3 CT Breweries Awarded At 2017 Great American Beer Festival

Local beer enthusiasts need look no further than their own backyard when selecting their favorite brew. Three local Connecticut beers recently won awards at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival in Colorado.

The festival features thousands of breweries from all over the country, whose individual beers are able to compete in a number of categories related to their respective style of brew. Each category awards a gold, silver and bronze medal (first, second and third respectively) to three winners per category.

Stony Creek Brewery was top dog for Connecticut, walking away with two awards. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The Branford brewery's Stony Joe won bronze in the coffee beer category, ranking behind Atlanta-based Torched Hop Brewing Company's It’s 8 O’clock Somewhere (bronze) and Juneau-based Alaskan Brewing Company's Heritage Coffee Brown Ale (gold). The category saw 89 entries this year.

The brewery's Dock Time also took bronze in the Vienna-Style Lager category, which featured 87 entries. Other winners in this category included Taft’s Ale House's (Cincinnati) Gustav and Lost Forty Brewing's (Little Rock, Arkansas) Vienna Lager, which took gold and silver respectively.

Though Stony Creek racked up two awards, Back East Brewing's Porter took home top prize in the Brown Porter category, winning gold in a category that saw 57 entries.

Stamford-based Half Full Brewery's Bright Ale also took home an award in the English-Style Summer Ale category, winning bronze among 41 entries. Eel River Brewing Company's (Fortuna, California) Organic California Blonde Ale took gold in this category, while Back In The ESSA from Monkey Paw Brewing (San Diego) took silver.

See also: Glass Half Full: CT Brewery Serving Positivity In A Can As It Strives To Innovate

According to the festival website, breweries' beers are judged by the festival’s Professional Judge Panel, where industry professionals from around the world sit in small groups and taste beers in each specified style category. Judges are not told the brand name of each beer they sample.

"The Professional Judge Panel awards gold, silver or bronze medals that are recognized around the world as symbols of brewing excellence," the website says. "These awards are among the most coveted in the industry and heralded by the winning brewers in their national advertising.

Winners are decided after five different three-hour judging sessions, which take place over a three-day period. According to the website, judges are assigned beers to evaluate in their specific area of expertise and are not allowed to judge their own product.

View the festival's official list of winners in full here.

Image via Shutterstock