As you may have heard, Mendocino recently won the Gold for their Rock Point Session IPA at the World Beer Awards! Everyone is extremely proud of the brewers, and thrilled that this new beer is already being received so well.
Beers, Not Tears
The World Beer Awards are held every year to award the best beers in the world as well as the best beers in their respective countries. The regional judgings are held in the Americas, Asia and Europe, with those local winners then going on to London to be tasted against others of the same style to choose the “World’s Best Style.” It’s a bit like a beauty pageant, but with less hairspray and tears.
Style Breakdown
Style Breakdown
There are eight categories in the competition, broken down by styles rather than regions. These categories, such as dark beer, pale beer and lager, are then broken down into more specific styles. The Pale Beer category, in which Rock Point took the Gold, holds nineteen different styles, including IPA, Golden, Belgian Style, and Bitter.
(I bring this up, because I’m eternally interested in the many different ways beers can be classified, and how one beer can often flow into another style. Is it a Pale or an IPA? A Stout or a Porter? In many places, it depends on what you’re used to. That’s why each competition has specific guidelines for their style categories.)
Rock Point Wins the Gold for the Golden
Rock Point Session IPA was awarded the Gold for the U.S.A under the Golden Pale Beer category, which the World Beer Awards defines as –
“Warm fermented, light malt, citrus fruit, big hop aroma and bitterness. Light yellow to deep gold in colour, clear to brilliant. Juicy malt on palate and finish with continuing hop bitterness and fruit. The ABV ranges can vary.”
Rock Point Session IPA
When Rock Point Session IPA was first released, we asked Mendocino’s Brewmaster Ben Wilkinson one of the keys to making a good, low alcohol beer.
Ben: The main challenge with a Session IPA is providing a good malt body to the beer so that the hop flavors don’t seem overly bitter or astringent. We accomplish this by the use of Wheat, CaraPils, and CaraBlond malts which provide the beer with more mouthfeel and head retention in addition to their biscuity and toasty malted flavors.
U.S. Brewers Continue to Shine
As an aside, once again the U.S. brewers took top honors, receiving World’s Best Beer, World’s Best Specialty Beer, and World’s Best Stout & Porter. Congratulations to Fish Tale Ales, Samuel Adams and Deschutes for their outstanding showings!
So raise a glass once again to beer and their brewers, and the dedication it takes to create a good beer, year after year.