US Open Beer Championship Awards Medals for 2020, Indiana Again Shines

06 Dec US Open Beer Championship Awards Medals for 2020, Indiana Again Shines

by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap

The Indiana Brewer’s Cup (Indianapolis) and the US Open Beer Championship (Cincinnati/Oxford) might not have the notoriety amongst beer drinkers that the World Beer Cup or the Great American Beer Festival have, but in the brewing community these are very important contests. A medal from either IBC or US Open is recognized as a sign of quality.

The US Open Beer Championship is especially personal to many breweries around the Midwest, and even around the country since it involves both homebrewers and professional brewers and because Dow Scoggins, Director of the US Open Beer Championship, makes personal trips to deliver congratulations and medals to each brewer after the competition (see full results for 2020 here).

image credit here and banner image, US Open Beer Championship

The 2020 IBC was a victim of Covid-19, but the US Open Championship plowed on with an altered schedule. While July is the usual month for US Open winners announced, this year entries were accepted up until November 4^th, and two free entries being allowed for each brewer. The winners were announced on Sunday, the 6^th of December with a purpose. Scoggins said, “We chose December 6 to honor the patron saint of brewers and coopers, St. Nicholas.”

The ability to enter two beers for free resulted in a great year. Compared to the 7000 beers entered in 2019, 2020 finally had a good number for a pandemic year, with 6000 entries into the 140 categories of the competition.

Indiana breweries once again performed very well, with 15 total medals from 10 different breweries, putting them in the top 15% of states and countries. The host state of Ohio led the way with 50 medals, followed by California with 42 This shows the long reach of the US Open Beer Championship that a west coast state entered so many beers. In all, seven countries and 37 different US states had breweries with medals.

image credit: Taxman Brewing

Here is a list of winning Indiana breweries, congratulations to all. Make sure to support your local breweries during this period, and tell them how you appreciate that they put their product out there for criticism and to learn how to improve their beer for you.

Taxman Brewing in Bargersville:

silver – La Maison, American-Belgo Style Ale

silver Gold Standard, Belgian Pale Ale

bronze – Deduction, Belgian Dubbel

Field Brewing in Westfield:

silver – Dry Spell, Brut IPA

bronze – Night Game, Munchner Dunkel/Dark

Bad Dad Brewing in Fairmount:

silver – The Sodfather, Herb & Spice Beer

image credit: Bad Dad Brewing

silver – Plummers Crack, Belgian Quadruppel

Daredevil Brewing in Speedway:

bronze – Muse, Belgian Style Strong Ale

bronze – Beautiful Dreams, English Mild Ale

Four Day Ray Brewing in Fishers:

gold – Monk’s Tears, Aged Beer

New Oberpfalz Brewing in Griffith:

gold – Helles Lager, Munchner Helles, Light

image credit: New Oberpfalz Brewing

Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

silver – Roggenschnizzle, Rye/Roggenbier

Backstep Brewing in Crawfordsville:

bronze – Heveltesfonster, Old Ale

Grand Junction Brewing in Westfield:

bronze – Dark Road Porter, Robust Porter

Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis:

bronze – The Great Rhubarbarian!, Vegetable Beer