Short version: 18 medals (7 gold, 7 silver, 4 bronze). Oregon swept the "Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse" category (as @John_M alluded in another post) and dominated the "American-Style Pale Ale" category. Congratulations to all the winners! Gold Hot Break Little Beast Brewing Clackamas, OR American Sour Ale 2022 Silver Sweet As! Pacific Ale GoodLife Brewing Co. Bend, OR American Wheat Beer 2022 Gold Rippin Sunriver Brewing Co. Sunriver, OR American-Style Pale Ale Category Sponsor: Grandstand 2022 Silver Breakside Woodlawn Pale Ale Breakside Brewery Portland, OR American-Style Pale Ale Category Sponsor: Grandstand 2022 Gold Mexican Lager pFriem Family Brewers Hood RiverOR Australasian, Latin American or Tropical Light Lager 2022 Bronze Otter Encounter Deschutes Brewery – Bend Brewery & Public House Bend, OR English Ale 2022 Silver Edgefield Coolship no. 5 McMenamins Breweries Portland, OR Experimental Beer 2022 Bronze Riviera 10 Barrel Brewing Co. – Bend Pub Bend, OR German Sour Ale 2022 Silver Pils Von Ebert Brewing – Pearl Portland, OR German-Style Pilsener 2022 Gold Feniks Great Notion Brewing Portland, OR Historical Beer 2022 Gold Hachimitsu Mai Deschutes Brewery – Portland Brewery & Public House Portland, OR Honey Beer Category Sponsor: National Honey Board 2022 Bronze Oregon Sunrise Alesong Brewing & Tasting Room Eugene, OR Mixed-Culture Brett Beer 2022 Gold Breakside I Purple You Breakside Brewery – NW Slabtown Portland, OR Specialty Beer 2022 Gold Gindulgence 10 Barrel Brewing Co. – Bend Pub BendOR Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse 2022 Silver Breakside Passionfruit Sour Ale Breakside Brewery & Taproom Milwaukie, OR Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse 2022 Bronze Coming to Fruition: Cherry Oregon City Brewing Co. Oregon City, OR Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse 2022 Silver Sensationator Deschutes Brewery – Portland Brewery & Public House Portland, OR Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer 2022 Silver Genièvre ColdFire Brewing Co. Eugene, OR Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer 2022
Is Sweet As really an American Wheat Ale. To me it's a great summer Pale Ale that might have some wheat in the recipe
I've been asking myself the same question for some years now. I can only assume the answer is yes, as this is the category Sweetlife keeps on entering the beer in the GABF competition year in and year out. They seem to medal just about every year with the beer as well. It doesn't taste like any sort of wheat ale to me, but I have to assume the beer must meet the qualifications for the wheat ale category in order to compete in that category at the GABF.
Naturally, I wouldn't draw any inferences or conclusions from this, but I did find it interesting that Oregon (and Washington of course), out medaled all of the NE and Mid Atlantic combined. In fact, I believe the great state of WV had as many medals as Vermont, Maine and NH (0, 1 and 1 I believe). Just an innocent observation...
Brewery participation in competitions decreases significantly once you get east of Colorado. One could say this is due to most of them being held in the West, but I believe it holds true even when World Beer Cup is held in the Eastern 2/3 of the country.
I checked the GABF notes for the category. The fermentation profile is "Low to medium fruity esters are present. Diacetyl and phenolic, clove-like attributes should not be present." It will also have "Low to medium-low malt aroma and sweet malt flavor" and "Low to medium" perceived bitterness. Yeah, that sounds more like a pale ale than a wheat ale to me (albeit an under-hopped version of a pale). The thing that makes it a wheat beer? No less than 30% malted wheat in the grain bill.
Quite interesting numbers you innocently observed there. Turns out New Mexico did rather well too: four medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), including two for scotch ales.
