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Previous Mash columns:
Several Oregon breweries have a long history of success at the GABF. In the past 10 years, Deschutes Brewery has won 12 medals, and Rogue and Steelhead have each won 10. Saxer has won seven in just four years.
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BY JEFF ALWORTH Around this time every year the Association of Brewers announces the winners of its annual Great American Beer Festival. Oregon breweries did pretty well this year, winning 11 medals--four gold, three silver and four bronze--with Deschutes and the Pelican Pub and Brewery each winning a pair. The total was nearly double the previous high-water mark of six in 1995, and industry buzz is very positive about the state's performance. Then again, 11 medals represents a paltry 7 percent of the total awarded, a tiny figure given that Oregon produces (according to some partisans) the best beer in the country. Looking through the list, I saw that among local entrants, breweries like BridgePort and Full Sail failed to win anything, and yet St. Ides pulled in a bronze for its rendition of an "American-Style Specialty Lager." If cheap malt liquors can win medals but not some of Oregon's best beers, what does this say about the festival? The short answer is style, style and style. The GABF was designed around principles that would allow for some objectivity, which means evaluating beers against uniform standards--in this case, beer styles. Fred Eckhardt, author of The Essentials of Beer Style and an architect of the GABF's style guidelines, described the process as one of fine tuning categories year after year. The festival began with classic, recognizable styles and continues to expand to include more experimental styles. So while pretty much any beer brewed in Oregon has something to recommend it when compared against Pabst Genuine Draft Light, in the American-Style Light Lager category, where Pabst took silver, Oregon beers would all be out of luck. "One of the best beers I've ever tasted at any GABF was Goose Island Bourbon Stout, and it only received honorable mention," Eckhardt says. "Our brewers really don't give a damn about anyone else," Eckhardt adds, illuminating another reason Oregon isn't as well-represented in the winners column as it might be. Last year, only seven craft brewers of the state's several dozen even submitted beers. It probably has something to do with Oregon's particular brand of individuality--or parochialism, as some would call it. And the GABF doesn't promote innovation. Some of the most celebrated Oregon breweries, like Hair of the Dog, typically have not bothered sending their beers because they brew unique styles that wouldn't fit any of the categories. Breweries that just can't resist throwing in a few extra hops or making the beer just a little bit bigger (that is, most Oregon breweries) may make better beers, but they won't win any medals. The increase in medals awarded to Oregonians this year, though, may indicate that the rest of the country is beginning come over to the Oregon school. A final factor is the sheer number of entries. In some categories--notably IPA, with 115 entries, and English-Style Pale Ale, with 123--the vagaries of judging come into play. The system works like this: All the beers in a category are divided into groups of 12 to 15 and distributed to tables of judges (five to seven at a table). The judges choose the three best beers, in no special order, and send them to the next round where the process is repeated. When there are only six beers left, a group of judges will decide the order of placement and award gold, silver and bronze medals. "If you start getting a huge number of beers, it gets pretty hard," says Ron Ryan, quality assurance manager at Widmer and a judge this year. "I don't know if the gold in that case is the best beer." Certainly, the beers awarded medals in any category will be superlative, but just as easily, a wonderful beer may get left out. Consider BridgePort IPA: last year, a gold-medal winner; this year, nothing. 1998 Winners - - - - - - - - - - - -
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