Karl Strauss Brewing Co. won two gold medals, two bronze medals and the coveted Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year award for U.S. breweries producing between 15,000 and 6 million barrels of beer per year at this year’s Great American Beer Festival, the premier U.S. beer festival and competition.
Winning a medal at this prestigious competition is no small feat, and winning four medals puts Karl Strauss in a select group of only four U.S. breweries to have won four or more medals at Great American Beer Festival this year. Four medals also means Karl Strauss was the most awarded craft brewery from Southern California at Great American Beer Festival 2016.
Karl won a bronze medal for Liquid AC, an English Style-Summer Ale, brewed at the company’s satellite brewery in La Jolla. The other three medals were for beers submitted from the company’s main production facility in Pacific Beach. Mosaic Session IPA added to its impressive trophy case by winning its second GABF medal, this time a bronze in the popular Session IPA category. Windansea Wheat won gold in the South German-Style Hefeweizen category. Queen of Tarts, a barrel aged dark sour made with Michigan tart cherries, took home gold in the highly competitive American Style-Sour Ale category.
“We are delighted to get this kind of peer-based recognition at craft beer’s most highly regarded competition. It’s wonderful to keep winning medals from a combination of our satellite breweries and our main production facility,” said Matt Rattner, president and co-founder of Karl Strauss Brewing Co. “These medals are a testament to the talents of our brewing team and to Karl’s exacting standards for quality. We look forward to celebrating this win with our fans!” “This year’s Great American Beer Festival was more competitive than ever,” said Matt Johnson, brewmaster of brewery operations. “So it is a great honor to win four medals and take home the Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year award, and to do so across such a wide variety of beer styles, from a traditional Hef to a session IPA to a barrel aged American sour.”
These Great American Beer Festival medals cap off an impressive run of late for the brewery. Last year Karl was one of only eight breweries in the U.S. to have won three or more medals at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival. In 2016 Karl has racked up a total of 11 medals across local, regional, national and international competitions. And earlier this year Karl did something no other brewery has done, winning back to back California Craft Beer Throwdown titles for Aurora Hoppyalis as the best tasting IPA in the state of California.
“The market now knows what we’ve known all along. We make incredible beer that is a product of our relentless pursuit of innovation, brewing excellence and the highest standards for beer quality. We owe a great deal of our success to our namesake Karl Strauss, the most decorated master brewer of all time and an industry champion for beer quality,” said Paul Segura, brewmaster of research and development.
Karl Strauss has won 99 medals since 2009 and its Red Trolley Ale is one of the most award-winning beers in the world. For more information visit www.karlstrauss.com or call the brewery at 858-273-2739.