The Great American Beer Festival (GABF), which hosts the country’s largest and most prestigious beer competition, this weekend awarded a bronze medal in the American-Style Dark Lager category to Shiner Bock, the iconic flagship beer from the Spoetzl Brewery.
The GABF is hosted by the Brewer’s Association, which represents more than 1,400 craft breweries in America. This year’s competition saw 5,507 entries in 90 separate categories, making this by far the largest field in the event’s 28-year history.
Many of those categories at GABF are highly specialized, and lots of the beers entered are brewed in very small batches, some made only to be judged at the competition. That makes Shiner Bock’s medal that much more impressive, since it is Spoetzl’s mainstay beer.
In the world of craft brewing, where few of the players are older than 20 years old and most much younger than that, Spoetzl’s age also stands out – they been brewing beer in Shiner since 1909. The next oldest craft brewery to win a medal didn’t come along until 1980.
In addition to a record number of entries, this year’s GABF competition also saw its largest judging panel, with 220 beer experts from 10 countries. The panel awarded a total of 268 gold, silver and bronze medals to beers representing 145 distinct styles. According to the GABF (www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com), to receive a medal, an entry must be: A world-class beer that accurately exemplifies the specified style, displaying the proper balance of taste, aroma and appearance.
Find out more about the festival and competition here: www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com
About Shiner Beer
Founded in Shiner, Texas (population 2,070), the Spoetzl Brewery is one of America’s oldest independent breweries and the country’s fourth largest craft brewer. Shiner’s award-winning beer is available in 49 states. Every drop of Shiner is still handcrafted and bottled by only 135 workers, right at the spot where it all started in 1909.
Learn more at www.shiner.com
Note: The above was taken from an official press release
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