GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF SECOND ANNUAL NEW YORK STATE CRAFT BEER COMPETITION

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the results of the second annual New York State Craft Beer Competition, which featured 642 New York State-brewed beers. For the second straight year, Brooklyn-based Threes Brewing took home top honors, winning the Governor's Excelsior Cup. Gold medals were awarded to 23 beers from breweries across the state.

 

"New York's world-class craft breweries are thriving and helping to drive growth in our farms, local economies and tourism industries across the state," Governor Cuomo said. "I congratulate these craft breweries on their success and encourage those interested to experience our state's top-ranking beers at the Great New York State Fair later this month."

 

The New York State Craft Beer Competition is sponsored by the New York State Brewers Association, in coordination with Taste NY, the Raise a Glass Foundation and the Great New York State Fair, and is open to any New York State craft brewer. The competition featured 43 uniquely qualified judges sampling 642 entries from more than 120 breweries in the largest professionally-judged craft beer competition held in New York State. This year, 264 entries were submitted that qualified as a NYS labeled beer or farm beer, meaning they used at least 20% New York State-grown hops and other New York State-grown ingredients in their beers. 

 

Gold, silver, and bronze medal winners were awarded in each of the 24 categories, which include major styles of beer like IPAs and lagers, as well as niche or emerging styles like sours or fruit and spice beers. This year, the competition featured five new categories. The most-entered categories were New England Style India Pale Ale (IPA) and American Light Lager, which received 58 entries each.

 

Gold medal winners by category are: 

• Belgian Farmhouse: Threes Brewing, Passing Time Grisette - Brooklyn
• Amber and Dark Lagers: Blue Point Brewing Company Toasted Lager- Patchogue
• Amber/Red Ale: Bottomless Brewing, Soda Bread Red - Fayette
• American DIPA: Upstate Brewing Company, IPW - Elmira
• American IPA Variations: Great Flats Brewing, Great Flats Raspberry IPA- Schenectady
• Barrel Aged (Non-Sour): Saranac Brewery, Basking in Bourbon - Utica
• Barrel Aged Sour: Brown's Brewing Company, Reprise - Troy
• Belgian Other: Lucky Hare Brewing Company, Anny #2- Hector
• Brown Ale: Roscoe Beer Company, Trout Town Brown Ale - Roscoe
• Experimental: Saranac Brewery, Varick Street Stout- Utica
• Fruit and Spice Beer over 6.0 ABV: Glenmere Brewing Company, Wicked With - Florida
• Fruit and Spice Beer 6.0 ABV and lower: The Peekskill Brewery, Hidden Track - Peekskill
• Golden Blonde Ale: Saranac Brewery, Lake Placid Golden Blu - Utica
• Imperial Stout and Porter: Spider Bite Beer Company, Boris the Spider Russian Imperial Stout - Holbrook
• Light Lager: Bottomless Brewing, Bohemian Pilsner - Fayette
• New England IPA: Prison City Brewing, Control for Smilers - Auburn
• Pale Ale: Naked Dove Brewing Company, Naked Dove What is Batch #2 - Canandaigua
• Porter, (Non Imperial): Glenmere Brewing Company, Box'd Smok'd Porter - Florida
• Strong Ale (Non Belgian): Naked Dove Brewing Company, Naked Dove Barleywine - Canandaigua
• Wild and Sour Ale: Good Nature Brewing, Kung Foeder Series Jackie Batch - Hamilton
• Wheat Beer (American, Wit, Hefe): Brewery Ommegang, Witte - Cooperstown
• New York State Beer: Roscoe Beer Company, Trout Brown Ale - Roscoe

More than 70 medals were awarded to 45 breweries. Top winners in the competition were Peekskill Brewing from Peekskill, Westchester County (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), and Big Ditch Brewing Company from Buffalo (4 bronze). Lucky Hare Brewing from Hector, Schuyler County, took home three medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), as did Bottomless Brewing from Fayette, Seneca County (2 gold, 1 silver), and Glenmere Brewing in Florida, Orange County (2 gold, 1 silver). Saranac Brewery from Utica, Oneida County also won 3 gold medals.

 

Complete competition results and additional information can be found here.