Laurie K. Blandford|Treasure Coast Newspapers
Treasure Coast breweries cleaned up at the 2019 Best Florida Beer professional competition,raking in eight medals.
None took home gold at the biggest beer competition in the state during the first weekend of March in Tampa, but six local breweries won silver or bronze and a seventh earned an honorable mention. All five of the breweries in Indian River County won medals.
There were 825 beers from across the state judged in 46 categories. The breweries that did the best were Arkane Aleworks in Largo with a gold, two silver and a bronze, as well as Woodwright Brewing Company in Dunedin with a gold, a silver and two bronze.
The biggest local winner was Vero Beach’s American Icon Brewery, winning silver for its The Factory Pilsner in the German pale lager category and bronze for its Florida Heat in the chili beer category.
Walking Tree Brewery in Vero Beach won silver for its Babycakes Oatmeal Stout in the sweet/cream stout category. Babycakes won gold last year in the dry stout category.
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No stranger to collecting medals in the competition, Walking Tree previously won silver for Barnacled Manatee barley wine ale in the strong ale category and bronze for Straw Hat blonde ale in the golden/blonde ale category, both in 2018.In 2017, it won gold for Barnacled Manatee, silver for Duke Snider’s Imperial Stout and bronze for White Walking Tree IPA.
Pareidolia Brewing Company in Sebastian was another repeat medalist, winning silver for its Got $12Bucks in the imperial IPA category. Pareidolia previously won gold for its Wahoo Coffee Porter in 2016.
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Other local breweries were new this year to the Best Florida Beer Competition.
Orchid Island Brewery in Vero Beach won silver for its Nuthin’ Fancy brown ale in the American brown/black ale category.
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Side Door Brewing Company in Port St. Lucie won bronze for its Whiskey Jitters coffee porter in the coffee stout/porter category.
Hop Life Brewing Company, also in Port St. Lucie, took home an honorable mention medal for Wake Me Up Before You Coco coffee porter in the field beer category.
Mash Monkeys Brewing Company in Sebastian won bronze for Revenge, a German-style schwarzbier, in the European dark lager category.
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Co-owner Derek Gerry, who openedthe ninth brewery on the Treasure Coast less than a year before this year’s Best Florida Beer competition, was excited not only for his brewery but also for all the local winners.
“It means a lot to us,” Gerry told me. “Any medal in any category is a great accomplishment for a brewery in Florida. It shows that our attention to detail and use of quality ingredients reflects in our beer.
“We hope it is the first of many more to come over many years. This medal is dedicated to our families —especially our wives —our friends that have believed in us since the beginning and our customers that keep coming in for more.”
Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm's entertainment reporter and columnist dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Read her weekly column,Laurie's Stories, on TCPalm.com.Follow her on Twitter at@TCPalmLaurieor Facebook atfaceboook.com/TCPalmLaurie.
Treasure Coast award-winning beer
Chili Beer (13 entries)
- Gold: Dissent Craft Brewing Company’s Hazy Mangover
- Silver: Craft Life Brewing’s Me So Jalapeno Honey
- Bronze: American Icon Brewery’s Florida Heat
Coffee Stout/Porter (16 entries)
- Gold: Brew Bus Brewing’s Gong Show
- Silver: Momentum Brewhouse’s The G.O.A.T.
- Bronze: Side Door Brewing Company’s Whiskey Jitters SB
German Pale Lager (14 entries)
- Gold: Dunderbrau Brewery at Mr. Dunderbak’s Dortnumbers (Dortmunder/European-style export)
- Silver: American Icon Brewery’s The Factory Pilsner (unfiltered German-style lager)
- Bronze: Central 28 Beer Company’s UnderDuck Lager (unfiltered German-style lager)
European Dark Lager (13 entries)
- Gold: Pinellas Ale Works’Schwarzhound (German-style schwarzbier)
- Silver: Cigar City Brewing’s Bock (Munich-style dunkel)
- Bronze: Mash Monkeys Brewing Company’s Revenge (German-style schwarzbier)
Sweet/Cream Stout (10 entries)
- Gold: Scotty'sBierwerks’Oatmeal Stout
- Silver: Walking Tree Brewery’s BabyCakes Oatmeal Stout
- Bronze: Point Ybel Brewing Company’s The Full Breakfast (sweet stout or cream stout)
Imperial IPA (17 entries)
- Gold: Dissent Craft Brewing Company’s Frequency
- Silver: Pareidolia Brewing Company’s Got $12Bucks
- Bronze: Crooked Can Brewing Company’s McStagger
American Brown/Black Ale (11 entries)
- Gold: Broken Strings Brewery’s Liquid Vinyl (American-style black ale)
- Silver: Orchid Island Brewery’s Nuthin’ Fancy (American-style brown ale)
- Bronze: Main and Six Brewing Company’s Handsworth (American-style brown ale)
For a list of previous winners, go to www.bestfloridabeer.org/professional-competition-winners.
