According to international craft beer experts, some local breweries in Asheville, North Carolina have won some of the world’s best beer awards. At the recent World Beer Cup awards ceremony held in Nashville, Tennessee on May 10th, three local breweries won gold, silver, and bronze medals. The 27th annual competition had a total of 10,213 entries, representing 51 countries and 2,376 breweries. The beer was judged in 103 categories by 272 industry colleagues from 26 countries.
Highwire Brewing and New Belgium Company, both based in Asheville, won awards in this year’s competition. Appalachian Mountain Brewery, with a taproom in Boone, won gold in the Golden or Blonde Ale category with its Boone Creek Blonde Ale. The beer, described as a “refreshing blonde ale with hints of orange zest and wildflower honey,” also won a gold medal at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival. Down South, considered a “fresh, crushable pouch craft lager” with a dry, clean finish and subtle notes of noble hops, won the silver medal in the American-style lager category. Boone Creek Blonde Ale is available at AMB’s taproom and local retailers, while Down South is only available at AMB’s taproom.
Hi-Wire Brewing won a silver medal in the Japanese Dry Rice Lager category for its Japanese Dry Rice Lager, brewed in partnership with Ben’s American Sake. The beer, brewed with 49% rice and fermented at extremely low temperatures using Ben’s House Koji and Hi-Wire’s flagship lager yeast, is described as high in alcohol, light-bodied, bright in color, with a dry finish and notes of steamed rice and young coconut flavors. The beer is only available at High Wire taprooms and sold in 4-packs of 16.
New Belgium Brewing won a bronze medal in the Experimental India Pale Ale category with their Voodoo Ranger Juice Force IPA, a 9.5% ABV hazy imperial IPA with tropical and fruity notes of passion fruit, mango, and orange. The beer is available at retailers nationwide and at the Asheville Brewery in the River Arts District.
Tiana Kennell, a food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, encourages readers to support this kind of journalism by subscribing to Citizen Times.