Seven Michigan breweries won awards for nine different beers at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver over the weekend.
Breweries enter their beer to be judged by the festival's professional judge panel, who then awards gold, silver or bronze medals recognized around the world as symbols of brewing excellence, according to the festival's website.
The awards are:
Gold Awards
- Shipfaced from Silver Harbor Brewing Co. in St. Joseph's was given the gold award for Barley Wine-Style Ale.
- Barrel Aged Sweet Potatoe Soufflè Rye from Odd Side Ales in Grand Haven was given the gold in Specialty Beer.
Silver Awards
- Aphrodisiac Chocolate Pomegranate Imperial Stout from Cranker's Brewery in Big Rapids earned a silver award in Chocolate Beer.
- Sheehan's Stout from Rockford Brewing Co. in Rockford was given the silver in Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout.
- Rye Hipster Brunch Stout from Odd Side Ales earned the silver in Specialty Beer.
Bronze Awards
- Rouge River Brown from Rockford Brewing Co. in Rockford earned a bronze in English-Style Brown Ale.
- Passionfruit Gose from Perrin Brewing Co. in Comstock Park earned bronze in Leipzig-Style Gose or Contemporary Gose.
- Pilgrim's Dole from New Holland Brewing Co. in Holland earned bronze in Old Ale or Strong Ale.
- Antwerp's Placebo from Batch Brewing Co. in Detroit earned bronze in Other Strong Beer.
On top of the beer awards, Rockford Brewing Co. was named the Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year.
Gold awards mean it is "a world-class beer that accurately exemplifies the specified style, displaying the proper balance of taste, aroma and appearance."
Silver awards are "an excellent beer that may vary slightly from style parameters while maintaining close adherence to the style and siplaying excellent taste, aroma and appearance."
Bronze awards are "a fine example of the style that may vary slightly from style paramters and/or have minor deviations in taste, aroma or appearance."
