With so many competitions to keep track of last weekend—the World Cup, Wimbledon, Tour de France—there's one you may have missed. Winners of the U.S. Open Beer Championship were announced, and local brewery DC Brau won two gold medals.
The Public, DC Brau's assertively hopped American pale ale, dominated out of more than 100 submissions in the pale ale category. Meanwhile, The Citizen took top honors among Belgian pale ales, which had about 30 entries. This year was DC Brau's first time submitting beers to the competition.
Beers were judged in 81 categories by "blind" tasters over several days in Atlanta, and awards were given to the top three rated beers in each category.
Wormtown Brewing in Worcester, Ma., where founding Bluejacket brewer Megan Parisi now works, was named Grand National Champion with three gold and one silver medal. Other top performing breweries include California's Stone Brewing and Oregon's Deschutes Brewery.
The contest included more than 3,000 entries by 300 breweries from all over the world. That may sound like a drop in the pint glass compared to larger competitions like the World Beer Cup, which had nearly 1,500 breweries participate this year. But winning a medal in the U.S. Beer Championship can be just as competitive, especially in a category as popular as pale ales.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery