Breweries from Australia to Iceland sent in more than 3,000 beers and ciders representing eighty-one different categories for the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship, the only brewery competition to include professional breweries and award-winning homebrewers.
Wormtown Brewery of Worcester, Massachusetts, is the Grand National Champion for 2014 based on the strength of its individual brand medals, which included three gold medals:
- Imperial IPA: Hopulence
- American IPA: Be Hoppier
- French/Belgian Ale: Biere de Miel
In addition, the brewery was also awarded a silver medal in the French/Belgian Sasion category for its ALS Farmhouse Fundraiser.
Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido, California, tied two-time Grand National Champion Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon, for second place honors.
"It is really amazing to see the recognized quality breweries on the list that finished behind our beers. I didn’t really understand what I was reading when we received the announcement,” said Ben Roesch, Wormtown’s cofounder and brewmaster. “This is . . . a great honor, and I could not be more proud of this accomplishment.”
This title and the accompanying medals add to a long list of industry recognition for the Wormtown brewing team. Other awards include multiple Great International Beer Festival (GIBF) gold and silver medals, Great American Beer Festival (GABF) bronze, World Beer Cup silver, and multiple medals from the Denver International Beer Competition, the New York International Beer Competition, and the U.S. Beer Tasting Championships.
Wormtown Brewery, which opened on St. Patrick’s Day, 2010, is currently Worcester’s only brewery. The brewery prides itself on using Massachusetts-grown ingredients in every beer it brews. The award-winning Hopulence and Be Hoppier are brewed with wheat from Valley Malt (Hadley, Massachusetts); Biere de Miel is brewed with rye from Valley Malt and honey from Bee My Honey in Sutton, Massachusetts; and ALS Farmhouse Fundraiser is brewed with wheat and oats from Valley Malt.
Gold medal winners during the previous year at the American Homebrewers Association’s National Homebrew Competition also competed. Homebrewer Jeffrey Jantz of Albuquerque, New Mexico, won a silver medal for his Rauch Katze Altbier; and Jeff Lewis of Hilliard, Ohio, took home a bronze for his Brandy's Black Lab Schwarzbier.
For the first time, the U.S. Open also judged three styles of ciders. Boston Beer Company took home three medals and was named "Cidery of the Year" for its Angry Orchard Ciders.