The Brewers Association’s Export Development Program (EDP) has seen success for American craft brewers in two prestigious European beer competitions — the Brussels Beer Challenge and European Beer Star.
European brewers are steeped in brewing history and tradition, but American craft brewers are now competing alongside them and finding success. Winning medals in European beer competitions is testimony to American craft brewers’ innovation in beer flavour and excellence in brewing classical beer styles.
The Brussels Beer Challenge was judged from 26th October to 6th November and saw American craft brewers scoop 31 awards in total. There were nine golds, 12 silvers, and ten bronzes. Reuben’s Brews Crikey IPA was voted best North American beer of the competition.
Adam Robbings, co-founder of Reuben’s Brews, said: “Independent expert reviews is a key way of assessing the quality of our beer, and winning medals shows that technically we are on the right track. It’s a great way of providing feedback to our
brewers, too! We view Brussels Beer Challenge and European Beer Star as important international competitions to do well in, and winning a medal in Europe is particularly sweet!”
European Beer Star took place for the 17th time in October, committed to the traditional European art of brewing. It recognises high quality, authentic beers, that are genuine and distinctive, and is limited to beer categories that originate in Europe.
The 2020 competition welcomed 2,036 entrants from 42 countries, of which 208 beers were from the United States. Judging took place at the Doemens Brewing Academy, Munich, and the awards ceremony was held digitally. American craft breweries won 22 medals in total — 11 gold, five silver, and six bronze.
Lotte Peplow, American craft beer ambassador for Europe for the Brewers Association, said: “American craft beer is renowned the world over for its full flavour, style diversity, and ground-breaking innovation. Excelling at international beer competitions, such as Brussels Beer Challenge and European Beer Star, is testimony to its enduring success, and we are delighted to see American craft beer gaining high accolades in this most challenging of years.”
