Lotte Peplow, the Brewers Association’s American Craft Beer Ambassador for Europe, explains why American craft beer is worth stocking
“It’s always immensely gratifying to see American craft beer shine at international beer competitions and proves its ability to succeed among the great brewing nations of Europe.
Two European beer competitions have recently announced their results and American craft beer has again performed strongly. Winning medals in European beer competitions is testimony to American craft brewers’ excellence in brewing classical beer styles and relentless innovation in beer flavours and techniques. Even though European brewers are steeped in history and tradition, American craft brewers are now competing alongside them and finding success.
What does this mean for your restaurant, bar or hotel? Faced with a plethora of choice, an award-winning beer offers a point of difference over its nearest competitor and is more likely to be sought out by the consumer. Medal-winning beers are considered exemplary and outstanding in their class.
Results of recent European beer competitions were as follows:
Brussels Beer Challenge
The Brussels Beer Challenge is an annual international beer competition that aims to promote the beer industry in a market that is not only a benchmark for beer, but also home to connoisseurs.
This year was the ninth iteration of the competition with 1,546 beers judged by 38 internationally renowned predominantly Belgium beer experts from 26th October – 6th November in Brussels. Participating beers were subdivided into categories based on origin, typology, and style, and then tasted.
Congratulations to the American craft brewers who were awarded with 31 awards in total: nine gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze including Reuben’s Brews Crikey IPA which was voted ‘Best North American Beer of the Competition’.
European Beer Star
One of the most recognized beer competitions in the world, the European Beer Star took place for the 17th occasion in October 2020 and is committed to the traditional European art of brewing. It recognizes high quality, authentic beers that are genuine and distinctive, and is limited to beer categories that originate in Europe.
Despite the pandemic, the 2020 competition welcomed 2,036 entrants from 42 countries of which 208 beers were from the United States. Medal winners came from 28 different countries. Congratulations to the American craft breweries who won 22 medals in total including 11 gold, five silver and six bronze.
Chefs and restauranteurs are welcome to make use of the free resources available on www.brewersassociation.org including the newly updated and expanded Craftbeer.com Beer & Food Professional Course downloadable free of charge.
A wide selection of award-winning American craft beer is available from selected distributors and wholesalers nationwide.”