Two Nelson County breweries won medals in the 2012 World Beer Cup, an international beer competition presented by the Brewers Association, recognizing the most outstanding brewers and their beers. Devils Backbone Brewing Company won a Gold Medal for its Vienna Style Lager in the Vienna Style Lager category and Blue Mountain Brewery won a Silver Medal for their Blue Reserve in the American-Belgo-style ale category. The event was held in San Diego on Saturday, May 5th.
From Devil’s Backbone: “Of our core lineup of our year round craft brands, the Vienna Lager is one of our most popular beer styles and it was a silver medalist at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival. The Vienna Lager is a very approachable session beer in which both new and experienced craft beer lovers appreciate and enjoy its refreshing and pleasing taste. This award at the World Beer Cup continues our endorsement, by our peers, as one of the most highly recognized craft breweries in the world. While we are happy with our achievements we owe our success to our highly talented staff and by no small measure the many supporters and fans of Devils Backbone over the last three years”, says owner Steve Crandall. “Thank you for supporting our vision”.
Blue Mountain Brewery’s Brewmaster Taylor Smack said “After receiving the Silver at the 2011 Great Ameican Beer Festival for this particular beer, it’s rewarding to see the judges consistently recognize Blue Reserve as one of the best. It means even more that this medal came through stiff internatonal competition with 48 entries in the category, and that Blue Reserve is made with a high proportion of the hops we grow onsite at our brewery.”
World Beer Cup winners were selected by an international panel of 218 beer judges from 29 countries. The competition—referred to as the “Olympics of Beer Competition”—saw an impressive field of nearly 4,000 entries from 828 breweries in 56 countries. The 2012 competition drew the largest, most international field of entrants in the history of the World Beer Cup.
Three other Virginia breweries took home medals in the competition.
