GABF 2022 Awards - OC Beer!

(Cover Photo by Brewers Association and Great American Beer Festival)

Awards are out!

Congrats to the OC Breweries on this 40th GABF, 36 years of competition! We took 11 medals this year, 2 more than last year.

This year’s GABF had 9,904 entries by 2,154 breweries, judged by 235 judges, aided by 300+ volunteers, over 9 days.

OC’s Barrel-aged juggernauts, Bottle Logic and The Bruery, shared the two top stops this year, reclaiming what made them a household name in the category.

California taking the cream ale and strong hazy categories in a sweep. Flashpoint and Brewery X win their first GABF medals, Docent shows their poise with coffee, Beachwood HB keeps up their streak, and Radiant keeps reminding us to not overlook the Haze.

RIIP places once again for Black the Riiper and remain OC’s IPA king by also taking hardware in the most entered category. Likewise, Bearded Tang shows they still got it by taking two medals as well.

To add more to it, OC swept the Alpha King Challenge held at Rock Bottom Brewery in Denver, CO yesterday, Oct 7th, 2022. First Place to Radiant's Dig This Crazy Scene Double IPA, Second to Santa Ana River's More Hops Than Brains Double IPA, and Third to Brewery X's Slap & Tumble Double IPA.

Here’s the complete list of OC GABF winners. Let’s hear it for OC!

#gabf2022 #enbeerment #ocbeer

Gold (3)
Coffee Stout or Porter (76 Entries): Super Tonic, Docent Brewing, San Juan Capistrano
Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer (133 Entries): Flesh to Stone, Bottle Logic Brewing, Anaheim CA
Scotch Ale (44 Entries): Full Malted Jacket, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, Huntington Beach

Silver (5)
Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer (133 Entries): Ivoire, The Bruery, Placentia
American Cream Ale (115 Entries): Carlos Danger, Bearded Tang, Stanton
Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale (153 Entries): So Into You, Radiant, Anaheim
German Wheat Ale (209 Entries): Kristal Weizen, Bearded Tang, Stanton
American-Style India Pale Ale (423 Entries): Dankster Squad, RIIP, Huntington Beach

Bronze (3)
Historical Beer (59 Entries): Churchill Browns, Flashpoint, Huntington Beach
Bohemian-Style Pilsener (186 Entries): Battlesnakes, Brewery X, Anaheim
American Black Ale or American Stout (62 Entries): Black the Riipper, RIIP, Huntington Beach

(Cover Photo by Brewers Association and Great American Beer Festival)

Full list of winners here.

Enbeerment’s Oktoberfestbier of the Week (2020): Funfest - Bronze Medal Winner - by Bootlegger’s Brewery

We have a winner!

Bootlegger’s, Fullerton’s first and currently only brewery, brought home a bronze medal at this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF). The hardware was awarded to Funfest, their Festbier style lager that has recently become a year-round production beer due to its popularity. Good things happen when you make the same beer time and time again. Funfest is our Oktoberfestbier of the week.

Funfest pours out golden in color with a rich white cap of foam. Made in the style that’s served at the festival since about 1990, Festbiers are essentially an amped-up Helles-Style Lager. They differ from the Märzen which are copper in color and are much toastier in flavor and aroma. Funfest has aromas of rich cereals and grass. On the tongue, the beer imparts a biscuit and light toasty malt character with some bitter flowers on the finish.

Bootlegger’s was the first craft brewery I walked into when they are about 6 months young. I walked into the industrial warehouse-style building with my dad. Aaron Barkenhagen was sitting on the steps of his 7-barrel brewhouse and simply says, “Hi… you two thirsty?” I find out he’s the owner and his wife, Patricia, was walking around with their firstborn. Months later, the place is packed to the gills with beer enthusiasts. Fast-forward from 2006 to now and Boots has a production facility and a larger tasting room in Fullerton, plus two other locations in Costa Mesa and Redlands, and a handful of GABF medals.

Congratulations Aaron, Patricia, Robert Margalis (Head Brewer), and the entire Boots Crew on the Funfest bronze medal win!

Visit, web, Instagram, and Facebook:

Bootlegger’s Brewery (Fullerton) – 130 S Highland Ave, Fullerton
Bootlegger’s Brewery (Costa Mesa) – 696 Randolph Ave, Suite B, Costa Mesa
Bootlegger’s Brewery (Redlands) – 2351 W Lugonia Ave, #G, Redlands

Prost!

Gilbert “Charlie” Perez, Advanced Cicerone®

GABF 2020 OC Winners!

There were plenty of newcomers and some very pleasant surprises. With the judging circumstances this year, it was to be expected that we have such a diverse range of winners along with some very notable snubs. There’s always next year. Congratulations to all the hardware winners! (For a complete list, click here.)

OC is always a winner in my book. There was a strong showing for our little group of brewers with 12 total awards. And the winners are…

Gold:

Coffee Stout of Porter: Super Tonic, Docent Brewing, San Juan Capistrano (75 Entries)

Session India Pale Ale: Hefty Fee, Docent Brewing, San Juan Capistrano (94 Entries)

Other Strong Beer: Rico, Chihuahua Cerveza, Costa Mesa (82 Entries)

English-Style Brown Ale: Get Up Offa That Brown, Golden Road, Anaheim (55 Entries)

Belgian-Style Specialty Ale: Tangible Passion, RIIP Beer Co., Huntington Beach (47 Entries) 

-5 Total Gold Medals-


Silver:

Coffee Beer: Golden Stout, Karl Strauss, Anaheim (72 Entries) 

Coffee Stout or Porter: The Riizzo, RIIP Beer Co., Huntington Beach (75 Entries)

American-Style Black Ale or American-Style Stout: Black the Riipper, RIIP Beer Co., Huntington Beach (69 Entries)

-3 Total Silver Medals-

Bronze:

Fruited American-Style Sour Ale: Summer Sun, Stereo Brewing, Placentia (180 Entries)

Wood-and Barrel-Aged Beer: B. A. Dunkel, TAPS Brewery & Barrel Room, Tustin (65 Entries) 

Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest: Funfest, Bootlegger’s Brewery, Fullerton (90 Entries) 

German Dark Lager: Umbeereon, GameCraft Brewing, Laguna Hills (98 Entries)

-4 Total Bronze Medals-

Cheers!

Gilbert “Charlie” Perez, Advanced Cicerone®