Colorado brewers celebrated the best in locally-made beer over the weekend after medals were handed out at the inaugural Colorado Brewers Cup.
More than 130 breweries from across the state entered 650 different beers into the competition in hopes of placing in one of 26 judging categories. The homegrown competition, hosted by the Colorado Brewers Guild, also honored two companies – one small, one mid-size – as “breweries of the year” based on their medal tallies.
The awards were announced Friday evening at the conclusion of the Colorado Brewers Summit in Aurora.
Denver’s River North Brewery was awarded the Mid-size Brewery of the Year title with a total of four medals, three of them gold, while Carver Brewing Co. in Durango was named the Small Brewery of the Year award with three total medals. (The threshold delineating the two awards was an annual production of 600 barrels of beer.)
River North garnered gold medals for its River North White witbier in the French and Belgian ales category; its Nightmare Fuel barrel-aged coffee stout in the coffee, chocolate and dessert beers category; and its Mr. Sandman barrel-aged stout in the strong classic UK and North American ales category. It also nabbed bronze in the latter category for its Hello Darkness imperial porter.
Carver Brewing Co., which is Colorado’s second-oldest brewpub, earned two silvers and a bronze. Its beers Lightner Creek Lager and Old Oak Amber Ale placed second in the pale malty European lagers and malty North American beers categories, respectively. Its Colorado Trail Nut Brown Ale earned bronze among classic UK amber and brown ales.
Technically, Westbound & Down Brewing Co. collected the most medals (six) of any brewery in the competition. But because those were awarded to its Lafayette and Idaho Springs production facilities individually, neither garnered enough accolades for the Brewery of the Year title, according to guild spokesperson Carrie Knose Wilson.
The most buzzworthy categories in terms of the number of entries were standard American-style IPAs and standard hazy pale ales and IPAs – unsurprising given local drinkers’ thirst for hoppy beers.
Amalgam Brewing in Denver makes the best standard IPA in Colorado, per the awards. Its Modern West India pale ale landed gold while Westbound & Down Brewing Co. in Lafayette snagged both silver and bronze for its Westbound Select and Westbound IPA.
On the hazy side of things, Highland Ranch’s Living the Dream Brewing Co. took top honors for its Trailhead Fog, followed by Boulder’s Beyond the Mountain Brewing Co. (silver for I Wish You More IPA), and Aspen Brewing Co. (bronze for Excess in Moderation).
Many of the aforementioned breweries regularly earn accolades from large competitions, like the Great American Beer Festival, but the Colorado Brewers Cup also afforded lesser-known outfits beyond Denver to climb the podium. Eagle River Brewing Co. in Gypsum, for example, won two medals, as did Arvada’s LUKI Brewery and Hideaway Park Brewery in Winter Park.
Additionally, the Colorado Brewers Cup awarded its first Ambassador of the Craft Award, which recognizes individuals who show dedication to the craft beer industry in some way other than brewing. That award went to the original founders of the Colorado Brewers Guild, who came together in 1995 to advocate for the state’s then-nascent craft beer industry.
“This set the stage for the direction of the Guild and, as we enter the 30th anniversary, we want to acknowledge their foresight and dedication to helping create the State of Craft Beer,” said Shawnee Adelson, the guild’s current executive director, in a statement.
Honorees include Jeff Mendel (Tabernash Brewing/Left Hand Brewing), Tara Dunn (Great Divide Brewing Co.), Jeff Brown (Boulder Beer Co.), Mike Bristol (Bristol Brewing Co.), Doug Odell (Odell Brewing Co.), and Mark Youngquist (Rock Bottom Brewing/Boulder Beer/Walnut Brewery/Dolores River Brewing).
To see the full list of winners and which local breweries make the best of your favorite beer style, visit the Colorado Brewers Cup website.
