O’Fallon Brewery Wins Silver Medal At GABF!
O’Fallon Brewery and Local Homebrewer Win Silver Medal At 2009 Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition
O’Fallon, MO – The O’Fallon Brewery and St. Charles County homebrewer Jim Yeager earned second place in the 2009 Pro-Am competition at the Great American Beer Festival on Saturday, September 26 in Denver. The winning entry, “Alright Already Amber,” is an American-Style Amber that was created by Yeager, brewed by the O’Fallon Brewery and sold on a limited basis at several area retailers.
“In order to qualify for the competition, the home-brew had to have won a Beer Judge Certification Program-sanctioned event,” said O’Fallon Brewery head brewer Brian Owens. “Our St. Charles homebrewers’ club, known as the Garage Brewers’ Society (GBS), selected Jim’s beer out of all the winners to be brewed professionally and entered in the Pro-Am Competition.”
Both Owens and Yeager were in Denver at the awards ceremony when the winners were announced. “My jaw dropped when I heard our names,” said Yeager. “I had tasted most of the 72 beers that had been entered and, while I felt confident we had made a pretty good beer, the competition was stiff,” he said. “I think what amazes me most is that some of the breweries are so much bigger and they had really pulled out all the stops on their entries. We were the little guys and still we took second place!”
Brewery President Tony Caradonna is especially proud of the cooperative venture with local homebrewers. “We have a special relationship with homebrewers. They are enthusiastic about beer, innovation and are some of our best customers. I am thrilled, but not surprised, that our first Pro-Am entry was a winner,” said Caradonna.
Alright Already Amber is available on draft for a limited time at Blue Sky (O,Fallon), Cicero’s (University City), the International Tap House (Chesterfield Valley) and The Stable (St. Louis) and will be offered at the Augusta Bottoms Beer Festival on Saturday, October 3rd in Augusta, MO.
