Tag: writing awards

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NAGBW Awards 2024

I had the great pleasure and fun to be a judge in the Beer Travel Writing category of the North American Guild of Beer Writers annual awards, so I am going to start this post there and then widen the scope to the other winners.

This was the 10th year of the awards. There were 269 entries from 96 writers covering 15 categories. The big winners were David Nilsen, Dave Infante, Courtney Iseman and Brian Yeager who bagged multiple medals.

Here is the full list of winners: (and I suggest you search these writers out)

Best Beer and Food Writing

First Place: David Nilsen. “How to Pair IPAs with Craft Chocolate.” Bean to Barstool
Second Place: Grace Weitz. “Stumbling Into the Hot Pink Restaurant With the Most Pleasurable Food in France.” Hop Culture

Best Blog/Newsletter


First Place: Jeff Alworth, Beervana.
Second Place: Dave Infante, Fingers.
Third Place: Douglas Veliky, Beer Crunchers.

Honorable Mention: Shana Solarte, Top Crop.

Emerging Voice: Cat Wiest, Hopwire Blog. 

Best Book

First Place: Matthew Curtis. Manchester’s Best Beer Pubs and Bars. 2023.
Second Place: Beth Demmon. The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cider: American Ciders for Craft Beer Fans to Explore. 2023.
Third Place: David Nilsen. Pairing Beer and Chocolate: A Guide to Bringing the Flavors of Craft Beer and Craft Chocolate Together. 2024.

Best Brewery Profile

First Place: Lucy Corne. “Women-Led, Women-Brewed — Kweza Craft Brewery in Kigali, Rwanda.” Good Beer Hunting.
Second Place: Holly Regan. “Things Are Not What They Seem — Hildegard Ferments & Botanicals in Seattle, Washington.” Good Beer Hunting.Third Place: Claire Bullen. “10,000 Human Decisions — On Mariage Parfait Oude Geuze, Frank Boon, and Belgian Lambic Culture.” Belgian Smaak.

Honorable Mention: Maloy Luakian. “Supernatural Creatures And Blended Cultures — Dokkaebier’s Story Of Shapeshifting.” Good Beer Hunting.

Emerging Voice: Jacqueline Kehoe. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger — How Iowa’s Big Grove Brewery Defies the Odds and Categorization.” Good Beer Hunting.

Best Business Writing

First Place: Michael Stein. “When Beer Goes Flat.” Slate
Second Place: Courtney Iseman. “Building the On-Ramp: Vocational Programs for Brewers.” Brewing Industry Guide.

Third Place: Ken Pishna. “Non-alcoholic beer is growing; Should your brewery grow with it?” Malteurop Malting Co.
Honorable Mention: Pete Brown. “Thornbridge to prove Britain’s brewing heritage can be profitable.” The Drinks Business

Emerging Voice: Jacqueline Kehoe. “Wisconsin Intuition — How New Glarus Brewed a State Identity with Spotted Cow.” Good Beer Hunting

Best Commentary or Criticism

First Place: Dave Infante. “The Bud Light Fiasco: How AB InBev Fell for the Gamergate Playbook.” VinePair.
Second Place: Courtney Iseman. “Is Craft Beer Cringe Right Now?” InsideHook.
Third Place: David Nilsen. “On Curiosity, Empathy, and the Flavor of Beer.” Belt Magazine.

Best General Beer Podcast

First Place: Dave Infante. VinePair Taplines
Second Place: Breandán Kearney. The Belgian Smaak Podcast

Third Place: Emma Inch. Same Again?

Honorable Mention: Emily Hutto. RadCraft Industry Relief

Best Historical Writing

First Place: Mark Dredge. “From One to All — The Past, Present, and Future of Lager Yeast.” Good Beer Hunting.
Second Place: Tony Rehagen. “The Utterly Fascinating History and Mystery of Oklahoma’s Choctaw “Choc” Beer.” Garden & Gun.
Third Place: Anaïs Lecoq. “Garçon, un Picon! — The Past and Future Success of Amer Bière in French Drinking Culture.” Good Beer Hunting

Honorable Mention: Noelle Phillips. “Angry Hen Brewing and the Legacy of Shirley Warne.” The BC Ale Trail

Best Local Reporting

First Place: Courtney Iseman. “Secondary Fermentation — New York City’s Strong Rope Brewery and the East Coast Cask Revival.” Pellicle Magazine.
Second Place: Eli Radtke. “THC Takes Over the Twin Cities.” Heavy Table.
Third Place: Brian Yaeger. “Oral History Of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale.” Bend Source Weekly.
Honorable Mention: Alexander Gates. “An Ode to Lahaina’s Beer Scene.” Frolic Hawaii.
Emerging Voice: Shamim de Brún. “The Quest For A Perfect Smithwick’s in Dublin.” Totally Dublin.

Best National or International Reporting

First Place: Alyssa Pereira. “The Man, Now Myth — Searching for Tony Magee.” Good Beer Hunting.
Second Place: Lucy Corne. “Get to Know Umqombothi, a South African Tradition.” Craft Beer & Brewing.
Third Place: Joshua Bernstein. “The Real Mystery of Bud Light.” The Atlantic.
Honorable Mention: Dave Infante. “How Sapporo USA Sank Anchor Brewing Co.” VinePair.

Best Beer Review

First Place: David Nilsen. “Precious and Grace — Brouwerij Van Steenberge’s Tripel Van De Garre.” Pellicle Magazine.
Second Place: Melinda Guerra. “Stardust and Loss: Friendship, Grief, and a Shared Saison.” Final Gravity.
Third Place: Brian Yaeger. “One Of The World’s Most Obscure Beers Comes To Bend.” Bend Source Weekly.
Honorable Mention: Loren Green. “A breath of fresh air.” Heavy Table.

Best Short Form Writing

First Place: Cliff Lucas. “Café de Hanekeef.” Belgian Smaak
Second Place: Bryan Roth. “b-Roll no. 701.” Good Beer Hunting.
Third Place: Andy Crouch. “Oh Brother: Newly Sober Hulk Hogan Releases “Real American Beer.” All About Beer.

Best Technical or Brewing Podcast

First Place: Jonny Garrett. The Craft Beer Channel.

Second Place: Jen Blair. False Bottomed Girls.

Third Place: John Holl. All About Beer Brewer to Brewer.

Best Technical Writing

First Place: Joe Stange. “Czech Lager: The Art of the Addictive.” Craft Beer & Brewing.
Second Place: Don Tse. “It’s the Malt’s Fault (How Malt Choices Affect Beer’s Shelf Life).” Brewing Industry Guide.
Third Place: Shana Solarte. “How Yeast Affects Flavor.” Top Crop.
Honorable Mention: Matthew Curtis. “Old Gold, Heritage Malts Return to British Beer.” Craft Beer & Brewing. 

Since it was the last category of the event, we will finish with the travel category:

1st place: My Father, Lion Lager, & Home by Ruvani de Silva (Final Gravity)

2nd place: A Happy Valley of Beer — Investigating the Pubs and Breweries of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England by Michael Clarke (Good Beer Hunting)

3rd place: Anarchists, Surrealists, & Spanish Brewers by John McMahon (Final Gravity)

Honorable mention: No Blitz — How Arkansas Tech University Fans Tailgate in a Dry County by Brian Sorensen (Good Beer Hunting)

Emerging Voice: Rebirth and Reinvention — As Chattanooga Grows and Changes, Local Beer Follows Along by Drew Pitt (Good Beer Hunting)

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NAGBW Day – Writing Awards

This year, I had the great privilege of judging for the North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW).  I was in the Travel Writing category and I am not going to bury the lede, here are the full winners:

Best Beer and Travel Writing

Honorable Mention

Em Sauter: “Share What You Have — A Visit to John Stoner’s Richmond, Virginia,” Good Beer Hunting

Third Place

Megan Eaves: “Life Stays Close to the River — Solar Beer and Wildebeest in the Serengeti,” Good Beer Hunting

Second Place

Ryan Pachmeyer: “Where Kölsch Night is Every Night,” Craft Beer & Brewing

First Place

Sorrel Moseley-Williams: “Interpreting the Andes — Carlos Barroso in Pachar, Peru,” Good Beer Hunting

For me, Em Sauter’s piece would have ranked higher but the three winners were super interesting glimpses outside the U.S. brewing world.

Here are the other 1st place winners:

Best Commentary or Criticism

Dave Infante: “Hop Take – The Cowardly King of Beers Bends the Knee to Bigots,” VinePair

Best Short Form Writing

Ashley Joanna: “The Conservator,” Belgian Smaak

Best Beer and Food Writing

Lana Svitankova: “Sour, Salty, Umami — The Ukrainian Brewers Transforming Pickling Traditions Into Beer,” Good Beer Hunting

Best Beer Review

David Nilsen: “In the Understory: Primitive Beer’s Frosted in Moss,” Final Gravity Zine

Best Historical Writing

Kevin Kain: “Mexican Lager: History and Appropriation,” Casket Beer

Best Beer Blog or Newsletter

Beth Demmon: Prohibitchin’

Best Technical Beer Writing

Jeff Alworth: “Cold IPA is a Technique, Not a Style,” Beervana

Best Brewery Profile

Anaïs LeCoq: “The Art of Vinifying Grains — Brasserie Ammonite in Burgundy, France,” Good Beer Hunting

Best Business Writing

Aaron Goldfarb: “The Most Important Company in Craft Beer Makes Marshmallow Extract,” VinePair

Best Local Reporting

Jerard Fagerberg: “Oops, Minnesota Accidentally Legalized THC-Spiked Seltzer,” Vice

Best National or International Beer Reporting

Mark LaFaro: “Tapped Out — The Problematic Culture of Overdrinking When You Work in Alcohol,” Good Beer Hunting

Best Beer Book

Clint Lanier: “Ted Mack and America’s First Black-Owned Brewery: The Rise and Fall of People’s Beer”