Brewer News: OR: Milwaukie and Portland: Breakside Brewery responds after winning a Gold medal at this year's Great American Beer Festival

Press Release

Portland & Milwaukie, Oregon - A Gold Medal for American-Style IPA at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival®–the most competitive category ever–caps off an incredible run for Breakside Brewery’s flagship beer, Breakside IPA. Earlier this year the distinctive interpretation of a Northwest classic racked up a Silver medal at the Best of Craft Beer Awards, a Gold at the North American Beer Awards, 1st place in SIP Magazine’s Best of the Northwest 2014, and first place finishes in nearly every blind tasting IPA challenge in Portland.

“We're incredibly honored to be recognized for a beer in such a competitive category. The fact that this is our biggest selling beer makes it so much sweeter because every single one of our brewers touches this beer regularly. If we win a medal for a small-batch beer or some one-off barrel beer, it's great, but it's not as connected to the team. We have an amazing group of brewers and cellarmen, and I'm so proud of them. This is their award,” said Brewmaster Ben Edmunds, who accepted the award along with other members of the team last Saturday at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

Breakside Brewery owner Scott Lawrence beamed, “I want to start by saying how proud I am of our team and our company. There's not a week that goes by that I don't feel truly blessed to be surrounded by such an amazing group of people. The hops, grain, yeast, and water make up our IPA, but it's our people that make Breakside what it is.”

This beautifully clear India Pale Ale featuring the unique character of Citra and Chinook hops is Breakside’s most popular offering. Light copper in color, the beer has huge citrus and tropical fruit aromas, along with hints of perfume and pine. Flavors like apricot, guava, and orange hit the tongue accompanied by a mild evergreen note. There’s just enough caramel sweetness to balance the hop flavors, but this is really a showcase for the beautiful varieties of hops grown in the northwest.

Brewmaster Ben Edmunds on designing arguably the world’s best IPA: “We use Citra and Chinook as the two key hops in this beer. I'm a big believer that any great hoppy beer has to be anchored at least somewhat in a classic hop flavor–Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, or the like. A lot of the newer hops don't oxidize as pleasantly as the classic American hops, so I think that using something in that vein gives the beer more shelf life. That's something that helps keep it pleasant by the time it gets to a judge table 7 weeks after its been brewed.

The only tweak we've made to our IPA in the last year is to pull some of the hops out. We knocked off about 20 "theoretical" IBUs and the results were really amazing. By peeling away some of the bitterness, we revealed a whole host of hop flavor that was otherwise obscured. For me, that tweak is what took this beer from good to great in the last year.”

Breakside IPA Stats:

6.4% Abv Malts: 2-Row, Munich, Caramel 40 and Caramel 20. Hops: Columbus, Falconers Flight, Chinook, Citra. 70 IBU.

Suggested Food Pairings: Pork-heavy French dishes, like Pied De Cochon; Fried Tripe; Tart, Fresh Goat Cheeses; Thai boat noodles’; Chorizo Tacos; Traditional Spanish paella; Gnocchi in cream or pesto sauces; Chinese-style spicy squid with wokked celery; Szechuan mapo tofu.

Breakside flagship IPA is available in ½ Bbl, 50L, and ⅙ barrel draft; 22oz. Bottles in Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii.

ACCOLADES

Gold Medal / American­-Style IPA­ – Great American Beer Festival 2014

Gold Medal / American-Style IPA- North American Beer Awards 2014

Silver Medal / American-Style IPA- Best of Craft Beer Awards 2014

1st Place/ IPA­ SIP Magazine, Best of the Northwest 2014

1st Place – Oregon Blind IPA Challenge, NWIPA

1st Place – Concordia Ale House Portland IPA Challenge 2014