Atlanta, GA – Winners in the first annual United States Open Beer Championships the first competition to include professional and award-winning home brewers were announced this week.

Ten breweries were recognized as the top 10 based on the number of medals earned. Deschutes Brewing of Bend, Oregon won 6 gold medals and was named Grand National Champion while Sprecher Brewing of Glendale, Wisconsin and the Boston Beer Company each took home 5 gold medals and finished second and third respectively. Sixty-two individual breweries won at least one medal, and 14 won two medals or more.  A special congratulations go to Phil Ferrall of Cumming, GA. Phil was the only homebrewer to win a gold medal. His homebrew, The Next to Last King of Scotland Ale, won the Strong Scotch Ale category.

This competition is significant because it includes breweries around the world, the U.S. and Canadian beers, and allows outstanding home craft brewers who have earned distinction to compete, said Dow Scoggins, head of the U.S. Open Beer Championships. More than 500 beers were submitted, and although all the top 10 winning breweries were based in the U.S. this year, at least 20 international breweries representing Canada, Belgium, Germany, England and China also medaled. Competing beers were judged in 50 different beer style categories. Along with the medals awarded, a Grand National Champion is awarded based on a point system for beers (five minimum) entered in the competition.

The top 10 breweries based on the number of beers placing first, second or third are:

1. Deschutes Brewing – Bend, Oregon
2. Sprecher Brewing – Glendale, Wisconsin
3. Boston Beer Company – Boston, Massachuetts
4. August Schell Brewing – New Ulm, Minnesota
5. Maui Brewing – Maui, Hawaii
6. Anderson Valley Brewing – Boonville, California
7. Terrapin Beer Company – Athens, Georgia
8. Tallgrass Brewing – Manhattan, Kansas
9. Atlanta Brewing – Atlanta, Georgia
10. Sweetwater Brewing – Atlanta, Georgia

The judges also conveyed “Judges Award” for the top six most creative beer names and most creative flavor. Evidence of craft brewers creativity is not just in the quality of the beer, but the memorable names of many of them. Among the judges favorites were:

• Bear Ass Brown Ale by Silverton Brewery
• Blind Salamander Ale by Rahr and Sons Brewery
• Milk of Amnesia Stout by Maui Brewing
• Devil May Care Golden Ale by South Street Brewing
• Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale by Blacksheep Brewing

The most unusual beer, and very flavorful, said Scoggins, was Black Pearl Coconut Porter, aged in a rum barrel, from Maui Brewing. And in a nod to current trends, there was even a solar brewed beer from Anderson Valley Brewing in Boonville, CA.

To see the individual winning brews and other winner and entrants’ details, go to www.USOpenBeer.com.  The United States Open Beer Championship invited more than 1,000 breweries from more than 30 countries, as well as the 29 National Homebrewing Champions from the United States and Canada, to participate. Breweries and home brewers worldwide competed side-by-side in the (BLIND JUDGING), which included judges from the U.S. and Canada.

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