FuzzyBrew

Congrats to Mike for winning the 2012 Boscos / Bluff City Brewers Pro-Am competition!

Boscos’ founding partner Chuck Skypeck and brewer Adam Hargrove selected Mike’s beer as the winner, which means he’ll get to brew it at Boscos Squared in August (where it’ll eventually be on tap).

Then, in October, Chuck and Mike will enter it into competition at the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am in Denver. Mike’s airfare and festival entrance fee will be covered by the Bluff City Brewers & Connoisseurs.

He entered a hoppy American Amber/Red Ale, inspired by Green Flash Brewing‘s Hop Head Red, which he tried in California a couple years ago.

Frankly, I’m not surprised. I’ve tried the beer and it’s my favorite thing he’s brewed.

The beer was brewed with U.S. 2-Row, Crystal 40 and Carapils, with Simcoe, Columbus, Cascade, Amarillo and Centennial hops.

Congrats, Mike!

Boscos won its first medal at the World Beer Cup this weekend, capturing the gold for the Boscos Hefeweizen.

Boscos won in “Category 52: German-Style Pale Wheat Ale,” which had 22 entries. It was only the second time Boscos had entered the World Beer Cup, according to Boscos founding partner Chuck Skypeck.

And it was the second big win in the past year for the Boscos Hefeweizen, which also took gold at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival.

Boscos has brewpubs in Memphis, Nashville and Franklin in Tennessee, as well as Little Rock, Ark. The Hefeweizen was brewed at the Little Rock brewery, though all the Boscos breweries entered the beer collectively.

The 2012 World Beer Cup, the ninth bi-annual such competition, boasted the strongest field of entrants on record, with 799 breweries from 54 countries and 45 U.S. states entering 3,921 beers in 95 beer style categories. A 17.7 percent increase over 2010,  entries were eligible for gold, silver and bronze awards in their respective categories. Judges presented a total of 284 awards.

“It’s called ‘The Olympics of Beer Competition’ for good reason,” said Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association, the U.S.-based trade association that has put on the competition every two years since 1996.

“The event brings together great brewers from all corners of the globe. Plus, the awards are highly regarded. A brewer who wins a World Beer Cup gold award knows that their winning beer represents the best of that beer style in the world. Congratulations to all the winners of the 2012 World Beer Cup. The Brewers Association and the proud sponsors of our event thank all participating brewers for their involvement.”

Go here for a complete list of winners.

The end of 2011 marked the start of production for Ghost River Brewing’s new bottling line. Six-packs of Ghost River’s Golden Ale can now be found across the Mid-South. For now, the Golden Ale is the only beer being bottled by the Memphis craft brewery.

That may change in 2012.

In an interview with The Commercial Appeal’s Lindsay Melvin published last week, Ghost River founding partner Chuck Skypeck said the next phase for the bottling line is being planned.

And it involves the brewery’s seasonal beers.

I’m shooting for a seasonal beer rotation. Probably 1887 IPA in the winter, Black Magic (dark beer) in the spring, Octoberfest in the fall and then the Witbier (Belgian-style wheat beer) in the summer,” Skypeck told the newspaper. [source]

So when might this happen? Possibly this summer, says Skypeck.

Skypeck told FuzzyBrew by e-mail that Ghost River is already selling 100% of its increased capacity in beer from the brewery’s major expansion in 2011.

So to bottle seasonals, we have to add more capacity. Yet another project,” Skypeck wrote. “It all depends on how long it takes to fabricate new tanks and get them installed and commissioned.”

Stayed tuned for more details as we hear about them.

So what’s your favorite Ghost River seasonal beer? Leave a comment below.

Ghost River founding partner Chuck Skypeck with the ceremonial scissors.

Bottles of Ghost River Brewing’s Golden Ale began appearing on retail shelves in the Mid-South over the past few weeks.

But on Monday afternoon, the Memphis craft brewery officially christened its new bottling line with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Greater Memphis Chamber.

Nearly 100 people showed up to sample beer and get a look at Ghost River’s bottling line, which is part of a $750,000 expansion that also includes new fermentation tanks, a new steam boiler, new refrigeration and a modern keg filler and cleaner.

For now, Ghost River’s Golden Ale is the only beer that is being bottled.

The new bottling line was made by an Italian company called Comac.

Ghost River’s capacity is doubling, increasing from 2,500 barrels to 5,000 barrels.