No more shutout! As Jake Berg pointed out last year, history repeated itself in 2016, as DC was shut out from any Great American Beer Festival medals in 2015. But this year the humble Hefeweizen brewed in Southeast slaked our thirsts and killed the drought!
The 2017 Great American Beer Festival count reads DC one medal (GOLD BABY!), Virginia four (one gold, two silvers, and one bronze), and Maryland none (womp womp).
GB Navy Yard head brewer Travis Tedrow won a gold medal in Category 76: South German-Style Hefeweizen. With 128 other entries in the category, this is an impressive win for Tedrow.
There was some confusion as to whether or not the medal belongs in DC as the winners list cited "Gold: Hefeweizen, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant – Navy Yard, Broomfield, CO." It is in fact Tedrow's medals as all entrants from the various Gordon Biersch locations registered their entries from their corporate offices in Broomfield, CO.
As for the Virginia entries, the bronze medal went to Ocelot Brewing Co.'s for their Powers of Observation, in category 51 Baltic-Style Porter (48 entires). This equates to two medals in two years for Ocelot, first for pale lager and now for dark lager. For those scoring at home, 2016's win was a gold medal in Category 33: Kellerbier or Zwickelbier (69 entries) for their Sunnyside Dweller.
Virginia's silver medals came in Category 94: Oatmeal Stout (57 entries), and Category 92: American-Style Stout (60 entries). The Ferguson oatmeal chocolate milk stout was brewed by Studio Brew of Bristol, VA, and the American Stout from Wild Wolf Brewing Co.
The sole gold for Virginia came in Category 74: Leipzig-Style Gose or Contemporary Gose (96 Entries) the beer, Mermaid’s Scorn, is from Benchtop Brewing Co., in Norfolk.
Check out to the rest of the winners and congrats to Travis Tedrow on a well-deserved win!
