This week,
the number 20 represents a major milestone for Marin Brewing Company:
It's the number of medals won at the Great American Beer Festival
since the Larkspur Landing brewpub opened in 1989.
The latest came Saturday in Denver. Owner/co-founder Brendan Moylan,
brewmaster Arne Johnson and other BrewCo crew members were on hand
to receive a bronze medal for San Quentin Breakout Stout, a thick,
meaty waterfall of wonderful blackness. There were 18 other entries
in the foreign-style stout category.
Considering that medals
are awarded after blind tastings from a nationwide pool of brewing
talent, and that the GABF is considered the highest honor for an
American brewmaster, a bronze is almost as good as gold (which,
by the way, Breakout won at the GABF in 1989 shortly after BrewCo
opened its doors).
"Arne was stoked,"
says Brendan Moylan, who made his 23rd pilgrimage to the GABF on
the festival's 25th anniversary. "Getting our 20th medal is
huge. The competition's only getting tougher."
For a full list
of winners, go to www.gabf.org.
Joy in Healdsburg
On Tuesday, Richard Norgrove
Jr. was still stunned by the four medals won by his Bear Republic
Brewing Co. at the GABF on Saturday. The Healdsburg brewpub took
silvers for Racer 5 (American-style strong pale ale category) and
Apex Pale (American-style India pale ale) and bronzes for XP Pale
Ale (American-style pale ale) and Peter Brown Tribute Ale (brown
porter).
Plus, Bear Republic - whose beers are available in top Marin stores
- was named national Small Brewery of the Year and Norgrove was
Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year.
"When you come home,
you hang out with Mom and Dad, hang out with the kids, then go back
to work on Monday," Norgrove says. "So it hasn't really
hit yet."
One medal meant a tad
more to Norgrove than the others: the bronze for the Peter Brown
ale. Brown was a popular sales rep for Bear Republic who died of
a heart attack in 2004. The day Brown died, Norgrove was brewing
a new brown ale and it ended up winning a GABF gold medal several
months later.
Brewmaster Jode Yasik
and brewer Ray Lindecker had already been on stage three times to
receive medals Saturday when it came time for the brown porter awards.
"Right then," Norgrove said, "Jode says we should
say a prayer to Pete. I looked up and said, 'Dude, you'd better
be looking down on us today.' And then they call us out again."
Yasik adds: "We
were all going to go up there again, but I decided to let Ricardo
go up there himself. He and Pete were great friends."
More GABF
Aside from Norgrove,
Vinnie Cilurzo was the greater Bay Area's big winner in Denver.
One of the rock stars of microbrewing and the proprietor of Russian
River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa, Cilurzo won GABF gold for Pliny
the Elder (Imperial or Double IPA), silver for Beatification (Belgian-style
sour ale) and bronze for Aud Blonde (golden or blonde ale). Also,
Bison Brewing of Berkeley took gold for its Belgian saison and Schooner's
of Antioch and Seabright of Santa Cruz went gold-silver in the oatmeal
stout class. Former BrewCo manager Glynn Phillips, who now owns
Rubicon of Sacramento, rejoiced when his brewpub won gold for its
winter wheatwine.
