2020 GABF NW winners

Hooray for Good Society.

 

Nice to see Old Town get medals. They are a really good small brewery.

 

Pleasantly shocked about Perry Street winning the American IPA category. Their IPL win from a few yrs ago was one thing - an almost nano brewery's beer in a reasonably small category, that - but they were up against a lot of competition for this, including some big players. And it looks like the three top spots were all PNW in that category.

 

Nice to see Chuckanut do well with three medals, including gold for their Maibock.

 

That Rye though...have trouble believing it didn't deserve a gold. That was fantastic.

 

Specialty Saison was another sweep category, congrats to Alesong, Coldfire, and Von Ebert.

 

Not to take away from the victories, because they are still well earned, but I wonder how many submissions they received as opposed to a regular year?

 

8800 this year vs. 9600 last year, only down ~10%

 

Oh wow, that’s awesome.

 

I'd missed seeing that a West Seattle Brewpub took 3rd in the GABF category "Small Brewpub of the Year". https://www.seattletimes.com/life/f...e-brewery-that-won-small-brewpub-of-the-year/

I have no idea how GABF can judge brewpubs ... do they send judges around the country?

Anyway, even though I live on Vashon and am in West Seattle a fair bit, I have never been to this spot. Seattle area BAs, we need to check this place out, and give them a little bit of support. They are open, according to their website.

 

Ive been to Good Society, they make great beer. My wife went to graduate school at Seattle U with Nick and I was fortunate to be invited to his house in the past to try his really solid home brew that predated Good Society. He is a really good guy and I’m super happy for him.

 

When breweries enter the competition, they must declare their size (barrelage) and whether they are a Brewing Company or Brewpub based on some sales criteria to which @beertunes alluded. Medals are converted to points (gold=6, silver=5, bronze=4) and the highest point total in each of the tiers is awarded Small Brewpub of the Year, Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year, etc.

 

Huh. So it's based on sales and not quality of the product? They don't try any of their beers?

 

I read that as the sales criteria determines which category they enter, not that it determines if they win or not. I would hope trying of the beer would still happen.

 

Where do you get that idea?

Breweries have to declare their size based on their barrelage (e.g. "Small" or "Mid-Size") and their category based on sales criteria (e.g. "Brewpub" or "Brewing Company").

Judges have to try a brewery's beers in order to award medals.

Medals count for points.

The breweries which accrue the most points are recognized with awards for their size and category (e.g. "Large" + "Brewpub" or "Small" + "Brewing Company").