NorthBank Brewers Turn Heads at Washington Beer Awards

The Washington Beer Commission breaks down the state's breweries into seven regions; Seattle/King County, North Sound, South Sound, The Peninsula, Central Washington, Eastern Washington and South Western Washington (or, as it's come to be known, The NorthBank).In 2017, the brewers of SW Washington had a solid showing at the Washington Beer Awards. Brewers from the NorthBank brought home 18 medals - including 3 from Dick's Brewing Company, the northernmost brewery in the region as defined by the Washington Beer Commission. Eighteen was respectable, but ranked the region 2nd from last among the state's seven regions. This year, the 2018 Washington Beer Awards saw SW Washington jump up to #2 among the regions, including special recognition for newcomers Grains of Wrath as the 2018 Very Small Brewery of the Year - the first brewery ever to win this new award category in the state.1,297 beers were entered in the competition by 181 Washington breweries.  All of the beers submitted must have been both brewed and made commercially available in the state of Washington.  The entries were evaluated in a blind format using the Brewers Association Style Guidelines by panels of trained beer judges who awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze placements for each category grouping.The NorthBank's 37 breweries hauled in an impressive 38 combined medals from this year's awards - 2nd only to the Seattle/King County region who's 107 breweries reigned in 73 medal finishes. The award-winning breweries are as follows:54-40 Brewing Brewing1862 Mexican Lager (GOLD)Bolt Minister and his team are no strangers to accolades. Medals have been hung around the necks of this team since they first opened in Washougal, and they continue to collect them in a way that almost makes it look easy. 54-40 has made a name for themselves for outstanding, crushable beers and one of the best times to toss a few back is coming up at their 2nd Annual Outlaw Fest this Saturday with live music, great food, stuff for the kids, the 54-40 team in a dunk tank and more - all supporting the Camas/Washougal Community Chest.Barrel Mountain BrewingSilver Star Session (GOLD)Luv Ya Lager (BRONZE)Winch It Out Stout (BRONZE)Starway Stout (BRONZE)Barrel Mountain has been quietly collecting GABF and World Beer Cup medals while you've been wondering, "Where the hell is Battle Ground?" It's 20 minutes from the I-5 Bridge and there are rumors swirling that they may plant a pub in Vancouver. (You heard it here, first).Backwoods Brewing Company Ridge Run Stout (GOLD)It was a capstone on an incredible week for Backwoods. Earlier in the week they had received 3 medals from the Brewers' Choice Awards including a Gold Medal for Trail Hazer in the East Coast Style-IPA category. In that same week they announced their new project to move into the old Pearl Tavern in Portland to create their 2nd pub location.Brothers Cascadia Brewing Crazy 88 Asian Lager (SILVER)You Like 'A Da Juice Hazy IPA (SILVER)Best Day Ever Session IPA (SILVER)Brothers Cascadia just celebrated their 1 year anniversary over the weekend. In that one year, each of their core beers has been recognized with a regional or state-wide award in beer competitions. They've received 11 in all including: Washington Beer Awards, U.S. Beer Open Cup, the San Diego International Beer Awards and the Washington Brewers Choice Awards (in which they also took home Best New Brewery in the state of Washington).Dick's Brewing Co.Dick's Golden Ale (GOLD)Dick's Best Bitter (SILVER)Dick's Cream Stout (SILVER)While Dick's hasn't historically been included among the NorthBank breweries, the Centralia, WA brewery is in SW Washington according to the Washington Beer Commission. They took home a GOLD Medal at Great American Beer Fest in 2016 for their Barleywine-Style Ale and have been racking up the awards in Washington for several years. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to miss this brewery just off I-5's Exit 82 on your travels up and down the state's main vein.Grains of Wrath Brewing - VERY SMALL BREWERY OF THE YEARLuger Pils (GOLD)Austro-Naut (GOLD)Onslaught (SILVER)Overkill IPA (SILVER)Brewhouse Bully (SILVER)Papermaker Pale (BRONZE)Go ahead and have yourself a day, GOW! This year's Washington Beer Awards were the first major beer awards that Grains of Wrath has entered. They crushed this competition so hard that a new Brewery of the Year category was introduced to award them Very Small Brewery of the Year since GOW hadn't produced enough beer in their few short months of operation to qualify for Small Brewery of the Year (which they also would have won on medal count). Of course, head brewer Mike Hunsaker is no stranger to awards. He's either really good at making beer or he's got a good pair of lucky socks (it's gotta be the socks).Everybody's BrewingMountain Mama (BRONZE)Everybody's Brewing is no stranger to the Washington Beer Awards. Last year, their Cryo-Chronic IPA (one of the first IPAs to use cryo hops as they were first developed) took a Silver Medal in the ultra-competitive American-Style India Pale Ale category. Mountain Mama Citra Pale Ale is an easy-drinkin' pale loaded with Citra hops and available right now in 6-packs all over SW Washington and the Portland area. In other notes from Everybody's Brewing in White Salmon, WA: This week is the last week in their Goodwill Lodge pub location as they'll open their doors late next week in their all new pub and brewery that they designed and built from the ground up right next door! Stay tuned to The New School for a first look at their new space next week!Fortside Brewing CompanyKanaka (BRONZE)Keeping SW Washington "Beer Strong", Fortside came home with a BRONZE medal for their flagship saison. The name Kanaka is a nod to the native Hawaiian workers that helped build Fort Vancouver in 1824. The saison itself is lite and gulpable. If you can ever get your hands on a glass of Port Barrel-Aged Kanaka, your life will never be the same.  In other Fortside news, co-owner Mike Difabio has recently accepted the position of President of the newly-formed NorthBank Brewers Alliance. Another rad move by a brewery that's stuck to their mission to raise the tide of SW Washington beer.Heathen BrewingHighland Charge Wee Heavy (GOLD)Epitaph Russian Imperial Stout (SILVER)Raspberry Rhubarb Sour (BRONZE)Arson Amber (BRONZE)The tribe from Heathen Brewing was hard to miss at the Washington Brewers Festival. Head Brewer Danny McCabe's beard was flapping in the wind more than his trademark kilt as he handed a gong mallet to folks in line for Heathen's beer. The giant oriental-style gong cymbal could be heard throughout the festival and, if it was a gimmick, it worked. Heathen poured the 2nd most beer of the entire festival according to the official event token count - earning them an automatic invitation to next year's Washington Brewers Fest.Hopworks Urban Brewery Vancouver Doppel 07 (SILVER)Vancouver's Hopworks hasn't been brewing on their system for a year yet, but Matt "Speck" Speckenbach's creations are already turning HUB into a must-visit brewery no matter where you live. The Vancouver-only offerings from Speck and the team on the east side of Vancouver are stacking up the taplist and they're some of the most exciting beers in the area. Speck was one of Hopworks' first hires back in 2008, but as HUB turns 10 years old, he's become the face of HUB in SW Washington as he's gotten very involved with the NorthBank Brewers Alliance.Loowit Brewing CompanyLoowit Lager (GOLD)Grimlock Rye Porter (SILVER)Cryptodome Barrel-Aged Barleywine (BRONZE)Devon Bray, co-owner at Loowit, recently shared a story in which Loowit Lager was part of a charity event at a local bar serving some corporate beer options. The lager sold so well that the bar replaced their Bud Light with it - a win for any craft lager. Loowit Lager's popularity is now solidified with this Gold Medal.  Loowit Brewing Company capped off a week full of awards from both the Washington Beer Awards and the Washington Brewers Choice Awards where their Shadow Shinobi IPA (of trademark dispute fame) took the GRAND IPA Award and was awarded a resident handle at Seattle's Flatstick Pub for the next 12 months as a result. Of course, Grimlock Rye Porter already owns several medals, including a Silver Medal from 2016's World Beer Cup, so it's only confirmation of it's greatness to see it recognized again here in Washington.McMenamins BreweriesEgyptian Cotton IPA (GOLD)Nebraska Bitter  (BRONZE)Did you forget that McMenamins has 2 breweries in SW Washington in Vancouver and Centralia? Well, I did. As it turns out, they've brewed a gold-medal-winning IPA in the 'Northeastern Substyle' category. Excuse me while I head down to the Columbia Waterfront location and seek out this IPA and the Nebraska Bitter that took Bronze for the Blonde Ale category.North Jetty Brewing Another F**king Raspberry Hef (BRONZE)North Jetty's head brewer Kirk Hurd has developed a consistently great fruited wheat beer with Another F**king Raspberry Hef. It was recognized with a GOLD Medal at the 2017 Washington Beer Awards and backs that up with this year's Bronze Medal at the same competition. To the novice, that may seem like a step backwards, but it speaks volumes to the consistency of a great beer to repeat year-after-year in the same category in a deeper, growing field of competition.Trap Door BrewingJuicy Vuitton (GOLD)Gift Horse (SILVER) A collab with Dwinell Country AlesUptown Brown (BRONZE)Trap Door Brewing damn near broke the internet with the release of Juicy Vuitton - a hazy IPA whose can design spoofs a popular clothing designer that rhymes with Juicy Vuitton. The medal for Uptown Brown is a back-to-back win for Trap Door as the same beer took Silver last year at the same event. Uptown Brown was originally the winning beer of Trap Door's first annual neighborhood homebrew competition. While the brown ale style is harder and harder to come by, it's a sneaky good beer that's winning awards year after year hidden in Trap Door's mind-blowing hazy IPA and cutting-edge beer portfolio.Trusty Brewing Company Dark Marc (SILVER)Trusty's Dark Marc was brewed in collaboration with well-known brewery consultant and writer, Marc Martin. As someone who lived through the "Black IPA" craze of the early 2010s, I wasn't sure I'd ever find one that I truly enjoyed. Dark Marc is a Cascadian Dark Ale that renewed my interest in the style several months ago. It strikes a perfect balance between a roasty depth of character and a bright hop finish. This is what you'll find this writer drinking in Trusty's downtown corner window seat (Corner Window IPA was 2016's 'Best Vancouver IPA' by Willamette Week).Walking Man BrewingZero B.S. Monastery (SILVER)This was an emotional win for head brewer James Landers and the whole team at Walking Man. Zero B.S. Monastery is a smoked Belgian dubbel brewed in memoriam for George "Smoke" Dawson - a pub regular since the first days of Walking Man's pub in Stevenson, Washington.Willapa Brewing Co.Double Knee Whiskey Barrel-Aged StoutLast alphabetically, but it's the first I've heard of this SW Washington brewery, located on Mill Creek in the small town of Raymond, Washington between I-5 and Long Beach Peninsula. From what little can be found about the brewery online, they've been at it since early 2017 brewing what they call "hearty ales for the logger in all of us." Double Knee sounds like a delight as the brewery's Facebook page states that the imperial stout is aged for 7 months in Wishkah Whiskey barrels. I'm marking this brewery down as a place to visit on my next visit to Long Beach.