N.W. Beer GuideComment

Industry News: WA: Washington Beer Awards announces start of brewery registration, March 1st - March 31st.

N.W. Beer GuideComment
Press Release
image courtesy Washington Beer Awards
Greetings Washington Brewers!

We are proud to invite you to enter the Fourth Annual Washington Beer Awards, the craft beer competition designed specifically to support Washington’s professional brewers.  This Washington-only competition provides an opportunity for all of Washington’s craft brewers to compete in a blind judging format.  It allows recognition of brewing excellence in Washington and provides feedback supporting future competition entry decisions.  Our goal is to provide an unbiased and affordable competition for Washington brewers and raise awareness of Washington craft beer both within the state and on the national level.  We have coordinated with the Washington Beer Commission who endorses this competition as a great way to promote Washington breweries.  

This competition provides an affordable venue for Washington brewers to compete locally and receive a higher caliber of judging than provided at many craft beer competitions.  We leverage invite-only trained judges with a focus on providing feedback tailored for the commercial community with detailed tasting observations assessed against the Brewers Association style guidelines used for entering other craft beer competitions.

The competition will be held in early, in advance of the registration periods for competitions like the Great American Beer Festival.  This helps support brewing and entry decisions, increasing your chances of attaining national recognition.  Medals will be provided to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners and special awards will be provided to breweries with many winning beers.

Our 2015 competition brought in over 700 entries from more than 100 brewers all over the state and presented over 130 awards to Washington brewers.  We expect the competition to grow this year permitting even more award categories and special awards including a Pro-Am competition, along with the Best Washington Agricultural Product Inspired Beer, Best Washington Malt Beer, and recognition of the Washington Breweries of the Year.

The competition is run by the longest running organizers of the largest beer competitions in the Northwest.  With experience in professional competitions, knowledge of the needs of the craft brewing community, and ties to the local judging pool, we aim to provide the highest caliber of a beer competition from a non-partisan third party to ensure the legitimacy of your awards.

The registration period will be open from March 1st to March 31st with entries due in mid May.  Winners will be announced at the Washington Brewers Festival on June 18th in a ceremony at the main stage before the main festivities commence (all entrants will be permitted to attend, independent of if they are hosting a booth at the festival).  Results will be posted online shortly afterwards.

Complete details and results for the Washington Beer Awards will be available at www.wabeerawards.com.  You can sign up to be kept in the loop on competition updates on the website, our e-mail list, and our Facebook page.

We hope to have your involvement and participation in the 2016 competition.

Cheers,
Mark Emiley and Peter Twigg
Washington Beer Awards