Great American Beer Festival 2016

The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company wins Large Brewpub Of The Year & Large Brewpub Brewer Of The Year at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival®

Industry wins Gold Medal in German-Style Pilsener

Hell Yes wins Bronze Medal in Munich-Style Helles

The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. (aka The ABGB) earned two medals at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition and was also awarded Large Brewpub Of The Year and Large Brewpub Brewer Of The Year. Presented by the Brewers Association, the GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world and recognizes the most outstanding beers produced in the USA. The top three winners in 96 beer-style categories were announced October 8 at the awards ceremony in Denver, Colorado.

The award for Large Brewpub Of The Year also honors Amos Lowe, Brian “Swifty” Peters, and Kim Mizner as Large Brewpub brewers of the year. The ABGB won at the GABF for the second year in a row. Last year, the Rocket 100 won a Gold Medal in the American-Style or International-Style Pilsener beer-style category.

“You see breweries that win brewery of the year and you respect them so much you don’t even dream it will happen. We wake up every day to make better beer. It’s great they recognize it, that it paid off” said brewer and owner Peters.

The ABGB recently celebrated its third anniversary in South Austin. The brewpub features live music on a stage with the brewery’s fermenters as a prominent backdrop. The brewpub’s food menu changes daily based on what’s fresh and in-season, and is as locally-sourced as possible.

Industry features assertive hop flavor out front from Hallertau Mittelfruh, German Saphir hops, which give the lager a floral and spicy aroma, and an extra dry, crisp finish. The tap wall describes Hell Yes as “Bavarian-style lager. Simple and elegant”. It’s also the lager representing the Hell Yes Projects, a community outreach program that uses the “magic” and “power” of beer to prove the brewpub’s philosophy: Beer Makes It Better.

Amos Lowe, brewer and owner says, “Lager beers are special to us. So winning Brewer Of The Year with two of them earning medals, that’s as good as it gets.”

The 2016 GABF competition winners were selected by an international panel of 264 expert judges from the record number of 7,227 entries, plus 88 Pro-Am entries, received from 1,752 U.S. breweries.

“The innovation, creativity and flavor of American beers was well showcased at this year’s Great American Beer Festival,” said Chris Swersey, competition manager, Great American Beer Festival. “This was the most competitive competition to date, with a record number of entries. Congratulations to all the winners who truly demonstrated the best of America’s beer culture.”