9th European Beer Star Award exceeds all expectations

For decades, November has been the time when the international brewing industry looks to Nuremberg, where the latest technologies from the bottling machines to the draught system are presented at the Brau Beviale. The focus is increasingly concentrating on a contest that has undergone a sensational development: the European Beer Star, organized by the association Private Brauereien.

In only nine years, the participation has skyrocketed from 271 beers (2004) to 1366 beers from 45 countries. "When we came up with the idea ten years ago, none of us would have imagined that the European Beer Star would become such a success story", reminisces Dr Werner Glossner, Director of Private Brauereien. Glossner doubtlessly is especially happy that the German breweries and particularly the Bavarian breweries have been more successful than ever: Of the 63 German medals, 41 go to breweries in Bavaria, including 15 gold, 11 silver, and 15 bronze medals. This was not only due to the 17-per-cent increase in German beers compared to 2011; after all, international beers even increased 28 per cent.

The most successful brewery of the European Beer Star 2012 comes from the USA: the Pelican Pub & Brewery from Pacific City, Oregon, which received two gold and two silver medals. It took the tasters – a total of 102 brewmasters, beer sommeliers, and specialized journalists from 25 countries – two days to choose the world’s best beers in 50 beer categories (49 in 2011) by blind tasting. They evaluated the beers on the basis of purely sensory criteria like colour, aroma, foam, and of course flavour. On 14 November, the gold, silver, and bronze medals have been awarded to European-style beers from a total of 45 countries at the Brau Beviale in Nuremberg, Germany.

"Competition Is Getting Tougher"

Examining the list of winners, one interesting aspect is that unlike in previous years, only few breweries managed to win multiple medals. The most successful German breweries, Bürgerliches Brauhaus Saalfeld from Thuringia (Märzen and Heller Bock) and Kronenbrauerei Schimpf from Baden-Württemberg (Hefeweizen Hell and Kristallweizen) were awarded one gold and one silver medal each. With 21 gold medals, 21 silver medals, and 21 bronze medals, i.e. a total of 63 medals (2011: 52), German breweries were among the outstanding winners of the European Beer Star 2012. As expected, the USA is the second-most successful country in the European Beer Star 2012. The innovative US craft brewers gained 37 medals, including 14 gold medals (2011: 12) for beer styles such as Golden Ale, Indian Pale Ale, Stout, and Ultra Strong, which are particularly popular in the USA.

The dominance of the US brewers in these beer varieties also explains why Italy’s result (one gold medal, four silver medals, and four bronze medals) is lower compared to the previous year. The Belgian breweries once again made a thoroughly impressive haul of eight medals (three of them gold). The number of countries that qualified for medals was both pleasing and surprising: The medal table for 2012 lists 23 countries (2011: 20). First-timers were for example China with the Hainan Asia Pacific Brewery, Israel with the Golan Brewery in Katsrin and Namibia with the Namibia Breweries in Windhoek. "These examples effectively demonstrate that the objective of the European Beer Stars to honour particularly unique European-style beers is welcomed around the globe", says Dr. Werner Glossner.

Consumers Favorite in Nuremberg

On the first day of the Brau Beviale the consumers had the chance to choose their favorite under the 50 gold medal winners of the different beer categories. The Consumers’ Favourite 2012 in Gold has been gone to the "Double Jack" of Firestone Walker Brewery, USA. Silver received the "Schimpf Hefe hell" of Kronenbrauerei Alfred Schimpf, Germany and the Consumers’ Favourite 2012 in Bronze has been handed out for "Weiherer Rauch" of Brauerei-Gasthof Kundmüller, Germany.

The European Beer Star Award is supported by the Barth-Haas Group, BayWa Agriculture/Breeder Sales, the Brewing Academy in Gräfelfing, Fachverlag Hans Carl (BRAUWELT International), MicroMatic, NürnbergMesse, and rastal.

A list of all winning beers is available from www.european-beer-star.de/ebs12_de/downloads/presse/Gewinner_2012.pdf.