Brewmaster Larry Chase with our awards

The Great American Beer Fest (GABF) is being held this week in Denver, CO – always a favorite happening. This year it’s even more special since our Hefeweizen won a gold medal in the Brain of Brewers contest sponsored by Lallemand Yeast, and the awards were presented at an event coinciding with GABF

The national contest had three categories open to all craft-brewery beers using Lallemand yeast: Stout, American Ale and German Wheat beer. Gold, silver and bronze rankings were awarded.

We entered our Hefeweizen into the German Wheat beer category and received the gold medal. Lallemand provided a generous cash prize with Gold awards, which we plan to reinvest in brewing equipment to make even more great beer. We also submitted our Amber Ale for the American Ale/Amber Ale category and earned a bronze medal.

Here’s some information about these two beers:

Hefeweizen: An unfiltered wheat ale is fermented with a Bavarian yeast, imparting light banana and clove flavors with a mellow spicy aroma. 5.5% abv. Learn more about this beer style at Craftbeer.com.

Amber Ale: A medium bodied copper-colored ale that shows notable caramel malt flavor with moderate hop bitterness and a hint of fruit. 5.6%abv. Learn more about this beer style at Craftbeer.com.

We’re truly honored to receive these awards, since many excellent breweries offered up their beers (totaling over 40 entries), including Wynkoo and Limestone. Congratulations to other award recipients, and to all entrants for making such high-quality craft beer.

This is the 2nd year that Lamelland has held the competition and invited craft brewers to submit their beers for judging. We’ve been on our toes for weeks, since we shipped the beer in the first few days of September. The judging took place September 14th at Wynkoop Brewing in Denver and we learned about the results at the awards ceremony September 15th.

Many thanks to Lallemand for the opportunity, and for the great food and refreshing Wynkoop beer at the event. If you’re on facebook, you can view photos from the awards ceremony here. Again, cheers to everyone who put their beers in the ring – we all make beer better through events like this.

What a terrific chance to celebrate American Craft Beer!