While Blue Mountain Brewery, Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company, and Starr Hill Brewery are in Virginia, several other winners at the GABF may be closer to some of our readership. Daytrips are encouraged.
Troeg’s Brewing Company (Harrisburg, PA) took a gold (again) for its dopplebock, Troeganator (Category #40), and a silver for Sunshine Pils (Category #28: German-Style Pilsener). Leaving from DC proper by car, you can be at Troeg’s in just over two hours, and yes, they’ll fill your growler.
For years rumors have swirled regarding a Maryland location for Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, based out of Wilmington, DE. In the meantime, Iron Hill took home a lot of hardware at this year’s GABF and is about two-and-a-half hours away by car.
Category #22: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout
Bronze: Grand Inquisitor, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington, DE
Category #34: Vienna-Style Lager
Bronze: Vienna Red Lager, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington, DE
(Note: Starr Hill Brewery won the gold in this category)
Category #80: Imperial Stout
Silver: Russian Imperial Stout, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington, DE
Finally, although not local, we’d be remiss not to shout out Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s domination of Category #49: American-Style Pale Ale. In addition to taking the gold, Firestone Walker also won a silver for its Mission St. Pale Ale. Savvy shoppers will recognize this as the house brand for Trader Joe’s. It retails for $5.99 to $6.99 per 6-pack at that store, depending on your location; you might not find a better beer value out there.
Congrats to all the GABF winners, and we look forward to more big things from local brewers next year.
Update. Via Troeg’s Facebook page, we finally have a date for the closing of the Harrisburg tasting room: October 7th, this Friday. No word yet on when the Hershey, PA tasting room will open, which will be about 2.5 hours from DC by car.
