European Beer Star 2011 winners awarded at trade fair

On 10 November 2011, gold, silver and bronze European Beer Star awards went to beers from 20 countries, while beers from 13 countries qualified for the 49 gold medals at Brau Beviale in Nuremberg, Germany. This year, the number of participating beers went up to 1,113, an increase of 16 percent over 2010 (955 beers). The jury that chose the world’s best beers in all 49 beer categories (previous year: 45) consisted of almost 100 (previous year: 88) brewmasters, beer sommeliers and specialized journalists from 26 countries. They evaluated the beers on the basis of the purely sensory criteria that all beer consumers are familiar with: colour, aroma, foam and of course flavour.

Unsurprisingly, US craft brewers, who serve as trend-setters in the brewing world at the moment, again joined the ranks of outstanding winners of this year’s European Beer Star, securing 12 gold medals for the innovative brewing scene ranging from Alaska to California. Bavaria, which is quite small by comparison, claimed the same number of gold medals and a total of 48 awards, thus living up to its reputation as the cradle of beer.

A trend that became evident in the previous year was impressively confirmed this year: Italy is increasingly turning from a wine country into a "beer country" (see also BRAUWELT International No. 3 2011, p. 170-172). The most successful brewery of the Beer Star 2011 is Birrificio del Ducato from Parma, Italy, which received two gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals for its beers

The Pelican Pub & Brewery in Pacific City, Oregon, USA, achieved almost as much success, with two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal.

The German breweries appear to have passed the era of sweeping victories, a fact that Dr Werner Gloßner, Director of Private Brauereien, attributes to the "increased competition" at the European Beer Star: "We have never had so many German breweries receive medals as this year, which also shows that more and more brewers are returning to craft and quality." This means that the beer contest, which was held for the first time in 2004, has reached one of its primary goals: to award prizes to European-style beers that excel due to their special character.

An interesting aspect of German breweries that won medals at this year’s European Beer Star is that Baden-Württemberg is contesting Bavaria’s supremacy in the field of wheat beer, although the highest award for Dunkles Hefeweizen went to Bayerische Löwenbrauerei Franz Stockbauer in Passau, and the highest award for Hefeweizen Bernsteinfarben went to Brauerei Aying near Munich. The Weizenbock Dunkel "Aventinus" from the Weisses Bräuhaus Schneider in Lower Bavaria again qualified for a gold medal.

Visitors to Brau Beviale had again the opportunity to pick their "Consumers’ Favourite" by tasting at least a small selection of the world’s best beers: the 49 gold medal winners of the European Beer Star (EBS).

Late in the evening on Wednesday, the voting results revealed the winners. In 2011, the Consumers’ Favourite gold medal goes to Aventinus of Weisses Brauhaus, Kelheim (German Style Weizenbock Dunkel), and silver to Ballast Point Brewing Company, San Diego, USA, for Sculpin IPA (Indian Pale Ale). The Weiherer Kellerbier (German Style Kellerbier Hell) of Brauerei- Gasthof Kundmüller from Viereth-Trunstadt gained the third-highest number of taster votes and qualified for bronze.

The European Beer Star Award is supported by the Barth-Haas Group, BayWa Agrar Züchtervertrieb, the Doemens Brewing Academy in Gräfelfing, Fachverlag Hans Carl (BRAUWELT and BRAUWELT International), MicroMatic, NürnbergMesse and Rastal.

A list of all winning beers, various photographs and charts are available on the website www.european-beer-star.com for free use.