Judging 1,048 beers over two days sounds like a dream job until you do the math. Then it sounds like a marathon with really good hydration stations along the route. TL;DR Jump straight to the list of winners.
That’s the formidable task the judges tackled in September at Elliott Bay Public House & Brewery in Lake City. They worked through entries from 153 breweries and cideries across 142 styles from the Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines, judging for both technical and stylistic excellence. On Monday, the results of the twelfth annual Washington Beer Awards were announced at the Washington Craft Beer Summit at the Sea-Tac Doubletree.
The headline number: 92 Washington breweries and cideries took home gold, silver, or bronze medals across 67 category groupings. Do the math on that one, too. Nearly two out of three of the breweries that entered the competition went home with some shiny hardware around their necks…