Here’s a numerical round up of some of the craft-beer industry’s biggest headlines in September.
5: Craft beer bars that were nominated as the country’s Greatest American Beer Bars in a craftbeer.com poll. After 19,000 craft beer fans cast more than 3,400 nominations, the Brewers Association designated five best beer bars for five regions, and five overall winners:
- The Bier Stein in Eugene, Oregon (pictured at top)
- Cloverleaf Tavern in Caldwell, New Jersey
- Falling Rock Tap House in Denver, Colorado
- HopCat in Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Mekong Restaurant in Richmond, Virginia
24: Great American Beer Festival awards that Salt Lake City’s Squatter’s Pub Brewery has won since its opening in 1989. Squatter’s has also taken home twelve World Beer Cups and thirty North American Brewers Association Medals over its twenty-five years. In celebration of its silver anniversary, the brewery debuted the Squatters 25th Anniversary Barley Wine Ale.
31,960: Barrels of beer that Houston’s Saint Arnold Brewing Co. brewed in the first half of 2014, and reported in September with the news of the completion of its latest expansion. “This [number of barrels] represented an 18 percent increase in production over the same period in 2013,” said a press release from the brewery. “According to figures released by the Brewer’s Association, America’s craft breweries overall also saw growth of 18 percent during the first half of 2014.”
11: Quarts of coffee that were consumed at McMenamins’ annual Running of the Brewers. This annual hops drop-off spanned 1,989 miles in two states, with hops delivered to twenty-two McMenamins breweries. It took eight drivers 4 hours and 47 minutes to complete the challenge.
200: According to the Visit Denver website, more than 200 beers are crafted in Denver every day. Twenty of these beers are showcased in Visit Denver’s Denver Beer Trail map that features different beers and breweries each year. The map comes out for Denver Beer Fest, a city-wide series of events that takes place during GABF week, and it can be found at denver.org.
3,500: The number of beers that were sampled at the Great American Beer Festival, the largest GABF yet. In the festival hall, more than 700 breweries from across the country poured their beers. In the competition, judges tasted 5,700 entries from more than 1,300 breweries.