[Lexington, KENTUCKY]- Emphasizing its commitment to the home brewing industry Alltech’s Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company has awarded first prize in its Fourth Annual Kentucky Ale Brew-Off competition to local home brewer Jeff Beagle’s Kentucky Coal Porter—a rich, dark Robust Porter style beer. A tasting panel of nine judges sampled 12 entries of various beer styles to choose this year’s annual homebrew contest winner.
Beagle’s winning beer recipe will be scaled up to a single commercial-sized batch to be brewed by Alltech this month for entry in the Great American Beer Festival’s Pro-Am Competition, which is held every fall in Denver, Colorado. Alltech will fly Mr. Beagle and a guest to Denver to experience the national competition.
“I have been brewing for less than 3 years, so I am very excited and surprised about winning the Kentucky Ale Brew-Off this year,” said Beagle. “I brewed what I thought were very average beers for the last two years of the competition, so I decided to do something out of the ordinary for me this year. I guess it paid off. I am so grateful to Alltech and Kentucky Ale for holding this competition and for their support of the local homebrewing community.”
Only a single batch of Kentucky Coal Porter will be produced, and a very limited amount of the beer will be commercially available beginning in August, on draft in select Kentucky bars, restaurants, and other retail outlets.
“We’re very excited to brew Jeff’s porter this year. This will be our first opportunity to brew a dark beer, and the Coal Porter is a very nice ale indeed, with rich chocolate and roasted malt character. It should complement the three beers in our regular line-up quite well,” said Ken Lee, Brewmaster for Alltech’s Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company. “We are pleased to continue to support local brewers and give back to the community, most importantly because our local community supports us.”
The Kentucky Brew-Off competition is held every year at Alltech’s Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company, to kick off American Craft Beer Week and to select its Pro-Am Competition entry. Homebrewers provide all equipment and materials except water and yeast, which is provided by Alltech. Most entrants are members of the local homebrewing club, though the event is beginning to attract other brewers from throughout the region.
The 2010 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) will be held September 16 - 18 and is hosted by the Brewers Association in Denver, Colorado. The GABF brings visitors from around the world to sample more than 1,800 different American beers. Over 100 beer judges from the United States and abroad participate in the evaluations of one or more beer styles, ultimately judging 2,300 beers entered by more than 450 domestic breweries. Gold, silver and bronze medals in 75 beer-style categories are awarded.
This is the fourth year for the GABF Pro-Am Competition. In the 2007 Pro-Am Competition, Alltech and Paris, Kentucky homebrewer Bill Caldwell received the silver medal for Kentucky Hefeweizen.