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American Beer Goes Big

by Marcia Frost on October 10, 2011 at 05:18AM

The American beer landscape has changed a lot in the last three decades. So much so that the term "domestic beer" no longer brings to mind that watery golden fizz of keg parties and ball games. This was never more evident than at the Great American Beer Festival, which took place for the 30th year in a row in Denver last week. At the first show, there were only 800 attendees. At this one, there were half as many exhibitors, providing tastings for more than 50,000 thirsty brew heads. Here are the highlights.

Farm to Table Beer Pairings

Pairing food with beer was a major theme at the 2011 GABF and it went well beyond the Synder Pretzels that were given out to participants. The Beer & Food Pavilion had ongoing seminars with experts that included Top Chef Winner Stephanie Izard. The American Cheese Society had tables full of offerings with beer pairing suggestions. The big food event, however, was the Farm to Table Pavilion led by Chef Adam Dulye from The Monk's Kettle inSan Francisco.

A dozen breweries participated in the Farm to Table, pairing their best beer with gourmet food prepared by chefs from around the country. The combinations were unique and inviting, such as the Moloko from Three Floyds Brewing (Munster, IN) and Cuttle Fish Noodles with Vanilla & Lemon; or Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout served with Marscapone Cheesecake topped with a reduction sauce made from the beer.

This Year's Winners

The Gold Medal at the 2011 Pro-Am Competion was awarded to Before Copone of C.B. Potts Restaurant and Brewery (Westminster, CO). It marked their 10th award in competiion. Schwarzherz received the Silver Medal, giving Ultina Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, UT) their first ever GABF award, while it was the 11th honor for Dry Dock Brewing (Aurora, CO), whose Kriek took the Bronze.

In the categories of Brewer and Brewing Company of the year, the winners were: Small-Will Kemper, Chuckanut Brewery (Bellingham, WA); Mid-Size-Matthew Brynildson, Firestone Walker Brewing (Paso Robles, CA); and Large-Bob Newman, Pabst Brewing (Woodbridge, Illinois).

Brew Pubs were honored, with all the prizes going to California establishments: Pizza Port Ocean Beach (San Diego, CA) took the Small Brew Pub; Pizza Port Carlsbad (Carlsbad, CA) won the prize for Large Brew Pub; and Taps Fish House & Brewery (Brea, CA) was named the Brew Pub Group. Awards were also given out in 83 categories of specific types of beer (a full list of winners can be found on the GABF website).

Preparation is already underway for the next Great American Beer Festival, to be held October 11-13, 2012. Considering this year's event sold out in five days, mark it on your calendar to make plans well in advance.

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American Beer Goes Big

Farm to Table Beer Pairings

This Year's Winners

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