This year American Craft Brewers won big! The Australian International Beer Awards is one of the largest annual beer competitions in the world. It attracts roughly 2,600 entries from more than 400 breweries in 26 countries each year. Tavour Breweries won big this year! Let me know what you think of this article or if I can help you with anything else!
US Breweries Excelled at the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards. Here’s How You Can Try Beers from the Gold Medal-Winning Breweries!
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American brewers won big this year, helping bolster international recognition, increase fanbase, and make locals proud.
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Today, U.S. craft fans can get their hands on beers from gold medal winners including Hoppin’ Frog Brewery, Fremont Brewing, and Rahr & Sons Brewing (as well as 8 other Australian International Award winning breweries) through the app-based bottle shop Tavour.
After Ohio’s Hoppin’ Frog Brewery won 2 gold, 1 silver, and a trophy from the Australian International Beer Awards last month, Brewery Director Zachary Bastin says, “our team works diligently to put out consistent, high quality and super flavorful beers, and they are proud to be recognized for their hard work with multiple awards in this international competition.”
Rightfully so! The Australian International Beer Awards attract roughly 2,600 entries from more than 400 breweries in 26 countries. It’s one of the largest annual beer competitions in the world.
Now, fans are flocking to the app-based bottle shop Tavour to get their hands on the international award-winning beer from Hoppin’ Frog and other AIBA gold-medal winning American breweries — including Seattle’s Fremont Brewing and Fort Worth’s Rahr & Sons Brewing Company.
As dedicated followers of the U.S. craft beer scene know, a medal from Australian International Beer Awards is no small feat. All entries are blind tasted and scored out of twenty points, assessed against the following criteria: Appearance, Aroma, Flavor & Body, Technical Quality and Style. If the judges — a panel of 50 Victoria-based brewing professionals — award the beer an exemplary 17.0+, it receives a gold medal.
The highest scoring beer in each style category receives a trophy. Breweries also have the opportunity to earn one of 11 specialty awards, including the “Best International Beer” award and the “Gary Sheppard Memorial Trophy for Best New Exhibitor.” This trophy, given to the AIBA’s best newly competing brewery, was the very trophy Hoppin’ Frog won at this year’s show!
Overall, American craft breweries brought home an impressive 124 total awards; 20 gold, 30 silver, 69 bronze, and five major trophies in 2021.
“Everyone on our team puts in a lot of work to make our beers the best that they can be, so winning is pretty validating,” Austin Heisch, Director of Brewing Operations at Rahr & Sons Brewing, said after his team snagged the competition’s top prize for their classic Iron Thistle Scotch Ale.
Iron Thistle is a smooth, drinkable, boozy balance of caramel malts and bitter hops, named after the national emblem of Scotland — the thistle flower. It pours a rich mahogany hue, and has a sweet maple aroma. At first sip, a wave of deeply roasted nuts and molasses rolls over the palate, followed by a Darjeeling tea and char finish — a flavor profile so luxurious, it earned gold from AIBA’s panel of discerning judges.
“At the end of the day, winning a competition is awesome,” Matt Lincecum, owner of Seattle’s Fremont Brewing said after winning gold for their chocolate-laced, deeply complex Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star Stout. “But, the best award is always the respect of our fellow employees, colleagues, and the customer.”
This includes brand new customers who only recently discovered Fremont, Rahr & Sons, and Hoppin’ Frog’s since their wins. Today, they can seek out expertly crafted beers from these breweries’ through the Tavour app.
U.S. craft beer enthusiasts on Tavour can also expect to see brews from other Australian International Award winning craft breweries, including:
Belching Beaver Brewery, Breakside Brewery, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Deschutes Brewery, Denver Beer Co., Revision Brewing Company, Reuben’s Brews, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
With a fridge full of internationally-acclaimed beers, Tavour members will be able to taste these breweries’ hard work for themselves. No need to fly out to the brewery’s taproom — or Australia, for that matter.
Full results here: https://www.rasv.com.au/australian-international-beer-awards/results/
Terry Bunch
