Oskar Blues Brewery, best known for kicking off the craft beer in a can revolution, has transcended the canned beer package and earned five gold medals for each of their five core brands at the World Beer Championships over the course of the last five months, three of the golds were awarded this month.
The World Beer Championships (www.tastings.com), founded in 1994, is America’s oldest international beer competition and is open to all commercially produced beers from around the world, regardless of US distribution. It is a medal-based competition that awards its medals based on the proprietary blind tasting methodology developed by the Beverage Testing Institute (BTI) and bands of the consumer accepted, 100-point quality rating scale.
The March 2010 tastings yielded continued success for the Colorado brewery with three more Gold Medals including a 94 rating for their beautifully dry-hopped Imperial Red, GORDON Ale and their Old Chub Scotch Ale. Both are complex, strong ales that continue to push the boundaries of craft beer in a can. Dale’s Pale Ale, Oskar Blues’ flagship, called the “Top American Pale Ale” by the New York Times, won gold in the March tastings which brought Oskar Blues Brewery’s total to five gold medals for all five of their offerings within a five month stretch.
Mama’s Little Yella Pils, Oskar Blues’ most recent year-round selection was awarded a 92 rating and a Gold Medal by the Beverage Testing Institute (www.tastings.com) in November of 2009. The 5.3% ABV Pilsner rounds out their line-up of boundary busting beers in a can. The crisp and refreshing Czech Style Pilsner was followed by a January 2010 tasting and subsequent Gold Medal for the iconic Ten FIDY, Imperial Stout. The inimitable heavy weight in a can weighs in at 10.5 ABV with flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee that hide a hefty 98 IBUs underneath the smooth blanket of malt.
Oskar Blues Brewery’s March 2010 release GUBNA Imperial IPA joins this impressive line-up of Gold Medal canned beer getable in 26 states. To find out where to purchase Oskar Blues beer visit http://www.oskarblues.com/about-us/beer-locator
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Three-dimensional brewing since 1999, Oskar Blues began the “Canned Beer Apocalypse” in 2002 when Dale’s Pale Ale became America’s 1st CANNED craft beer. For additional info, interviews, images or samples please contact Chad Melis at chad@oskarblues.com, # 720.273.8888 or visit www.oskarblues.com
