book.)
• Best Historical/ Technical Beer Writing
  Print or online media that chronicles beer historically or technically (e.g., trade media).
• Best Beer Commentary or Criticism
  Print or online media that provide a position or opinion with clear style and reasoning on a topic relating to the beer industry (e.g., columns, editorials, and first-person pieces).
• Best Short Form Beer Writing
  Beer writing from any publication, online or print, that contains fewer than 600 words.
• Best Beer Podcast/ Broadcast
  Any audio or video series that explores the subject of beer.
• Best Beer Blog
  A blog series that explores the subject of beer.

To be eligible, an entry must have been published on or between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2016, and there is a fee —$15 per entry for NAGBW members; $30 for non-members— which will be used to fund winners' prizes and "modest judge stipends" ("modest" modifying the stipends not the judges). If you're interested in competing, you'll have to hurry. The deadline for submissions is Monday, 22 August.

Winners will be announced —gold, silver, and bronze in each category— on 7 October, during the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. (The names of the judges will be revealed as well.) Good luck!

And while I'm at it ...

If you are an independent beer writer, beer blogger, and/or audio/visual content producer specializing in beer, why not consider joining the NAGBW? Membership is $45 per year.

With the formation of the NAGBW and an annual writing competition, the Guild aims to broaden the conversation about beer and brewing, raise the standards of writing, and provide leadership and continuing education for practitioners of our profession, while also encouraging and supporting more participation throughout all media channels.

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