02 November 2010

2010 Maryland Governor's Cup Awards

Well, as long as we're talking about governors--or letting them prattle on incessantly while stand around beside them just to stand around beside them............

Thanks to out-of-state fellow blogger Tom Cizauskas (see the blogroll to the right), we now have the list of winners from the 2010 Maryland Governor's Cup among Maryland breweries:

The Complete List of 2010 Winners
(in descending order within each category)

  • Gold/Blonde Ale
    GOLD : Brewers Alley Kölsch; DuClaw Brewing Blonde, White Marsh Avenue Ale (tie).
    SILVER: Heavy Seas Gold Ale.
    BRONZE: Eastern Shore Brewing Lighthouse Ale.


  • Gold Lager
    GOLD: none awarded.
    SILVER : Ruddy Duck Helles; Brewer's Alley Pilsner.
    BRONZE: Heavy Seas Classic Lager.


  • Belgian
    GOLD: The Brewer's Art La Petroleuse.
    SILVER : Flying Dog Brewery Raging Bitch; Franklin's Brewery Tripel; Ruddy Duck Tripel.
    BRONZE : Heavy Seas Yuletide Tripel, Ruddy Duck Dubbel (tie); The Brewer's Art Resurrection Ale; Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night Saison.


  • Porter
    GOLD: none awarded.
    SLIVER : Oliver Breweries Pagan Porter; Oliver Breweries Dark Horse Mild.
    BRONZE: Pub Dog Brewing Brown Dog; Ruddy Duck Porter; DuClaw Bad Moon; Barley & Hops Big Ben.


  • Stout
    GOLD: none awarded.
    SILVER: none awarded.
    BRONZE: Heavy Seas Peg Leg Imperial Stout.


  • Pale Ale
    GOLD: none awarded.
    SLVER: Heavy Seas Pale Ale; White Marsh Big Gun Pale Ale; Pub Dog Pale Ale.
    BRONZE: Barley and Hops Annapolis Rocks, Ruddy Duck Pale Ale (tie); Barley and Hops Hoptopsy ESB; DuClaw Venom; Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale.


  • Oktoberfest/Märzen
    GOLD: none awarded.
    SILVER: DuClaw Mad Bishop, Ellicott Mills Brewing Firecracker Bock (tie).
    BRONZE: Brewers Alley Oktoberfest; Heavy Seas Märzen; Ruddy Duck Oktoberfest.


  • Amber/Red Ale
    GOLD: Brewers Alley Wedding Alt, Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager (tie).
    SILVER: Eastern Shore Brewing St. Michaels Ale.
    BRONZE: Pub Dog Amber Dog; DuClaw Misfit Red.


  • Wheat
    GOLD: Heavy Seas Hang Ten Weizen Dopplebock
    SILVER: Ellicott Mills Weizen Bock; Brewers Alley Hefeweizen.
    BRONZE: Ruddy Duck Rudd Light.


  • IPA
    GOLD: none awarded.
    SILVER: Barley and Hops Double D, Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA (tie); White Marsh Daily Crisis; Brewer's Alley IPA.
    BRONZE: Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, Heavy Seas Winter Storm, Ruddy Duck IPA (tie); DuClaw Serum; Pub Dog Imperial IPA; Oliver Breweries Strongman Pale Ale.


  • Experimental/Specialty/Fruit
    GOLD: Pub Dog 10th Anniversary, Flying Dog Barrel Aged Gonzo.
    SILVER: DuClaw Exile #1, Pub Dog Very Cherry (tie); Pub Dog Raspberry Dog.
    BRONZE: DuClaw 31, Oliver Breweries Bishops Indulgence (tie).


  • Strong Beer/Barleywine
    GOLD: Oliver Breweries 3 Lions Ale.
    SILVER: DuClaw Devils Milk; Flying Dog Horn Dog Barleywine; Oliver Breweries Hot Monkey Love Strong Ale.
    BRONZE: none awarded.


 And the winner of this year's Governor's Cup winner is ...

Ruddy Duck Brewery for its Munich Helles. Congratulations!  

For more on the competition and its methodology and judging, see Tom's blogpost here.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

No medal awarded at the gold medal level seems to be a very common theme. I wonder why.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV said...

Read the analysis at Cizauskas' blog. This is the same kind of thing that happens with other BJCP judging, and even affects the Great American Beer Festival.

JohnM. said...

I did read it over, but I'm still confused. It mentions that the judges used the BJCP 50 point system, which I guess tells me what a beer has to do to earn a gold medal (point-wise), but really doesn't explain the criteria employed in qualifying for a gold medal.

It almost sounds as if there is some "gold standard" that a beer has to approach in order to be considered "world class," and thus deserving of a gold medal. Just kind of makes you wonder what that gold standard is in, for instance, the pale ale and porter categories.

This just seems so different from the various wine competitions I've attended where the top wine (generally) for each varietal/category gets a gold medal or double gold medal, regardless of some "objective" standard that might suggest the wine really isn't all that great (I mean how else could wines from Virginia or Maryland ever get a gold medal in a wine competition?).

Brandon Miller - Milhouse44 said...

As a BJCP judge, that did not judge this event this year, I have never seen Gold Medals not given in the years I have judged. Sadly I would not be suprised if some Maryland Breweries do not involve themselves with this next year especially since some of these breweries have won medals for theses same beers and GABF and World Beer Cup. With the increase of Craft ales in the past years it has also increased the number of To-Big-For-Their-Britches craft beer drinkers and BJCP Judges.