Raise ’em high and toast to our area breweries, many of which seem to be scooping up medals right and left at prestigious beer festivals. Recently, Perennial Artisan Ales picked up gold and silver medal wins at the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild’s 12th annual Festival of Barrel Aged Beers. Perennial’s barrel-aged Abraxas brought home the highest honor in the festival’s experimental category and was runner-up for best of show.
This is the third consecutive year Abraxas has brought home the bling, first with a silver in 2012 and then with a gold in 2013 and 2014. “It’s humbling to see people like it so much,” said Perennial brewmaster Cory King. “People are always after the next new thing, so for (Abraxas) to be around for so long is awesome.”
Abraxas is an imperial stout which is aged for a year in Rittenhoue Rye barrels with cacao nibs, vanilla beans, ancho chiles and cinnamon sticks which started as a home brew in King’s kitchen. More than 90 breweries could submit up to three entries each, for a total of more than 300 beers in 11 categories. Perennial co-owner Phil Wymore estimates that Abraxas won out over 30 beers in the experimental category. “This is one of our favorite festivals,” he said. “It’s so niche that to be honored as having the best barrel-aged beer is special.”
4 Hands Brewing Co. also took home FOBAB hardware last weekend. The brewery announced via Twitter that its barrel-aged Bonafide with cinnamon brought home bronze, while Volume 2 walked away with the silver medal. Owner Kevin Lemp could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile on the East Coast, Urban Chestnut earned accolades at the Great International Beer & Cider Competition in Rhode Island. UCBC earned three gold medals for its Schnickelfritz, Zwickel and Bushelhead cider and a bronze for its Aramis, as reported by Alive Magazine.
Co-owner David Wolfe said he was pleased to see the honors bestowed upon UCBC’s top-selling beers and cider. “It’s neat that the two of them combined make up a considerable amount for our total portfolio volume,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe said competitions like this one help UCBC realize where it stands on a national level. “You like to see where your beers stack up against other beers, specifically in those categories,” he said. “It’s a great barometer in that sense.”
Catherine Klene contributed to this report.
This article appears in November 2014.