Ohio Breweries Make Big Splash At Annual Brew Fest Bash

Ohioans like their beer. And, evidently, folks elsewhere savor it, too, after seven craft breweries from around the state collected nine medals at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon, based in North Olmsted, won a gold medal for its AlpenGlow German-style wheat ale and a bronze for its Midnight Moonlight American-style black ale.

Three Cincinnati breweries also collected gold medals. Brink Brewing Co. won for its Hold the Reins English-style mild ale; Fifty West Brewing Co. won for its 10&2 Barleywine in the old ale or strong ale category; and Taft’s Ale House won for its Gustav Vienna-style lager.

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Two Cleveland breweries also picked up three bronze medals. The BottleHouse Brewery And Meadery, won two bronzes, one for There Is No Quad aged beer, and a second for its Spring Gruit historical beer. Masthead Brewing Co. won for its Midwest Red IPA double red ale.

Also winning a bronze medal was BrewDog Brewing Co. of Canal Winchester for its Elvis Juice American-style fruit beer.

Winners were chosen out of 7,923 entries from 2,217 breweries from across the nation. The competition took place Oct. 5-7, was judged by 276 beer experts from 13 countries.

And, if you’ve ventured into a craft brewery, you will know that IPAs are extremely popular among beer drinkers. According to the Brewers Association, which hosted the competition, the most-entered category has been American-Style India Pale Ale, which had 408 entries in 2017 compared to 312 entries in 2016.

The other most competitive categories were: Imperial India Pale Ale, with 221 entries, American-style Pale Ale, with 199 entries; American-style Strong Pale Ale, with 182 entries, and Wood- and Barrel-aged Strong Beer, with 175 entries. A complete list of beers, breweries and winners is available here.

This was the 36th annual Great American Beer Festival, and the 31st competition.

Photo courtesy of the Brewers Association/‘Photo © Brewers Association’