Area breweries win medals at U.S. Open

A Lafayette-based craft brewer won three medals and several other breweries in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado also won medals over the weekend at the U.S. Open Beer Championship.

More than 9,000 beers representing 150 styles were entered in the competition, held in Oxford, Ohio. Colorado-based brewers collected one gold medal along with seven silver and seven bronze medals. The gold went to an imperial red ale called Wreak Havoc, which was produced by Longmont-based Bootstrap Brewing, which also took home a silver for Chillax, its American-style fruit beer.

Lafayette-based Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. garnered three medals, including silvers for a chili pepper beer called Ring Oh! Fire and an International Pale Ale called Cold Snap, as well as a bronze for its Peanut Butter Porter.

Beyond the Mountain Brewing Co., based in Boulder, won a silver medal for its Klaus’s Kölsch German-style beer and a bronze for an Imperial NE IIPA called Headspin.

Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project of Loveland won a bronze medal in the Historical Beer category for Angry Banjo.

The U.S. Open bills itself as “the only major championship to allow gold-medal-winning beers from the American Homebrewers Association national homebrew competition to compete against professional breweries.

Besides announcing this year’s winners, the U.S. Open singled out its “Top 10 Beer Names” among entrants. They included Julius Squeezer IPA, Tastes Like Flannel, There Gose My Pickle, It’s Pronounced “Phrankensteen” IPA, I Need More Cowbelgian, Who’s A Good Beer, Kölsch Me If You Can, It Gose in Your Moutha, Up Schitt’s Kriek, and the winner: Still Not as Bitter as Your Ex.

This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2022 BizWest Media LLC.

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