2008 Brewers Association World Beer Cup Winners

[terpkristin]

Full list at http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/w...ners_2008.html

Looks like I could treat this full list like a "wish list" for a bunch of different varities of beer. Maybe a trip to The Brickskeller is in order. The ones I think are notable (either for being from a brewery I wouldn't think could win an award or for beers I know are great):

Category 2: American-Style Cream Ale or Lager (23 entries)
Gold: Special Export (Pabst Brewing Co.)
Silver: Lone Star (Pabst Brewing Co.)

Category 3: American-Style Wheat Beer (14 entries)
Silver: Shiner Dunkelweizen (Spoetzl Brewery)

Category 10: Specialty Honey Lager or Ale (29 Entries)
Silver: Michelob Honey Lager (Anheuser-Busch Inc.)

Category 11: Other Low Strength Ale or Lager (15 Entries)
Silver: Polygamy Porter (Utah Brewers Cooperative)
Bronze: Provo Girl Pilsner (Utah Brewers Cooperative)

Category 22: German-Style Pilsener (72 Entries)
Bronze: Troegs Sunshine Pils (Troegs Brewing Co.)

Category 29: German-Style Schwarzbier (30 Entries)
Silver: Samuel Adams Black Lager (Boston Beer Co.)

Category 30: Traditional German-Style Bock (21 Entries)
Bronze: Troegenator (Troegs Brewing Co.)

Category 32: German-Style Strong Bock (38 Entries)
Bronze: JW Dundee's Doppelbock (High Falls Brewing Co.)

Category 33: American-Style Light Lager (34 Entries)
Gold: Old Milwaukee Light (Pabst Brewing Co.)
Silver: Lone Star Light (Pabst Brewing Co.)
Bronze: Natural Light (Anheuser-Busch Inc.)

Category 34: American-Style Lager (48 Entries)
Silver: Michelob Lager (Anheuser-Busch Inc.)

Category 35: American-Style Specialty Lager (28 Entries)
Gold: Steel Reserve (Miller Brewing Co.)
Silver: Busch Ice (Anheuser-Busch Inc.)
Bronze: Mickey's Ice (Miller Brewing Co.)

Category 36: American-Style Amber Lager (33 Entries)
Silver: Old Scratch Amber Lager (Flying Dog Brewery)
Bronze: Brooklyn Lager (Brooklyn Brewery, The)

Category 41: Belgian-Style White (or Wit)/Belgian-Style Wheat (35 Entries)
Gold: Hoegaarden (InBev Belgium N.V./S.A)

Category 44: Belgian-Style Sour Ale (28 Entries)
Bronze: Framboise (Allentown & Bethlehem Brew Works)

Category 46: Belgian-Style Dubbel (26 Entries)
Gold: Allagash Dubbel (Allagash Brewing Co.)

Category 47: Belgian-Style Tripel (42 Entries)
Silver: Allagash Tripel (Allagash Brewing Co.)

Category 52: Classic English-Style Pale Ale (35 Entries)
Silver: Saranac Pale Ale (F.X. Matt Brewing Co.)
Bronze: Bass (Samlesbury Brewery)

Category 53: English-Style India Pale Ale (32 Entries)
Gold: Wild Goose IPA (Wild Goose Brewery)

Category 65: British-Style Imperial Stout (16 Entries)
Gold: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout (Brooklyn Brewery, The)

Category 80: American-Style Strong Pale Ale (52 Entries)
Gold: Organic IPA (Hopworks Urban Brewery)

Category 90: International Pale Ale (20 Entries)
Gold: Winter Storm (Clipper City Brewing Co.)

/tk

[Toddzilla]

Is this an american competition or a competition abroad run by american breweries? Because I am shocked - shocked I say - at the overwhelming number of winners from the United States. At least 2/3 and maybe 3/4 of the winners across all categories are from american micro-breweries.

[MrBug708]

Steel Reserve?

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Category 33: American-Style Light Lager (34 Entries)
Gold: Old Milwaukee Light (Pabst Brewing Co.)
Silver: Lone Star Light (Pabst Brewing Co.)
Bronze: Natural Light (Anheuser-Busch Inc.)

At this point, can we take anything else here seriously?

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Steel Reserve?

Its the new Schlitz
It comes in 7% and 9% alcohol content varieties.

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

At this point, can we take anything else here seriously?

yeah, i stopped reading after those selections

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

Is this an american competition or a competition abroad run by american breweries? Because I am shocked - shocked I say - at the overwhelming number of winners from the United States. At least 2/3 and maybe 3/4 of the winners across all categories are from american micro-breweries.

Well the Brewer's Association is an American organization, though the event seems to have entries from many countries. From the Wikipedia page about the World Beer Cup: "The 2006 Cup featured 2,211 entries from 540 breweries from 56 countries. As of 2006, awards are given in 85 categories."

I was shocked by the number of craptastic American beers on there (come on, anything by Pabst Brewing Co....I mean, there IS something to be said for the consistency of the flavor of a lot of the "mainstream"--non-microbrew--beers, but man...).

/tk

[NoMyths]

Steel Reserve?

Yeah, I don't think I'll be using this list.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

At this point, can we take anything else here seriously?

That was my first thought, but then I'm wondering if there aren't specially brewed batches where they use more top ingrediants as opposed to just grabbing a case off the shelf and opening one up.

Think hamburger contest where McDonalds would use real meat.

At least that is what I tell myself they did. Otherwise my mind would melt at trying to understand why Old Milwaukee would win anything.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

At this point, can we take anything else here seriously?

I think that a lot of the "American-style" beers on the list, particularly the categories where the Anheuser-Busch beers, the Miller beers, and the Pabst beers (and similar) won can be dismissed fairly easily out of hand. However, there were a lot of categories where I'd had at least one of the "top beers" and I can say that they're pretty good. I was happy to see a few of my local breweries pick up an award, Wild Goose and Clipper City (both brews are quite tasty).

I'd still probably go back to Brickskeller and try to taste some of the wheat and IPA-style beers. And the stouts. Mmmm, stout.

/tk

[JeeberD]

I do believe I've mentioned here a few times that Shiner Dunkel is badass...

[QuikSand]

I have been part of three different blind taste tests for American beers, and in two out of three the overall winning entry was Old Milwaukee. (Not to be confused with Milwaukee's Best, incidentally) It's a very solid American style beer that doesn't do as much advertising as it once did, and doesn't carry a lot of clout... but you sit down average beer drinkers and let them just *taste* it, and it is a very popular selection. Their light beer is better than average, as well.

Rather then dismissing the result, think of this as an opportunity. It's an excellent cheap beer.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I have been part of three different blind taste tests for American beers, and in two out of three the overall winning entry was Old Milwaukee. (Not to be confused with Milwaukee's Best, incidentally) It's a very solid American style beer that doesn't do as much advertising as it once did, and doesn't carry a lot of clout... but you sit down average beer drinkers and let them just *taste* it, and it is a very popular selection. Their light beer is better than average, as well.

Rather then dismissing the result, think of this as an opportunity. It's an excellent cheap beer.

I'll second that. I have some Old Swill sitting in my fridge right now. It's not to be compared with any micros and that, but when comparing it against other mass produced mass advertised beers, it's pretty darn good.

I like my micros if I'm sitting around just having a couple, but when I'm drinking large quantities, I'm drinking either Old Style or Old Milwaukee. At least their taste resembles beer.

I don't really care if beer snobs put it down, they are in their own category. The people I get a kick out of are the people making fun of me for drinking Old Mil or Old Style and they have a Bud Light in their hand.

Would you like some beer with your water?

[sooner333]

I haven't had Old Milwaukee, so I'm not going to say anything. But, Natty Light, seriously??? I've always lumped this in the Keystone Light group of cheap beers you can buy 30 at a time when you're just looking to get plastered. Plus, it's the only beer at the bowling alley that's $1.50 for a 16 oz. tall boy.

[Cringer]

Gold - Crystal Wheat Ale
Pyramid Breweries Inc.
Seattle, Washington

Pyramid is a company I became a fan of back at the age of 19. Haven't tried the Crystal Wheat Ale but I wouldn't mind trying it.

[Cringer]

dola-

and I really want to try this one...

Bronze - Alaskan Jalapeno Imperial IPA
Alaskan Brewing Co.
Juneau, Alaska

[JeeberD]

Something that you might be able to find down there, Cringer, that I enjoyed is Rogue Chipotle Ale. I saw it and HAD to try it...

[scooter]

World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
Large Brewpub
Pelican Pub & Brewery
Darren R. S. Welch

World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster
Small Brewpub
Bend Brewing Company
Tonya Cornett

If you ever take a trip to Oregon, don't be afraid to hunt these two breweries down. Pelican is in Pacific City along the coast. Bend is right about in the middle of the state, east of the mountains. My wife is the beer conisour, but both places had great food as well

As far as the World Beer Cup is concerned, it is a well-known beer competition, but I would say, probably not as prestigious as the Great American Beer Festival. The WBC was held in Seattle two years ago and my wife helped steward for the judging. Beers come in from all over the world, but the majority of them are from the US. And as for the American-Style Light Lager category, you are pretty much only going to be judging the Millers and the Buds of the world, so to see Old Milwaukee Light and Natural Light being honored is not surprising.

edit - The brewmaster at Bend, Tonya Cornett, is the first female brewmaster to win that award at the WBC.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Something that you might be able to find down there, Cringer, that I enjoyed is Rogue Chipotle Ale. I saw it and HAD to try it...

Yes, that sounds like it would be a must try. I have seen Rogue brand down here, I just need to remember where and go check there.