2015 Washington Beer Awards Results

For the past three years many brewers from within the state of Washington have participated in the statewide Washington Beer Awards. With 45 award categories brewers from Washington are able to enter its beers into this blind beer judging. This past weekend the results for the 3rd Annual Washington Beer Awards have been announced. Seventy Washington breweries received recognition of gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Though the awards were announced on June 20th during the Washington Brewers Festival outside of Seattle at Marymoor Park in Redmond, the judging was completed on May 30th at Elliott Bay Public House & Brewery in Lake City. The assembled group of trained judges made their way through the evaluation of 716 beers from 107 breweries spanning over 100 unique styles from the Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines for technical and stylistic excellence.

Specialty Competitions LLC and the Washington Beer Commission hold the competition. The entries were evaluated in a blind format using the Brewers Association Style Guidelines by panels of trained beer judges who awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze placements for each category grouping. All of Washington’s craft breweries were invited to submit beers in a format that is similar to the Great American Beer Festival or World Beer Cup.

Just as is done at other major awards the Small, Mid-Sized and Large Breweries of the Year were presented to breweries that won numerous medals in many, various categories. Puyallup River Brewing took home the Small Brewery of the Year by placing well in three categories. Reuben’s Brews won the Mid-Size Brewery of the Year with a fist-full of medals, including three gold medals. Fish Brewing Company won the Large Brewery of the Year with four medals including three gold medals.

“We are honored to be recognized amongst the great breweries of Washington State,” said Adam Robbings, Co-founder and Head Brewer of Reuben’s Brews. “It’s particularly exciting is that we won medals for a wide variety of different beer styles – hoppy, malty, light and dark beers!”

Locally to Portland three breweries earned medals at the awards over the weekend. This includes two medals each from Loowit Brewing and Heathen Brewing and one medal from Backwoods Brewing.

Its great to see the brewers in Washington State hold a competition that awards medals for the brewers hard work and effort that is based on what is in the glass and not a popularity contest. Here in Oregon this sort of awards was attempted earlier this year by one of Portland’s alternative weekly papers but was not much more than a popularity contest between breweries from a predetermined set of beers. Yes, to run a competition as is done in Washington takes a lot of hard work and effort but it can be done. With so many talented brewers here in Oregon it would be great to see this become a reality.

Here are the results from the 2015 Washington Beer Awards.

European Pale Lagers:
Gold: Gordon Biersch Seattle – Golden Export
Silver: Icicle Brewing Company – Crosscut Pilsner
Bronze: Chuckanut Brewery – Chuckanut Helles

European Amber & Dark Lagers:
Gold: Gordon Biersch Seattle – Rauchbier
Silver: Chuckanut Brewery – Chuckanut Dunkel
Bronze: Chuckanut Brewery – Chuckanut Marzen

Strong Lagers:
Gold: Naked City Brewery & Taphouse – Rauch City
Silver: River City Brewing – Congratulator Doppelbock
Bronze: Ram Restaurant & Brewery – Maibock

American Lagers:
Gold: Fish Brewing Company – Premium Lager
Silver: Airways Brewing – Pre Flight Pilsner
Bronze: Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. – 1897 Pale Lager

German Hybrid Beers:
Gold: Chuckanut Brewery – Chuckanut Kolsch
Silver: Standard Brewing – Kolsch
Bronze: Heathen Brewing – Absolution

German Wheat & Rye Beers:
Gold: Fish Brewing Company – Boulder Bend Dunkelweizen
Silver: Stoup Brewing – Stoup Hefeweizen
Bronze: Loowit Brewing Company – Der Couvensteiner Dunkelweizen

Other Wheat & Rye Beers:
Gold: Fremont Brewing – Wandering Wheat
Silver: Fish Brewing Company – Whistling Pig Hefeweizen
Bronze: Rainy Daze Brewing Co. – Rainy Rye IPA

American Light Ales:
Gold: Redhook Brewery – No Equal
Silver: Reuben’s Brews – Cream Ale
Bronze: Ram Restaurant & Brewery – Blonde

Session Beers:
Gold: Aslan Brewing Company – Blueprint
Silver: Black Raven Brewing Co. – Redfeather Session IPA
Bronze: Airways Brewing – PSA – Summer Ale

Bitters:
Gold: No-Li Brewhouse – Spin Cycle Red Ale
Silver: Loowit Brewing Company – Extrabeerestrial ESB
Bronze: Elliot Bay Brewing Company – Organic Alembic Pale

English Ales:
Gold: Fish Brewing Company – Organic IPA
Silver: Flyers Restaurant & Brewery – Barnstormer Brown Ale
Bronze: Rainy Daze Brewing Co. – English Pale

British Strong Ales:
Gold: Populuxe Brewing – Old Oddvars
Silver: Silver City Brewery – Old Scrooge
Bronze: Strong Arm Brewing – Cincinnatus Strong Ale

Scottish Ales:
Gold: Paradise Creek Brewery – Scottish Stovepipe
Silver: Old Rock Brewery – Misery Whip Scotch Ale
Bronze: Geaux Brewing – Wee Y’at?

Irish Red Ales:
Gold: Menace Brewing – Self-Titled
Silver: Whitewall Brewing Company – Sassy Lassie
Bronze: Kulshan Brewing Company – Red Cap

Robust Porters:
Gold: Reuben’s Brews – Robust Porter
Silver: Skookum Brewery – Skookum Porter
Bronze: Flyers Restaurant & Brewery – Pacemaker Porter

Other Porters:
Gold: Harmon Brewing Co. – Puget Sound Porter
Silver: Big Al Brewing – Big Al Smoked Porter
Bronze: Schooner Exact Brewing Co. – King Street Brown

British Stouts:
Gold: Seapine Brewing Company – Sea Witch Milk Stout
Silver: Elliot Bay Brewing Company – Organic No Doubt Stout
Bronze: Dick’s Brewing Co. – Dick’s Cream Stout

Irish Stouts:
Gold: Reuben’s Brews – Foreign Export Stout
Silver: Paradise Creek Brewery – Invective Stout
Bronze: Outlander Brewing – Jamaican Stout

American-Style Stouts:
Gold: Top Rung Brewing Company – My Dog Scout Stout
Silver: Harmon Brewing Co. – Stryker Stout
Bronze: Old Schoolhouse Brewery – Hooligan Stout

Imperial Stouts:
Gold: Old Schoolhouse Brewery – Imperial Stout
Silver: Fremont Brewing – Dark Star
Bronze: Silver City Brewery – Imperial Stout

American-Style Pale Ales:
Gold: Rainy Daze Brewing Co. – Stash Box III
Silver: Fremont Brewing – Universale Pale Ale
Bronze: Northwest Brewing Company – Road Trip Pale Ale

American-Style Strong Pale Ales:
Gold: Icicle Brewing Company – Bootjack IPA
Silver: Stoup Brewing – Stoup Citra IPA
Bronze: Old Schoolhouse Brewery – Epiphany Pale

Belgo-American & International Ales:
Gold: Sound Brewery – Ursus Spelaeus
Silver: Aslan Brewing Company – FIFA
Bronze: Fremont Brewing – Summer Ale

American Amber Ales:
Gold: Twelve String Brewing Co. – Crescendo Series Valley Red
Silver: Skookum Brewery – Ambers Hot Friend
Bronze: Populuxe Brewing – Citra Red

American Brown and Black Ales:
Gold: Reuben’s Brews – Black Imperial IPA
Silver: English Setter Brewing – Field Point Brown
Bronze: Standard Brewing – Cascadian Dark Ale

American-Style India Pale Ales:
Gold: Kulshan Brewing Company – Bastard Kat
Silver: Big House Brewing/Mill Creek Brewpub – Inmate I.P.A.
Bronze: Big Time Brewing Co.  – Citra Smash

Imperial or Double India Pale Ales:
Gold: Bale Breaker Brewing – Bottomcutter IIPA
Silver: Backwoods Brewing Company – Double Cutt
Bronze: Standard Brewing – Imperial IPA

Imperial or Double Red Ales:
Gold: Ice Harbor Brewing – Ice Harbor Imperial Red
Silver: Elysian Brewing Company – Men’s Room Black
Bronze: Dick’s Brewing Co. – Dick’s Imperial Red

Barleywines:
Gold: Icicle Brewing Company – The Decline
Silver: TripleHorn Brewing Co. – BYGG VIN 2014
Bronze: Three Magnets Brewing – Barley Wine

Belgian-Style Wits:
Gold: Aslan Brewing Company – Witbier
Silver: Issaquah Brewhouse – White Frog
Bronze: Northwest Brewing Company – Blood Orange Wit

Belgian Ales:
Gold: Sound Brewery – Bombshell
Silver: Bainbridge Island Brewing – Bainbridge Blonde
Bronze: Wander Brewing – Wanderale Belgian Blond

Abbey-Inspired Ales:
Gold: Sound Brewery – Dubbel Entendre
Silver: TripleHorn Brewing Co. – Stupid Monk-Ee
Bronze: Silver City Brewery – Liquid Sunshine

Belgian Strong Ales:
Gold: Kulshan Brewing Company – Hop Howdy
Silver: Odin Brewing Co. – Equinox
Bronze: Silver City Brewery – Giant Made Of Shadows

Farmhouse Ales:
Gold: Holy Mountain Brewing Company – The Ox
Silver: Puyallup River Brewing – Paradise Blonde Saison
Bronze: Big Al Brewing – Time Capsule September ’14

American-Style Brett Beers:
Gold: Propolis Brewing – Beltane
Silver: Propolis Brewing – Gardin
Bronze: Urban Family Brewing Co. – Fancy Sauce: Brennan

Sour Beers:
Gold: E9 Brewery – Raspberry Wild
Silver: Elysian Brewing Company – Zoot Suit Riot Cherry Sour
Bronze: E9 Brewery – Nefelibata

Fruit Beers:
Gold: Puyallup River Brewing – Pineapple Paradise Saison
Silver: Big Block Brewing – Raspberry Blonde
Bronze: Ten Pin Brewing Co. – Sunny Day

Vegetable Beers:
Gold: Wingman Brewers – Cucumber Brett
Silver: Hi-Fi Brewing – Pump Up The Volume
Bronze: Elysian Brewing Company – The Great Pumpkin

Coffee & Chocolate Beers:
Gold: Two Beers Brewing – Cold Brew Coffee Brown Ale
Silver: Puyallup River Brewing – Mud Mt Milk Stout
Bronze: Icicle Brewing Company – Dark Persuasion

Herb & Spice Beers:
Gold: Epic Ales – Hope
Silver: Brickyard Brewing – Southwestern Hatch Green Chili Blonde
Bronze: Propolis Brewing – Fennel

Specialty Beers:
Gold: Naked City Brewery & Taphouse – Smoking Gun
Silver: Rainy Daze Brewing Co. – Only The Tip
Bronze: Issaquah Brewhouse – Little Frog

Wood & Barrel Aged Beers:
Gold: Strong Arm Brewing – Magnus Whiskey Barrel Aged Oatmeal Milk Chocolate Espresso Stout
Silver: Boundary Bay Brewery – Whiskey Barrel Aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout
Bronze: Old Rock Brewery – El Charro Oaked Agave Amber

Wood & Barrel Aged Strong Beers:
Gold: Schooner Exact Brewing Co. – 2015 Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter
Silver: Heathen Brewing – Bourbon Barrel Aged Epitaph
Bronze: Fremont Brewing – Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star

Wood & Barrel Aged Sour Beers:
Gold: Anacortes Brewery – Broken Link Sour
Silver: Holy Mountain Brewing Company – The Third Nail
Bronze: Bainbridge Island Brewing – Viognier Barrel Blonde

Washington Pro-Am Awards:
Gold: Airways Brewing and Mark Emiley – Berliner Weisse
Silver: Reuben’s Brews and Louis Strouger – Marzen

Best Washington Agricultural Product Inspired Beer: Big Block Brewing – Raspberry Blonde
Small Brewery of the Year: Puyallup River Brewing
Mid-Sized Brewery of the Year (Sponsored by Washington Hop Growers): Reuben’s Brews
Large Brewery of the Year (Sponsored by Briess Malt and Ingredients): Fish Brewing Company

Congratulations to all of the winners!