"world beer cup" news and stories

When St. Paul, Minn.'s Summit Brewing debuted in 1986, its flagship beer, the Extra Pale Ale, caused a commotion: rich and crisp, with a bit of malt and a pronounced hoppy bite, the EPA was as unusual as it was uniformly accepted.

Since its inception, the British-style EPA became one of the upper Midwest's most ubiquitous, defining beers. And while the EPA remains wildly successful -- it recently won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup -- the well-bittered beer (about 45 IBUs) is now considered tame by today's hop-crazed standards.

It sounds like Homer Simpson's idea of paradise -- the World Beer Cup. The bi-annual event, which is known in the industry as the Olympics of beer, took place last week in Boulder, Colorado and is the largest commercial beer competition in the world.

The number and range of contestants and categories rivals the real Olympics. There were a whopping 3,308 entries from 44 countries ranging from Australia to Iceland. A distinguished panel of brewery experts knocked back lagers in 90 different categories. (Beers in the style of "British Origin," for example, come in 18 different beer-style categories alone.)

Utah beer makers did us proud: They captured two gold medals and a bronze. Utah Brewers Cooperative took home the gold with the cheekily named Polygamy Porter in the Sessions Category, beating out 27 competitors. And Squatters Brew Pub's Black Forest Schwarzbier wiped out 37 other entries to win first place in the German Style Schwarzbier category.

Last Friday, the winners of the 2006 Brewers Association World Beer Cup (aka "the most prestigious beer competition in the world") were announced in Seattle. This year's event was the largest on record, with over 2,000 entries coming in from almost 60 different countries. Beers were judged in 85 different categories, from "non-alcoholic malt tonic" to "fruit and vegetable beer" to "barley wine-style ale." A complete list of winners is available here.