Here's to the winners of the 2014 Virginia Craft Brewers Cup!

More than fifty Virginia 'craft' breweries —out of more than eighty-two operating in the state— presented and poured their beers at this year's Virginia Craft Brewers Fest, where they competed for recognition as the best beers in Virginia. From our friends at Virginia Beer Trail comes the news.

Roseland, Va. August 23, 2014 – The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild hosted the 2014 Virginia Craft Brewers Fest and the third annual Virginia Craft Brewers Cup competition Saturday, August 23th at Devils Backbone Basecamp Brewpub. There were more than 2,500 in attendance to enjoy tastings from 51 Virginia craft breweries.

This year’s competition, managed by master Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judge Tom Cannon, had 28 judges review 221 beers in 23 different categories. George Stewart, Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade, presented the awards for Best in Show. The winners of Best of Show and each category are as follows:

Best of Show winners 2014 Virginia Craft Brewers Cup

• Gold: Devils Backbone Outpost – Turbo Cougar

• Silver: Devils Backbone Basecamp – Smokehaus Lager

• Bronze: Devils Backbone Basecamp – Berliner Metro Weiss

American and German Lager

• Gold: Devils Backbone Outpost – Turbo Cougar

• Silver: Blue Mountain Brewery – Living Helles

• Bronze: Devils Backbone Outpost – Schwartz Bier

Pilsner

• Gold: Lost Rhino Brewing Company – Rhino Chaser Pilsner

• Silver: Legend Brewing Company – Pilsner

• Bronze: Mad Fox Brewing Company – Praha Pils

Vienna and Oktoberfest

• Gold: Devils Backbone Outpost – Vienna Lager

• Silver: Sunken City Brewing Company – Sunktoberfest

• Bronze: Lost Rhino Brewing Company – RhinoFest

Kolsch and Blonde Ale

• Gold: Champion Brewing Company – Killer Kolsch

• Silver: Parkway Brewing Company – Bridge Builder Blonde

• Bronze: Capitol City Brewing Company – Capitol Kolsch

Light and Amber Hybrid Beer

• Gold: Bull and Bones Brewhaus – Appalachian Alt

• Silver: Sunken City Brewing Company – Steemboat Beer

• Bronze: Champion Brewing Company – Stickin’ in my Rye

English, Scottish, and Irish Ale

• Gold: Apocalypse Ale Works – Heavy Red Horseman

• Silver: Midnight Brewery – Not My Job

• Bronze: Old Bust Head Brewing Company – Bust Head English Pale Ale

American Pale Ale

• Gold: Beach Brewing Company – Ghost Ship

• Silver: Triple Crossing Brewing – Easy Now

• Bronze: Center of the Universe Brewing Company – Ray Ray’s Pale Ale

American Amber and Brown Ale

• Gold: O’Connor Brewing Company – Red Nun Red Ale

• Silver: South Street Brewery – Browntown

• Bronze: Wolf Hills Brewing Company – Creeper Trail Amber Ale

Porter

• Gold: Parkway Brewing Company – Raven’s Roost Baltic Porter

• Silver: Old Ox Brewery – Black Ox

• Bronze: Port City Brewing Company – Porter

Stout

• Gold: Apocalypse Ale Works – 6th Seal

• Silver: Chaos Mountain Brewing – Coco Borealis

• Bronze: Three Notch’d Brewing Company – Oats McGoats Oatmeal Stout

India Pale Ale

• Gold: Starr Hill – King of Hop

• Silver: Port City Brewing Company – Monumental IPA

• Bronze: Sunken City Brewing Company – Red Clay IPA

Imperial IPA

• Gold: Three Brothers Brewing – Admiral

• Silver: AleWerks Brewing Company – Bitter Valentine

• Bronze: Triple Crossing Brewing – Street Creed

German Weizen

• Gold: Lost Rhino Brewing Company – Final Glide Hefeweizen

• Silver: Extra Billy’s – My Only Weiss

• Bronze: Smartmouth Brewing Company – Sommer Fling

Strong Ale

• Gold: Wild Wolf Brewing Company – Wolfinstein

• Silver: Triple Crossing Brewing – Yoke of Oxen

• Bronze: Old Bust Head Brewing Company – Gold Cup Russian Imperial Stout

Belgian and French Ale

• Gold: Old Ox Brewery – Saison d’Ox

• Silver: Hardywood Park Craft Brewery – Singel

• Bronze: Bull and Bones Brewhaus – Sun Lit Wit

Belgian Strong Ale

• Gold: Chaos Mountain Brewing – Agents of Chaos

• Silver: Apocalypse Ale Works – Lustful Maiden

• Bronze: Blue Mountain Brewery – Marsedon

Sour Ale

• Gold: Devils Backbone Basecamp – Berliner Metro Weiss

• Silver: Champion Brewing Company – Tart Berliner Weiss

• Bronze: Strangeways Brewing Company – Uberlin Berliner Weiss

Fruit Beer

• Gold: Wolf Hills Brewing Company – Watermelon Wheat

• Silver: Devils Backbone Outpost – Pear Lager

• Bronze: Hardywood Park Craft Brewery – Virginia Blackberry

Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer

• Gold: Blue Mountain Barrel House – Spooky

• Silver: Ardent Craft Ales – Honey Ginger

• Bronze: Wild Wolf Brewing Company – Ginger Lager

Smoke-Flavored/Wood-Aged Beer

• Gold: Devils Backbone Basecamp – Smokehaus Lager

• Silver: Starr Hill – Bourbon Barrel Bandstand Barleywine

• Bronze: Blue Mountain Barrel House – Dark Hollow

Specialty Beer

• Gold: AleWerks Brewing Company – Lover’s Greed

• Silver: Starr Hill – Whiter Shade of Pale Ale

• Bronze: Devils Backbone Outpost – East/West India Pale Lager

The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild is a coalition of independent, small, commercial breweries dedicated to growing the craft beer industry in the Commonwealth. The Beer Institute reports the beer industry in Virginia accounts for 8,123 jobs with an economic impact of $623 million.

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To put it all into some perspective, I've arranged the winners by the total number of gold medals won, (listing first by total gold, then by total medals overall, breaking ties alphabetically), and finally by non-gold medal winners (listed first by totals, and then alphabetically). They are:

GOLD MEDALS
• Devils Backbone Outpost * (Lexington)
  3 (6 medals totals, including gold: best of show)
  
  
• Devils Backbone Basecamp * (Rosemont)
  2 (4 medals total, including silver, bronze: best of show)
• Apocalypse Ale Works
  2 (3 medals, total)
• Lost Rhino Brewing Company (Ashburn)
  2 (3 medals, total)
  
  
• Champion Brewing (Charlottesville)
  1 (3 medals, total)
• Starr Hill (Crozet)
  1 (3 medals, total)
  
  
• AleWerks Brewing Company (Williamsburg)
  1 (2 medals, total)
• Blue Mountain Barrel House * (Arrington)
  1 (2 medals, total)
• Bull and Bones Brewhouse (Blacksburg)
  1 (2 medals, total)
• Chaos Mountain Brewing (Callaway)
  1 (2 medals, total)
• Old Ox Brewery (Ashburn)
  1 (2 medals, total)
• Parkway Brewing Company (Salem)
  1 (2 metals, total)
• Wild Wolf Brewing Company (Nellysford)
  1 (2 metals, total)
• Wolf Hills Brewing Company (Abingdon)
  1 (2 medals, total)
  
  
• Beach Brewing Company (Virginia Beach)
  1 (1 total)
• O’Connor Brewing Company (Norfolk)
  1 (1 total)
• Three Brothers Brewing (Harrisonburg)
  1 (1 total)


NON-GOLD MEDALISTS

• Sunken City Brewing Company (Hardy)
  3 total
• Triple Crossing Brewing (Richmond)
  3 total
  
  
• Blue Mountain Brewery * (Afton)
  2 total
• Hardywood Park Craft Brewery (Richmond)
  2 total
• Old Bust Head Brewing Company (Vint Hill)
  2 total
  
  
• Ardent Craft Ales (Richmond)
  1
• Capitol City Brewing Company (Arlington)
  1
• Center of the Universe Brewing Company (Ashland)
  1
• Extra Billy’s (Midlothian)
  1
• Legend Brewing Company (Richmond)
  1
• Mad Fox Brewing Company (Falls Church)
  1
• Midnight Brewery (Rockville)
  1
• Port City Brewing Company (Alexandria)
  1
• Smartmouth Brewing Company (Smartmouth)
  1
• South Street Brewery (Charlottesville)
  1
• Strangeways Brewing Company (Richmond)
  1
• Three Notch’d Brewing Company (Charlottesville)
  1

* Considering the mutual ownership of Blue Mountain Brewery and Blue Mountain Barrel House, the combined total of those two breweries would equal one gold and four medals overall, putting them near the top of the leader board. Of course, then the totals for the two Devils Backbone facilities (Basecamp and Outpost) should be combined, as well. And they would run clear away from the rest of the pack, with five gold medals, and ten medals, overall, taking home all three best-of-show medals.

Thanks should go to the festival and competition organizer, the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild, and to Mark Thompson (of Starr Hill), its director. Thanks, as well, to Devils Backbone for hosting for the third time.

Congratulations to all the winning breweries. And, hearty congratulations to Jason Oliver and his entire brewing team at Devils Backbone. He, and they, hold the cup, again, of best in Virginia.

There are eight days remaining in August; eight more days of Virginia Craft Beer Month. At the pub, at the store: make it a Virginia 'craft' beer.

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• Useful tools for finding 'craft' beer and breweries in Virginia:
  • Virginia Beer Trail
  • Virginia Tourism Corporation
  • Twitter guide to Virginia breweries.
  • Trinkin "connects you with taps and specials at local restaurants" (currently covering only Richmond, Charlottesville, and Harrisonburg).
• Virginia celebrates the month of August as Virginia Craft Beer Month. The back story: here.
• The press release mentions fifty-one breweries as participating in the Virginia Craft Brewers Fest. The festival website lists only twenty-five.