2012 United States Open Beer Championships

(Atlanta, GA)The entry date for the 2012 United States Beer Championship will be July 12 with the winners being announced on July 31, 2012. The U.S. Open is the only brewery competition to include professional breweries and award-winning home brewers. Last year, more than 1200 beers in more than 50 different categories were submitted.

Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon was named 2012 Grand National Champion by winning three gold and five silver medals. This victory is the second time Deschutes has won the U.S. Open title. Cigar City Brewing of Tampa, FL and Grand Teton Brewing of Idaho tied for second by each winning four gold medals and 1 silver. In all, over 70 individual breweries won at least one medal and 20 won two or more.

National Home Brew Winners, Matt Tucker and Jake Tucker from Oviedo, FL won a silver medal for their English Pale. While, Stacy Myers took a bronze for her ale in the Rye/Roggen category, and Phil Sullivan also took a bronze for his Sully’s Belgian Blonde in the Belgian Ale Category.

Call for Entries
The deadline for entries for the United States Open Beer Championships will be July 12. Winners will be announced July 31st. Each brewery may enter a maximum of 10 beers. In order to help small brewers in these tough economic times, each brewery will be allowed to enter 2 beers with no entry fee. If a brewery wishes to enter more than 2 beers, there will be a $50 entry fee per beer. A brewery must submit a minimum of 5 beers to be considered one of the Top Ten Breweries. Entry Forms and Rules can found on the competitions web-site at U.S. Open Registration.

Over 50 categories will be judged. Winners will receive a medal in the shape of a beer stein for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Beers placing in the top 10 of each category and top 10 breweries overall will be featured in America’s Best and Top 10 as well as BeerInfo.com. Along with the medals awarded, A Grand National Champion will be awarded based on a point system for beers(5 minimum) entered in the competition.

To see last years’s individual winning brews and other winner and entrants’ details, go to www.USOpenBeer.com. The United States Open Beer Championship invites more than 1,000 breweries from more than 30 countries, as well as the 29 National Homebrewing Champions from the United States and Canada, to participate.