In case you weren’t aware, Bellingham’s craft beer community brews some of the best beer in the world. This year’s World Beer Cup continued to prove that to everyone. Every two years the World Beer Cup is hosted held at the annual Craft Brewers Conference (CBC.) The Craft Brewers Conference is hosted by the Brewers Association and this year it took place in Nashville, Tennessee. The CBC provides brewers and owners seminars, continuing education, an opportunity to see new technology and best practices and, simply, an opportunity to celebrate the industry that brings to much good to so many people.
This year, Tap Trail traveled to Nashville and spent six days hanging with breweries, getting to know more of the industry and having a special opportunity to hear about industry trends and where this industry is going. CBC started on Sunday, April 30th and ran through Friday, May 4th. On May 3rd breweries from all over the world gathered in the Nashville’s INCREDIBLE Nashville Music City Center and the World Beer Cup winners were crowned.
There were more than 8,000 beers from more than 2,600 breweries around the world. Winners from Italy, Brazil and Australia, to name but a few walked on stage to take their prize. By comparison, the last time the WBC was held over 6,500 beers were submitted from 1,900 breweries. In that event, two Bellingham breweries took home two awards. We doubled it this year with four total medals from three breweries! Boundary Bay medaled, once again, in the Barley-wine category with Old Bounder.
Aslan Brewing won it’s first international award for Frances Farmer. Bottles of Frances Farmer were bottled for the first time and released in February at Aslan Depot. Seeing Aslan come to this point, from maligned local brewery to World renowned brewery is a beautiful addition to their story. Frank humbly and simply said, “It’s always nice to be recognized for hard work.”
Chuckanut continued to dominate the international beer scene with two (2) golds at this year’s WBC. Here’s how Bellingham fared at the 2018 WBC. For a full list of winners head here.
Aslan Brewing Company
Category – Specialty Saison
GOLD
Frances Farmer
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Boundary Bay Brewing
Category – Barley-wine
BRONZE
Old Bounder
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Chuckanut Brewing
Category – Bohemian Style Pilsner
GOLD
Chuckanut Pilsner
*****
Chuckanut Brewing
Category – German-Style Kolsch
