Oregon brings home 22 medals from 2020 Great American Beer Festival

Great American Beer Festival 2020

The Great American Beer Festival, normally held annually in Denver, was held online for 2020 because of COVID-19.Great American Beer Festival

Oregon breweries pulled in 22 medals at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival this weekend. Monkless Belgian Ales of Bend was named the Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year, and Three Creeks Brewing of Sisters was dubbed Brewery Group of the Year.

The 22 medals – nine gold, six silver and seven bronze – were a rebound from the 15 the state won in 2019 at the nation’s most prestigious beer festival, and the haul matched the 22 from 2018. Oregon’s biggest haul was in 2013, when its breweries won 25 medals.

Six Oregon breweries won two medals each this year: Old Town Brewing of Portland, Von Ebert Brewing of Portland, Coldfire Brewing of Eugene, Alesong Brewing & Blending of Eugene, pFriem Family Brewers of Hood River and Three Creeks, whose performance earned it Brewery Group of the Year designation.

Portland breweries led Oregon’s take, with seven medals. Breweries from Eugene brought in four, and Bend three during the 34th annual competition.

Oregon, which has about 300 breweries, took two of three medals in the American-style India Pale Ale category, with Pelican Brewing of Tillamook winning silver for its Updrift IPA, and Von Ebert taking bronze with Nothing Noble IPA. Spokane’s Perry Street Brewing IPA captured gold in the festival’s highest-profile category.

Oregon swept the Specialty Saison category, with Alesong’s Farmhouse Cuvee winning gold, Coldfire’s Seeds of Infinity silver, and Von Ebert’s Obeisance bronze.

Breakside Brewery of Portland, which dominated the state’s tally in 2019 with three awards, won gold in the German-style Sour Ale category for its Breakside Gose.

The competition brought the first Great American Beer Festival medal for North Portland’s StormBreaker Brewing, which won silver for Extra Special StormBreaker in the Extra Special Bitter category.

“I knew I’d be happy and super proud, but it definitely is more surreal than I thought it would be,” said Rob Lutz, who founded StormBreaker with Dan Malech in 2014. “Part of it is being in the middle of a pandemic, but it’s pretty awesome.”

Lutz said the ESB isn’t one of the more popular styles among today’s beer drinkers, pointing out the irony that the award-winning beer isn’t a big seller, even though he knew it was well-crafted and he had high hopes for it at the competition.

“We’re just really happy to finally get that one off our shoulders,” he said. "It’s the only thing we hadn’t been able to lock down since we started entering competitions about four or five years ago.

“But the recognition among our peers at the biggest competition in the world means a lot,” Lutz said. “Especially in 2020, it really was that needed burst of adrenaline to make us feel like we’re not fighting for nothing.”

Washington state, home to more than 400 breweries, garnered 16 medals, including a gold for Camas' Grains of Wrath Brewing’s Built for Speed, an American-style strong pale ale. Seattle and Bellingham breweries each won six medals to lead the state.

California, with about 900 breweries, led all states with 63 medals.

The awards ceremony, normally held annually in Denver during the Great American Beer Festival, was forced online this year because of the pandemic. The Brewers Association, the national craft beer trade group that sponsors the festival, gave out over 270 medals in 91 style categories.

Judging was held over 18 days following COVID-19 protocols, with more than 8,800 entries from more than 1,720 breweries, representing all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Todd Clement, founder of Monkless Belgian Ales, said the gold medal for Dubbel or Nothing in the Belgian Style Abbey Ale category was “huge.”

“For me the biggest part is the recognition of what you’re doing,” said Clement, who started Monkless in 2015 and opened the brewpub in 2016. "To have others say they recognize it too is a really cool thing.

“It certainly says a lot about this beer, and the Brewpub of the Year is something that should be huge for us from a sales perspective.”

Here is a list of Oregon winners:

Gold

  • Whoopty Whoop Wheat, Wild Ride Brewing (Redmond), American-Style Wheat Beer
  • Dubbel or Nothing, Monkless Belgian Ales (Bend), Belgian-Style Abbey Ale
  • Perle Haggard, Ex Novo Brewing (Portland), Bohemian-Style Pilsener
  • Conelick’r, Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters), Fresh Hop Beer
  • Kolsch, pFriem Family Brewers (Hood River), German-Style Koelsch
  • Breakside Gose, Breakside Brewery (Portland), German-Style Sour Ale
  • Japanese Lager, pFriem Family Brewers (Hood River), International Pilsener
  • Wild James, Coldfire Brewing (Eugene), Mixed-Culture Brett Beer
  • Farmhouse Cuvée, Alesong Brewing & Tasting Room (Eugene), Specialty Saison

Silver

  • Updrift IPA, Pelican Brewing (Tillamook), American-style India Pale Ale
  • Peche, Block 15 Brewing Co. (Corvallis), Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale
  • Touch of Brett, Alesong Brewing & Blending (Eugene), Brett Beer
  • FivePine Porter, Three Creeks Brewing (Sisters), Brown Porter
  • Extra Special StormBreaker, StormBreaker Brewing (Portland) Extra Special Bitter
  • Seeds of Infinity, Coldfire Brewing (Eugene) Specialty Saison

Bronze

  • Pilsner, Old Town Brewing (Portland), American Pilsener
  • Paulie’s Not Irish, Old Town Brewing (Portland), American-Style Amber/Red Ale
  • Nothing Noble, Von Ebert Brewing (Portland), American-Style India Pale Ale
  • 10 Barrel TWheat, 10 Barrel Brewing (Bend), American-Style Wheat Beer
  • Old Normal, Bend Brewing (Bend), Brown Porter
  • Pumpkin Patch Ale, Rogue Ales & Spirits (Newport), Pumpkin Beer
  • Obeisance, Von Ebert Brewing (Portland), Specialty Saison

-- Andre Meunier

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