Bier Brewery, Daredevil, and Chapman’s Give Indiana a Big Kick at Can Can Beer Awards

21 Jun Bier Brewery, Daredevil, and Chapman’s Give Indiana a Big Kick at Can Can Beer Awards

By Mark Lasbury for Indiana on Tap

The 3^rd Annual Can Can Beer Awards announced their winning entries this past weekend near Atlanta, GA. A BJCP sanctioned competition, the Can Cans are exclusively for canned beers and acknowledges the special considerations in translating great draft beers into canned products that hold up to packaging and storage. Once again, Indiana breweries showed themselves to be among the elite in the industry.

More than 350 beers from around the world were judged over a two-day period in 36 categories, with first through third places awarded based on a 50 point scoring system, with no medals awarded to beers achieving less than 30 of the 50 possible points. Three Indiana breweries made the grade and were awarded medals, with Bier Brewery leading the way with four medals, Daredevil Brewing right behind with three, while Chapman’s Brewing from Angola garnered their own gold medal.

Bier Brewery’s three flagship canned beers (Weizengoot, PDG, and Special Kolsch) all won medals, along with their brown ale called Backpackin’. Both their hefeweisen (Weizengoot) and their kolsch (Special Kolsch) were awarded gold medals, while the PDG won bronze in the American Pale Ale category, always a group with many entries. Backpackin’ is an English Brown porter that was a Fall/Winter seasonal offering from Bier -it won a silver in the porter category.

These medals just added to weighty collection of medals Bier has won in regional, national, and international competitions since 2011. All told, Bier has been awarded 92 medals, and will certainly pass 100 before the end of 2018.

Daredevil Brewing has also won many medals on the regional, national, and international stages, and this haul from the Can Can Awards just adds to their stellar reputation. Their Vacation Kolsch took silver, right behind Bier’s Special Kolsch, making it a 1-2 for Indiana in this clean, difficult to master style of beer. Two bronzes were also won, one in the German Pils category for Daredevil Pils, and the other for Daredevil Marzen in the Octoberfest/Marzen group.

Chapman’s Brewing has really upped its game in the last couple of years, with increased distribution and a focus on canning. This, along with their opening of several taprooms in northeast Indiana has given them a big presence – yet they’ve also taken the time to very much focus on the quality of the beer and innovate. Their beer has always been of good quality, but Chapman’s moves further from Angola with their taprooms and packaged product have also had a positive affect on the beer. At the Can Can Awards for 2018, Chapman’s repeated the gold medal they won for Valiant in the stout category in 2016. Winning gold more than once at the same festival is a difficult thing to do, and Chapman’s deserves credit for this monster win.

Congratulations to all the winning breweries from Can Can. Once again, Indiana drinkers can stick out their chests and revel in the successes of their local breweries. While Indian is just starting to be recognized as a craft beer destination, these medals and the many like them earned every year by Indiana breweries, will slowly help the rest of the country learn what we already know – Indiana craft beer is stellar.