Local brewery makes good in World Series of beer
Congrats to Hugh Sisson and the crew at Clipper City for snagging two medals, gold and a bronze, at this year’s Great American Beer Festival. The winners were announced Saturday night in Denver. BaltoMarzHon, the gold medal winner, was named the best Vienna Style Lager in the national competition. McHenry won a bronze in American Style lager. Well deserved. McHenry, Sisson reminds, is basically a take on the old National Premium recipe. Residing in the land of pleasant living gets even better.
The only other Maryland brewery to medal in this year’s national competition -- the World Series of beer -- was Bethesda’s Rock Bottom Brewery. It picked up a gold for its 1065 Brown Bear Brown, a silver for its 1065 Firechief Ale, and a bronze for its 1065 Right on Rye. I have never tasted their stuff. Anybody out there have a read on them?
It is great fun, by the way, to prowl the Great American Beer Website. You can look winners up by state. Pennsylvania won a slew. Stoudts, Troegs and Victory all medaled. Victory’s Prima Pils, one of my favorites, picked up silver in the German Style Pilsner competition. The gold medal winner in that category was Pikeland Pils from Sly Fox Brewing in Royersford and Phoenixville, Pa., west of Philadelphia. Never had this pils either, but am gonna go looking for it. Anybody out there tasted it?
Comments
Rock Bottom Bethesda is the supreme "poster child" for the case that just because it's part of a chain, the beer doesn't have to be mediocre, bland, etc. The medals speak for themselves. Even better, Bethesda has two handpumps, and when available some of the beers are poured cask-conditioned--and they're absolutely stellar examples of the art. I won't say everything they touch turns to gold--they have to satisfy average restaurant goers, after all--but I'd eagerly go to Rock Bottom over a lot of the competition. Now, if I could only find parking in Bethesda....... I have an easier time parking downtown in Baltimore or in Fells Point.
Posted by: Alexander D. Mitchell IV | October 15, 2007 9:25 AM
The Great American Beer Festival was great! I tried the Pikeland Pils, and it was pretty good. One of the favorites of many out there was the Raspberry Tart by New Glarus.
My personal favorite of the fruit beers was the Blueberry Ale by Shipyard (Portland, ME). Another local brewer that had some very nice beer at the event was Hook & Ladder out of Silver Spring - they had some very good beer.
New Belgium, Dogfish Head, Flying Dog, and Sierra Nevada all had a lot of people lining up for samples.
We were all bummed that Yuengling did not participate. One of my friends was wearing a Yuengling shirt, and at least 15 different people came up to us asking where their booth was.
The funniest sight was during the members-only session when no one was lined up for any of the "beers" from Miller. Even Anheuser - Busch was drawing in some members.
Also, the event was held in memory of Michael Jackson, and there was a large picture of him hanging from the rafters in the middle of the convention center space.
Posted by: Rick | October 15, 2007 11:45 AM
We had one of our SPBW meetings there this year and the brewer, Geoff Lively, did a fantastic job with an 80 Shilling cask and an ESB, dry hopped cask. We will be featuring one of their beers at our upcoming festival. BTW, that whole Bethesda area is great for diners and Rock Bottom does some stellar grub themselves.
Posted by: Dominic Cantalupo | October 17, 2007 1:20 PM
I've been to the Phoenixville location of Sly Fox several times. While I mostly stick to their great IPAs, and the amazing Irish Stout, I have had the pils, and it is quite good. If you love IPAs, you should definitely check out their annual IPA Project Day on December 8th - http://www.slyfoxbeer.com/calendar/cal/event.asp?ID=757
Posted by: Mike | October 18, 2007 3:47 PM