Awards for the best Pale Ales and IPAs go to Astra St. Pauli Brewery, Crew Republic, Hoppebräu and the Kundmüller Brewery
With the Pale Ale and India Pale Ale (IPA) categories, the focus of the Meininger's International Craft Beer Award in June was on those beer styles with which the craft beer movement has experienced its upswing worldwide and which continue to be among the most popular and most frequently brewed. "The range of styles within these varieties is now immense," reports Benjamin Brouër, a member of the Craft Beer Award board. "However, the differences in quality were just as great," says the beer expert from Meininger Verlag. A total of more than 140 beers faced the critical vote of the expert jury, composed of beer sommeliers, brewers and other experts from research and education, in the blind tasting. At the end of the intensive tasting day, 34 beers were awarded a medal, three times the jury awarded the highest distinction, a platinum medal, 20 times gold and 11 times a silver medal.
The following beers received special awards as the highest-rated representatives of their style:
The title for "Pale Ale of the Year 2021" goes to Markus Hoppe's Hoppebräu in Waakirchen, Upper Bavaria. His Hoppebräu New England Pale Ale is characterized - typically for the New England style - by a juicy, cloudy appearance, pronounced tropical-fruity hop notes, a velvety drink and a mild, invigorating bitterness. This blend, with 5.6% alcohol by volume, elicited a platinum medal from the jury.
The "Session IPA of the Year 2021" is brewed in Hamburg in the middle of the Reeperbahn. The Astra St. Pauli Brewery was able to convince the jury with its Astra Inkasso IPA and earned a gold medal. With a relatively light 4.5% alcohol by volume, yet rich and fruity hop aromas, it is ideally suited as an entry into the world of IPAs.
The particularly prestigious "IPA of the Year 2021" award goes to Crew Republic Brewery from Unterschleißheim just outside Munich, a German craft beer pioneer that has been enriching the German market for ten years. A platinum medal was awarded to Crew Republic X New England IPA. The cloudy-orange beer (6.1% alcohol by volume) from the Experimental series impressed with a brilliant tropical fruit cocktail in the aroma as well as a juicy, fruity taste supported by restrained bitterness and slight sweetness. A prime example of the currently so popular New England style.
The Imperial IPA (or Double IPA) beer style is particularly powerful in terms of alcohol content and hop power. The best rated representative and thus the "Imperial IPA of the Year 2021" comes from the Kundmüller brewery inn in the Upper Franconian town of Viereth-Trunstadt, district of Weiher. The Weiherer/Fat Head's Imperial IPA with 9% alcohol by volume is a strong character collaboration between the "Craft Brewery of the Year 2020" and Fat Head's Brewery from Cleveland/Ohio. Intense resinous and fruity notes meet a harmoniously embedded, powerful bitterness and a surprisingly lean drink, awarded a gold medal.
