{"id":33203,"date":"2021-09-13T07:43:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T12:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=33203"},"modified":"2021-09-16T09:26:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T14:26:46","slug":"the-gabf-2021-midwestern-medal-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/the-gabf-2021-midwestern-medal-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"The GABF 2021 Midwestern Medal Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our view in 2019. Hoping to get back in 2022 for a true GABF.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know what’s more impressive – the number of GABF medals won by Illinois breweries, or the breadth <\/em>of beer styles that won. Even though this year’s GABF wasn’t really a GABF – the Brewers Association moved the annual Craft Brewers Conference to late September and held an awards ceremony for GABF medals – it’s all still absolutely worth celebrating, as we’ve now done for the last decade<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Illinois is once again happily at the top of the heap this year when it comes to hazy IPAs with Destihl<\/strong> taking not one but two<\/strong> for their Deadhead series. They won Bronze in the Juicy\/Hazy Imperial category and took Gold for their DeadHead IPA Series: TourBus in the heavily-competitive Juicy\/Hazy IPA category.\u00a0All that and Triptych won Bronze for their “Dank Meme” Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breweries elsewhere in Illinois won for their Vienna-style lager and Other Strong Beer (Pollyanna<\/strong>), Rye Beer (Mickey Finn’s<\/strong>)(!), and if you want a great Kolsch beer, Chicagoland is the place to be: Old Irving <\/strong>and Crystal Lake<\/strong> took Silver and Bronze in that category. Hell, we also took two of three in Fruited Wheat Beer and Goose Island<\/strong> even won a Brett Beer medal for Matilda, which, yeah, that makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there’s more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the biggest victor of 2021 was Schiller Park’s Short Fuse<\/strong>: They not only took home a couple silvers for Experimental Beer and Fruited American Sour but also the “2,001\u20135,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year.” Pretty good haul, and if they weren’t on your radar before, they probably should be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 16 medals is the biggest haul in years – and as Mike at PorchDrinking points out<\/a>, the last time Illinois had a haul this big it was thanks to the Pabst <\/strong>offices set up in Woodridge taking four medals for macro lagers. That means they won for some beers brewed elsewhere, making it a technicality based on their Illinois mailing address … so that’s enough of an asterisk for me to call this the Greatest GABF Ever for Illinois Brewers.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other GABF 2021 Midwestern Takeaways: <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I need to get to Minnesota sometime soon for a schwarzbier; two of the three medal winners for German Dark Lager hail from the Land of 10k Lakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, Wisconsin proves that they really don’t care about GABF medals; I’m pretty sure Stevens Point just sends Whole Hog for its annual medal and then maybe a handful of others send a submission just for funsies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when are we heading to Moontown Brewing? Their four awards made up over half of the overall take for Indiana. (Though it’s worth noting that Metazoa has been doing really amazing work for years now, and their only annual appreciation seems to be via GABF hardware.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nice work, everyone. Medals aren’t everything, but seeing your beer (or beers!) appreciated and recognized on a national stage is always a really nice thing to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this year’s winners are here<\/a>. Here\u2019s a look at how the Midwestern medals from GABF 2021 were distributed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Illinois: 16 Medals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n