GABF Medal Winning Brewery Tour # 2 – Structures Brewing

During GABF month, I like to feature breweries that you may not have heard about but that recently won medals at the festival. In that spirit, let’s head to Bellingham in Washington State to Structures Brewing and take a look at their beer menu.

Junior – “A beautiful small pale ale brewed with Amarillo and Simcoe. By far one of our favorite pale ales around the brewery!!!”

Strata Citra Fuzz – “Our Flagship IPA brewed with our favorite blend of malts and oats, double dry hopped with Citra, Strata and Simcoe!  Showcasing aromas of tropical fruits, bursting with notes of guava and pink grapefruit with a healthy dose of pine, a soft body, creamy mouthfeel and subdued bitterness on the finish. “

Motueka Fuzz – “Our Flagship IPA brewed with our favorite blend of malts and oats, double dry hopped with Citra, Amarillo and Motueka! Showcasing aromas of tropical fruits, bursting with notes of lime zest, clementines and orange creamsicle, a soft body, creamy mouthfeel and subdued bitterness on the finish.”

GABF 2023 – Quick Recap

Here are the centered around Los Angeles winners from today’s award ceremony in Denver….

Golds

Common Space Sonrisa – American style lager

Highland Park Hand of Josh – International Pale Ale

Claremont Craft Ales Triple IPA – Imperial IPA

Highland Park DDH Pillow – Imperial Hazy

Silvers

Angel City Apple Pomace Puncheon – Experimental beer

Beachwood Hoppa Emeritus – American black ale

Bronzes

HopSaint Random Acts of Greatness – other Strong Ale

Firestone Walker Propagator Extra Pale Ale – International Pale Ale

Beachwood Glenlongbeach – Scottish-style ale

Angel City Trois Annees Cuvee – Belgian Style sour

IPA Winners

WC IPA – Westbound & Down Westbound Select

Hazy IPA – 1852 Brew Co Away Days

Best Beer Name

Ain’t Afraid of No Goats my favorite beer name – bock of course

GABF Awards 2020 (no fist bump edition)

Brewnited at home, this year the Great American Beer Festival went virtual. But the awards carried on with 1700 competing breweries Here are my thoughts on the medals given….

First though, I have to say that busting through those categories so fast was dizzying. I admit that I liked the goofy intro and the videos sprinkled in between.

From the Los Angeles perspective, Beachwood remains king of this castle. Barrel-Aged Full Malted Jacket goes bronze, then Funk Yeah gold in the American Lambic category. But there are challengers. Claremont Craft Ales went yard twice once in the (new?) Experimental IPA category with Pepper & Peaches and then for Happy Days.

El Segundo got gold for Hammerland DIPA and then picked up bronze in the Strong Red category for Devil’s Path. They are strong in the strong categories.

Here are other winners from LA:

Ogopogo-Silver for Boeman Witbier

Three Weavers– Gold for Deep Roots ESB

Highland Park-Bronze for Sugar on My Tongue hazy

Firestone Walker Propagator-Gold for Wookey Jack