Latest news with #GreatAmericanBeerFestival
Forbes
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Great American Beer Festival Adds Seven New Beer Styles To Awards List
Winners celebrate on stage at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival. Don Tse The Brewers Association, the trade association representing America's small and independent breweries, annually organizes and hosts both the Great American Beer Festival, which, in addition to a public beer festival, gives awards to the best beers brewed in America, and the World Beer Cup, the largest beer competition in the world. 'We have a forum to get ongoing feedback. That includes beer judges and brewers,' said Chris Williams, competition director at the Brewers Association in a telephone interview. The Association's style guidelines are indicative of beer styles currently brewed by American craft breweries, driven both by increasing popularity of historic beer styles, or newly invented beer styles. The forum discusses increasingly popular beer styles, which the Association then monitors, adding them to its style guidelines when it deems them worthy. In this way, the Association's style guidelines are reflective of the beer market, rather than trying to be prescriptive. But once a beer style has been identified by the Association as being popular enough to merit its own category in the guidelines, 'it helps breweries and consumers to know what to expect,' said Williams. The Association's style guidelines provide not only sensory descriptions of beer styles, but technical parameters, such as alcohol content, color and hop levels. 'We are an American association, so our style guidelines reflect this market,' said Williams. While the Association continuously monitors market trends, the style guidelines are typically only updated once per year, ahead of the Great American Beer Festival. This allows breweries wanting to enter beers into the competition time to react to the guidelines. The Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines are used to judge beers at the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup, both of which are organized by the Brewers Association. Judges award beers for adherence to the style guidelines, as well as overall quality of the beer. Breweries entering beers into the competition choose which category they wish the beer to be judged as, so an otherwise great tasting beer might not win an award if it does not adhere to the guidelines of the category in which it is entered. The Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines are different from the BJCP Beer Style Guidelines which are published by a different organization geared more toward homebrewing, though the BJCP guidelines are often used in commercial beer competitions as well. While the Brewers Association updates its style guidelines annually, the BJCP last updated its style guidelines in 2021. The new additions to the Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines are: Four styles—Light, Pale, Amber, and Dark—that represent the range of Mexican-Style Lager. These beers had previously been included within larger, more ambiguous lager categories for the Great American Beer Festival competition, but the Brewers Association says the uniqueness and growing popularity of these styles warrants individual guideline recognition. Czech-Style Amber Lager and Czech-Style Dark Lager. The distinctive side-pour faucet used to dispense Czech-style beers has created renewed brewer and consumer interest in these traditional beers. Along with the addition of these two styles to the guidelines, the category formerly known as Bohemian-Style Pilsener has been renamed as Czech-Style Pale Lager. Representing the constant innovation that is a hallmark of independent brewers, the Brewers Association has recognized West Coast-Style Pilsener as a new style that balances the fresh, assertive expression of Pacific Northwest and Southern Hemisphere hops with the character and drinkability of a pilsner. With these additions, the Brewers Association will now award medals in 108 beer categories at the Great American Beer Festival, being held in Denver, Colorado from October 9 to 12, 2025.
Forbes
21-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Costco's Kirkland Lager Is One Of World's Best Beers, Say Competition Judges
Costco's Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager has earned top medals at two of the world's most prestigious beer competitions. Most recently it took home silver at the World Beer Cup Phealan Robinson One of the best helles lagers anywhere on Earth is Costco's Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager, judges at the World Beer Cup ruled recently, and it's not the first prestigious award the beer has won. The Kirkland Signature Hellles is brewed by Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. Though Deschutes is one of the largest craft breweries in the U.S., its Helles-style lager was not traditionally one of its better-known beers. In fact, the lager, which was then called Prinz Crispy, was an obscure small-batch offering until it won gold at the 2023 Great American Beer Festival. That win helped lead to a collaboration between Costco and Deschutes to ramp up production of the beer and rename it, but the recipe remained unchanged. Today, the beer's combination of light, malt-forward character and approachability is continuing to earn impressive awards. The lager took home the silver medal in the highly competitive Helles Lager category at this year's World Beer Cup. As Peter Skrbek, Deschutes' CEO, told me in a video call, it is one thing to win an award for a beer brewed on a small scale but 'it's another thing when you have a scaled-up production beer that's also taking down medals.' The Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup are the two most prestigious beer competitions in the U.S. and, arguably, the world. Many of the beers that medal at each festival have limited distribution and are sometimes only available at the taproom at the brewery where they were produced. Kirkland Lager on the other hand, is an award-winning beer that is sold at every Costco that can legally sell private-label beer. It costs $13.99 per 12-pack. Costco's Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager has won two of the most coveted competition medals in craft beer. Phealan Robinson A few years back, Robin Johnson, Deschutes' head brewer, was looking for a beer to enter into the Great American Beer Festival. 'He's like, 'What if we really went after lager and really went competitive on lager?' Skrbek said. 'So he spent a ton of time developing this Helles recipe.' The initial beer was brewed at Deschutes' 10-barrel brewing system at its Bend brewpub. The goal was a limited-edition beer for competitions, not wide distribution. 'There was never an intent of this beer being a commercial beer, in part because, ironically, the cost of making it, because of the raw ingredients, was extremely high,' Srkbek said. Costco has carried Deschutes beer for years. In a meeting between the Deschutes team and Russ York, a Costco buyer, they began to discuss doing something for the Kirkland Signature brand. 'I said that we would like to do something that was NOT an IPA,' York explains in an email to me. 'I felt our members needed something more sessionable and refreshing. IPAs are everywhere, and everyone has their favorite.' Srkbek had just the right beer in mind. 'I was like, 'Well, man, you know, we just won this gold medal for this beer that we have really no big plan for commercially. How awesome would it be to introduce this gold medal-winning beer to members?' York liked the idea and was completely sold as soon as he tasted the beer. 'I loved it because it had the refreshing taste of a light beer, but it had substance,' York wrote. 'With standard domestic light beers, it just quenches your thirst, not leaving an impression. But the lager does both.' A Craft Beer Available in Bulk To brew the rebranded Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager, Deschutes moved production of Prinz Crispy from its 10-barrel system to its 150-barrel production brewery. Producing such large quantities of beer itself wasn't difficult, Srkbek said, but sourcing ingredients and handling the distribution logistics at the scale necessary wouldn't have been possible without Costco's help. York declined to share sales numbers. 'I can say that it is selling quite well and actually did more than we anticipated, given it launched in the off-season for this style of beer—winter,' he wrote. Srkbek couldn't offer any sales numbers either but did say the beer has impacted overall U.S. demand for Tettnang hops, which are a key part of its recipe. 'We basically consumed the entire domestic Tettnang crop last year, which is an insane thought. And as a result, we have more farmers planting Tettnang,' Srkbek said. Despite that scale, Srkbek is proud that the quality of that beer has not slipped: a view that was validated when the beer took home silver at the World Beer Cup. 'The cool thing there is that it is the production beer. It's not a different batch. It's right out of the same batch that went to members and into the warehouses at Costco.' More From Forbes Forbes The World's Best IPA—According To The International Beer And Cider Awards By Erik Ofgang Forbes The Best Lagers Of 2025—According To The World Beer Cup By Erik Ofgang
Eater
05-06-2025
- Business
- Eater
D.C.'s Polished New Brewery Stands Out With a Rare English Ale — And Much More
D.C.'s newest brewery Henceforth is out to undo the typical craft beer experience its locals are accustomed to. No warehouse full of uncomfortable picnic tables and metal stools. No yelling to hear a conversation as the crowds swell. Quality food from a real kitchen and tenured D.C. chef. A production program that swings from classic to hard-to-find styles. A traditional English pale ale — something that few American craft breweries attempt to make — has quickly emerged as a customer and staff favorite since its May debut (1335 H Street NE). 'The starting premise was that craft beer drinkers have grown up, but the breweries haven't,' says founder, managing partner, and H Street NE resident Mike Spinello, The layout unfolds warmly, thanks to a sophisticated midcentury modern aesthetic free of TVs, and with music turned down low to encourage conversation. Comfortable couch nooks, deep chairs, and dining tables are far removed from the stereotypical warehouse-styled setup of picnic tables and metal stools. It in no way resembles the building's former tenant, the indoor mini golf and arcade that was H Street Country Club. 'We could have built a house out of the pencils that we found,' Spinello jokes. Everything at Henceforth is in service of the beer. That operation is overseen by co-founder and head brewer Ben Mullet. The tap list features styles that appeal to both classic and current tastes. 'I like to drink a range of beers and I also like to brew a range of beers,' Mullet says. 'Brewing the same beer over and over again is very boring.' Mullet's credentials include gold medals at the revered annual Great American Beer Festival held in Denver, Colorado and the World Beer Cup. He wants Henceforth to be a destination for quality beers, regardless of style. Related The Best Breweries Around D.C. The opening lineup is nine deep, each priced at $9 for a pint or $5 for a half. Options range from a crisp, easy drinking cream ale (4.2-percent ABV) to a rich and warming Belgian-style Dubble coming in strong at 7.8-percent. And its unique English pale ale, or ESB — which stands for 'extra special bitter' — is a nice balance between malt and hop bitterness. 'It's an under-appreciated style because it's an under-brewed style,' says Mullet. 'It's just a really approachable beer.' Having everything under the same roof means the beer is as fresh as it gets, and the small, 1,000-barrel brewing facility allows flexibility to explore new styles as seasons and tastes change. Henceforth plans to start producing a pilsner this week and a gose soon after. In addition to beer, there's a comprehensive wine program curated by Monica Lee, a veteran D.C. bartender whose resume includes stops at Ellē and Daikaya. The kitchen is the domain of Walfer Hernandez, formerly executive chef of Southern standby Barrel on Capital Hill. Standouts among his menu of elevated pub fare include fried chicken wings dusted with Old Bay and drizzled with honey, along with a tender and juicy braised beef cheek sandwich with lemon aioli, pickled red onion, and lettuce (extra napkins recommended). Henceforth has its eyes set on becoming a destination for the city's craft beer fans. But Spinello also hopes for something more: to rejuvenate a community that was hit especially hard in recent years. 'We all saw the potential of H Street prior to the pandemic,' Spinello says. 'This is my neighborhood. I wanted to help it come back.' The first-floor brewpub opens at 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and kicks off at 12 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. The larger second floor is open Wednesdays through Saturdays beginning at 4 p.m. No reservations. Sign up for our newsletter.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Iowa's Big Grove Brewery is headed south, revealing plans for Kansas City taproom
Big Grove Brewery's reach is expanding beyond Iowa borders. The eastern Iowa-based brewery announced plans to open its sixth location in the suburbs of the Kansas City metro on the Kansas side. The new taproom is the third state Big Grove will have a physical presence in, joining its four Iowa locations and a soon-to-open facility in Omaha, Nebraska. The Nebraska taproom is slated to open in June, featuring Big Grove Coffee Co. More: Big Grove Brewery distributes $48K to organizations in Johnson, Linn and Polk Counties Big Grove got its start in Solon before quickly expanding to Iowa City. The beer conglomerate known for its popular Easy Eddy beer also has taprooms in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. The exact location of the Kansas City location has not been released, but the anticipated opening date is scheduled for the summer of 2026. The Kansas taproom will feature the same charms as the other locations, including a large patio space, on-site brewing, and a full-service kitchen. More: Big Grove Brewery pours support into communities with new micro-grant program, beer release Since opening in 2013, Big Grove Brewery has become a top 100 craft brewery, distributing its beverages in six states: Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas. Big Grove has received multiple craft brewing medals from the Great American Beer Festival for fan-favorite brews, including the Easy Eddy and Citrus Surfer. The 12,000-square-foot, 15-barrel Des Moines taproom opened in 2022 on the outskirts of downtown. Cedar Rapids joined the fray in 2023 with a 21,000-plus square foot, 15-barrel facility with an open fermentation room. Along with adding taprooms in neighboring states, the fast-growing brewery is offering store directors the opportunity to become company owners at its various taproom locations. This strategic initiative deepens the Big Grove's 'commitment to local leadership, employee empowerment, and building community-rooted taprooms.' More: Celebrate Johnson County's top students in the Press-Citizen's Student of the Year polls ' The ownership model will debut with the Omaha location, followed by Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Solon, and Kansas City. 'We believe the best way to grow is by growing together,' said Doug Goettsch, co-founder of Big Grove Brewery, in a press release. 'Our team members are the soul of this company, and offering them this opportunity to build equity in their stores is one of the most meaningful ways we can invest back into our people.' Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@ or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_ This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa's Big Grove Brewery reveals plans for Kansas City taproom
Forbes
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why Small Beer Festivals Are Thriving
The Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival features rare beers from a carefully curated list of the world's best breweries. Firestone Walker Brewing Company Beer festivals are a great way for beer lovers to sample many beers in one place. Often, such festivals offer beers not otherwise available in the local market which makes them a draw for even the most seasoned beer lover. For a time, the biggest beer festivals were the biggest draw. More beer. More people. More fun. But that seems to be changing. For the 2024 edition of the Great American Beer Festival, the largest ticketed beer festival in America, the Brewers Association, which hosts the event, rolled out a significantly revamped format—for the first time since its inception in 1982. Among the changes to the event, which is held annually in Denver, CO, the number of sessions was reduced from four to three. In its heyday, tickets for the Great American Beer Festival would sell out in minutes. But in response to slower ticket sales, the Brewers Association eliminated one session, significantly reducing the number of tickets available, while at the same time introducing theme areas with more varied forms of entertainment. It is too early to tell whether the changes will revive the Great American Beer Festival, but other 'Great' festivals are also struggling. The Great Canadian Beer Festival has been cancelled for 2025 while the Great British Beer Festival returns in a new venue 2025—in Birmingham, England—after being cancelled for 2024—having been held for 34 years in London. Reports are that attendance has been shrinking in recent years. But reports of the death of beer festivals may be premature. Across the country, smaller, more focused beer festivals continue to sell out, satisfying the beer drinking public's thirst for sampling beers. 'I asked myself, 'What would be the perfect beer festival?'' said Matt Brynildson, brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company via video call. Firestone Walker hosts the annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival in its hometown of Paso Robles, California. 'I'd call up the best brewmasters of the world. We'd bring in the best beer, sent by air freight to ensure it is fresh and brewmasters would be there, so drinkers could meet the maker,' said Brynildson. 'And we would have wonderful food and world-class music.' The first Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival was held in 2012. It sold out in minutes then and now, about 3,500 tickets per year continue to sell out in minutes. 'We have a lot of wine-savvy consumers in Paso Robles,' said Brynildson. 'They have high expectations in their food and beverage experiences, so we have to set the bar high.' By keeping the beer festival small, Brynildson says ticketholders are given a better experience. The festival is built on the back of the relationships Brynildson has built during his brewing career and he knows the breweries he invites make great beer. Curation is the key. On the other side of the country, Good Word Brewing hosts three, small annual festivals in Duluth, Georgia, more or less 40 minutes from Atlanta. The city of 32,000 people has an open container zone within which people can drink alcohol in public spaces. That includes the town green, making it the perfect location for a beer festival. 'I created an event for brewers,' said Todd DiMatteo, owner and head brewer at Good Word, via telephone. 'Bigger festivals don't have the same feeling. They all become the same old, run-of-the-mill events with lots of breweries, mediocre food and maybe some band in the corner.' 'I attend a lot of festivals and a lot feel cookie cutter,' he says. 'So I wanted to create something totally different—something that feels fresh.' Good Word now organizes three festivals each with a theme and each with a curated list of invited breweries. According to DiMatteo, the more focused beer list draws a more interested consumer who is actually interested in tasting the nuances of each beer, rather than just trying to taste as many beers as possible. Having the event on the town green also means the festival goers can bring their families. There was a time when craft beer was a novelty and so was trying them amongst fellow beer lovers. But as the craft beer industry has matured, so have its drinkers. Awash in beer from almost 10,000 breweries in America, craft beer lovers have become more discerning and the curated offerings and more intimate settings of smaller beer festivals seem to be resonating with them. Here are seven small beer festivals worth visiting: About 70 of the best breweries from around the world present their beers each year at the Paso Robles Event Center, at the end of May or beginning of June. As a condition of invitation to the festival, breweries must have a brewer in attendance to answer questions and explain their beers. Consumers' choice awards, one for beer and one for food, ensure exhibiting breweries and restaurants bring their A game. 'Breweries bring something extra special to try to win the award,' says Brynildson. Ironically, Little Beer is the largest of these three annual beer festival hosted by Good Word Brewing in Duluth. Little Beer is a celebration of lower-alcohol beer held in April each year. Each of 80 to 90 brewers offers beers less than 5% ABV to 500 ticket holders. The outdoor festival is held in Duluth's town square, making it a family-friendly event. Le Bon is a celebration of saison and oysters held next to Good Word Brewing, in September. A dozen and a half breweries offer their finest saison to be paired with oysters supplied by famed shuckers. Mighty Fine Fest, a celebration of west coast IPA, is debuting in June 2025. About 50 breweries will have their hoppiest beers available and will help make Duluth the beer festival capital of America. Since 2009, the Denver Rare Beer Tasting has, as the name implies, served rare beers from some of America's most-respected breweries. Limited to 450 tickets at $200 each, the festival is held each year on the Thursday of the weekend of the Great American Beer Festival, in October each year. Brewers are in attendance to answer questions and proceeds support Pints For Prostates, a 501(c)3 non-profit charity established to raise awareness about prostate cancer, particularly within the beer community. FOBAB is held each year in Chicago, typically on a weekend early in November. The festival primarily pours beers that have been aged on wood or in barrels, ranging from strong, high-ABV imperial stouts and barley wines, to more moderate, but sour and funky barrel-aged sour beers. The festival awards the best barrel-aged beers in multiple categories. Recent editions of FOBAB have added a lager lounge and a non-alcoholic area to offer palates a refresh between the hundreds of palate-wrecking beers. Alaska is not always cold. But it certainly is in January. The Alaska Craft Beer & Barley Wine Festival is held in January each year in Anchorage to spread liquid sunshine during the dark winter. With an emphasis on strong, rich barley wines, the festival keeps festival goers warm as the enjoy local food and live music.
