Exceptional beers and brewers recognized in largest-ever global competition
Blue Mountain Brewery, of Afton (Nelson County) was awarded the Silver medal at the 2012 World Beer Cup®, held in San Diego, in the American-Belgo-style ale category for their seasonal beer Blue Reserve. Co-owner Matt Nucci accepted the award in front of a crowd of over 2,000 peers at the awards dinner in San Diego Saturday night, May 5th. Brewmaster Taylor Smack expressed great satisfaction that their Blue Reserve showed well again in competition. “After receiving the Silver at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival for this particular beer, it’s rewarding to see the judges consistently recognize Blue Reserve as one of the best. It means even more that this medal came through stiff international competition with 48 entries in the category, and that Blue Reserve is made with a high proportion of the hops we grow onsite at our brewery.” The 2011 Great American Beer Festival medal-winning version of Blue Reserve was brewed solely with hops grown at the Afton brewery, and was the first-ever beer made with all-Virginia hops to medal in the competition.
The 2012 World Beer Cup®, known as “The Olympics of Beer”, was the largest commercial international beer competition ever held, with a 17.7% increase in entries over the 2010 event. 799 breweries representing 54 countries entered 3,921 beers for blind judging by an international panel of 211 judges from 27 different countries. Award-winning brewers received prestigious gold, silver and bronze medals in 95 beer categories, establishing the best commercial examples of each style in the world. Unlike other beverage competitions, only three medals are awarded for each category. Three other Virginia breweries took home medals in the competition. [World Beer Cup promotional rules do not allow press releases to mention any other brewery by nameL]
