KVCC, Six Local Brewers Win Medals At 2021 at Major Beer Festival
Kalamazoo Valley Community College and six Michigan brewers all picked up some hardware at the 2021 Great American Beer Festival. The winners were announced on Friday, September 10th.
As a point of local pride, all of the Michigan medal winners are from West or Southwest Michigan.
The gold medal winner was Fennville's Waypost Brewing for "Saison", their classic saison (a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned) beer.
Among the four silver medal winners was a rising local favorite from Bell's, No, Yeah! and beers from smaller brewers: "Iron Lion: Blonde" a Belgian or French style ale from Albion Malleable Brewing, "Küsterer Original Weissbier" from Cedar Springs Brewing in Kent County, Penetrator from Territorial Brewing in Springfield/Battle Creek, a German-Style Doppelbock.
But here's something that probably has the students in Texas Township crowing, Kalamazoo Valley Community College's beer program picked up a bronze medal for "Sunflower", and contemporary gose style beer. (According to wikipedia, it's pronounced "goze-uh", "a warm fermented beer...usually brewed with at least 50% of the grain bill being malted wheat. Dominant flavors in gose include a lemon sourness, a herbal characteristic, and a strong saltiness (the result of either local water sources or added salt)...Gose beers typically do not have prominent hop bitterness, flavors, or aroma. The beers typically have a moderate alcohol content of 4 to 5% ABV.)
KVCC was the first school in the country to offer a sustainable brewing degree, in 2015. The program is tied to a continuing program at Western Michigan University.
The seventh medal winner, a bronze, went to Bridgman's Transient Artisan Ales for their Cask Aged Rye Lagger.