2023 New York State Craft Beer Competition winners!
Wayward Lane Brewing and the Genesee Brew House are among the big winners from the seventh edition of the competition.
The 2023 edition of the New York State Craft Beer Competition continued to demonstrate the depth and quality of breweries in the state.
Judged March 4 and 5 in Henrietta, the results were announced during a live ceremony Friday night at New York State Brewers Association’s annual conference in Albany.
And showing the beauty of judging everything completely blind, two wildly dissimilar breweries emerged as the big winners at the seventh competition — Schoharie’s Wayward Lane Brewing was crowned the best brewery in the state, while the Genesee Brew House was awarded the Governor’s Cup for the best beer in New York.
Wayward Lane, which I profiled last year and have visited multiple times, hasn’t yet been open for two years. But brewer Adam Rosenthal and his team earned two gold medals and two silver medals to run away with the honors.
Brewmaster Dean Jones and assistant brewer Matt Slattery crafted the Governor’s Cup-winning Helles lager from the Genny Brew House. Jones and Slattery also won a bronze medal in the porter (non-imperial) category.
For the seventh time, I was honored to be among the judges tasked with tasting through a record 1,334 beers (from 189 breweries). (Of note, New York now has 528 breweries.) And for the third time, I got to participate in the best-in-show panel on the second day of the competition. From that table of eight judges, we were quickly able to single out our favorite three.
In just its seventh year of competition, the New York State Craft Beer Competition has become the largest state-level competition in the country. The New York State Brewers Association organizes the competition. Last year, 185 breweries entered 1,264 beers. Again, medals were awarded across 29 categories.
Here’s how the judging worked: A judging panel individually graded beers on a 75-point scale using a provided score sheet. The scores from the panel were then averaged. To be eligible for gold, a beer must average over 60 points. Silver scored 55-59, while bronze was 50-54. So where no gold was given, no beer met the standard.
Two-time New York state brewery of the year Grimm Artisanal Ales (based in Brooklyn) had another strong competition, earning a silver medal in the barrel-aged non-sour category. I was on the panel that judged that category and Grimm’s cognac barrel-aged barleywine was truly spectacular, easily one of my favorite beers of the whole weekend. Grimm also won a silver in the coffee, chocolate, spice, and other adjuncts (sour) category, as well as a gold medal in the wild and sour ale category.
Rochester-based Strangebird, which tied Grimm for brewery of the year in 2022, won a bronze medal in the imperial stout category. Strangebird won that category in 2022 for a variant of the same beer
The Raise A Glass Foundation expertly and joyously ran the competition for the seventh time. Proceeds again benefited InterVol, a Rochester-based nonprofit that donates unused medical supplies to people around the world, and a few other worthy organizations.
Raise A Glass is completely staffed by volunteers. And the stewards who delivered beer to us all weekend were so, so lovely and nice. They really helped break up an arduous day and added a bit of levity to the taxing task of beer judging. More than anything, it’s such a rewarding experience and it’s an honor to even be included.
I judged a total of 140 beers.
(And before you ask how I managed to stay sober and alert, understand that all of the beers are served in 4-ounce samples. And out of all the samples I judged, I only finished two — that incredible barrel-aged barleywine from Grimm and a particularly vibrant Italian Pilsner from Wild East Brewing.)
Here are some of the other big winners from the weekend: Naked Dove Brewing, the original Ontario County craft brewery, earned double gold medals in both the amber/dark lager category and imperial stouts and porters. That’s not surprising at all, as the brewery excels in malty, dark, and German-style beers.
Brooklyn-based Kings County Brewers Collective had a spectacular competition as it collected a total of five medals. Lockport’s New York Beer Project and Weedsport-based Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing each won three medals.
Aurora, EBBS, West Kill, Catskill, Underground Beer Lab, Community Beer Works, Spider Bite, Liquid State, Blue Point, Valcour, Active Ingredient, and Prison City each were awarded two medals.
2023 New York State Craft Beer Competition winners
Notes: 1,334 beers entered from 189 breweries. There are currently 528 breweries in New York state.
Amber and dark lagers (97 entries): Gold, Naked Dove Brewing (Canandaigua) Exposinator Doppelbock; Silver, Swiftwater Brewing (Rochester) Tmave Pivo Czech-style dark lager; Bronze, Rohrbach Brewing (Rochester) Doppelbock.
Amber/red ale (British, American, Irish, Scottish) (67 entries): Gold, Seneca St. Brew (Manlius) Irish Red Ale; Silver, 18th Ward Brewing (Brooklyn) Sleepy Pants Hoppy Amber; Bronze, Laurentide Brewing (Penn Yan) ESB.
American DIPA (21 entries): Gold, Pearl Street Grill and Brewery (Buffalo) Sabre’s Edge DIPA; Silver, West Kill Brewing (West Kill) Lean-To DIPA; Bronze, Captain Lawrence Brewing (Elmsford) Pacific Dawn DIPA.
American IPA (45 entries): Gold, Wagner Valley Brewing (Lodi) Cross Section IPA; Silver, Kings County Brewers Collective (Brooklyn) Venomous Villains IPA; Bronze (tie), Artisanal Brew Works (Saratoga Springs) Derailleur IPA and Bright Eye Beer Co. (Long Beach) Explosible IPA.
American IPA variations (36 entries): Gold (tie), Spider Bite Beer Co. (Holbrook) 8-Legged RyeIPA and ONCO Fermentations (Tully) Hyphen session IPA; Silver, Wayward Lane Brewing (Schoharie) Prizm cold IPA; Bronze, Catskill Brewery (Livingston Manor) Grass Wagon session IPA.
Barrel-aged (non-sour) (77 entries): Gold, Big Ditch Brewing Double Barrel Aqueduct imperial stout; Silver, Grimm Artisanal Ales (Brooklyn) Last of the Steam-Powered Trains cognac barrel-aged barleywine; Bronze, Brewery at the CIA (Hyde Park) Barrel-Aged Cast Iron Lager (wine barrel-aged black lager).
Barrel-aged sour (19 entries): Gold, Prison City Brewing (Auburn) Something, Something, Something 2022 (mixed fermentation dark sour with tart and sweet cherries); Silver, Hudson Valley Brewery (Beacon) Valley Beer Vintage 2020 (cuvée blend of all four seasons of Valley Beer 2020); Bronze, no medal awarded.
Belgian farmhouse (34 entries): Gold, Community Beer Works (Buffalo) Thirst Aid Kit; Silver, Big aLICe (Queens) Sweet Potato Farmhouse; Bronze, Liquid State Brewing (Ithaca) Daypack Saison.
Belgian other (Trappist, strong, etc.) (37 entries): Gold, Spider Bite (Holbrook) Rophenia quad; Silver, Brewery Ardennes (Geneva) Single; Bronze, Liquid State Brewing (Ithaca) Cloud Swing tripel.
Brown ale (American and British) (33 entries): Gold, Skaneateles Brewing (Skaneateles) Major Trail brown ale; Silver (tie), Community Beer Works (Buffalo) The Whale and Sixpoint Brewery (Brooklyn) Brownstone Revival; Bronze (tie), Riseform Brewing (Marcellus) Oh, Bother and Keuka Brewing (Hammondsport) Bluff Point Brown.
Coffee, chocolate, spice, and other adjuncts (non-sour) (90 entries): Gold, Wayward Lane Brewing (Schoharie) Xylem (wheat wine conditioned on Brazilian amburana wood); Valcour Brewing (Plattsburgh) Drink Yourself a Jacket (spiced lager with cinnamon, nutmeg, and maple syrup); Bronze, Blue Point Brewing (Patchogue) Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout.
Coffee, chocolate, spice, and other adjuncts (sour) (9 entries): Gold, no medal awarded; Silver, Grimm Artisanal Ales (Brooklyn) Super Spruce (spruce tip gose); Bronze, no medal awarded.
Experimental (41 entries): Gold, Seven Points Brewery (Schenectady) Dionysus (white wine sour ale); Silver, Willow Rock Brewing (Syracuse) We Made It barleywine; Bronze, Rare Form Brewing (Troy) Yule Lad English barleywine.
Fruit and vegetable beer (sour) (80 entries): Gold, Active Ingredient Brewing (Malta) Delta pH (Bartlett pear sour); Silver, Roc Brewing (Rochester) Desert Rose; Bronze, Valcour Brewing (Plattsburgh) Tropical Sour.
Fruit and vegetable beer (non-sour) (44 entries): Gold, Steelbound Brewery (Ellicottville) Buy the Berries Blueberry Wheat; Silver, Transmitter Brewing (Brooklyn) S2 Lemongrass & Ginger Saison; Bronze, New York Beer Project (Lockport) The One V-43: Island Edition.
Golden/blonde ale (American, Kolsch, Cream Ale) 54 entries): Gold, Aurora Brewing (King Ferry) La Crema cream ale; Silver, EBBS Brewing (Brooklyn) Kolsch No. 2; Active Ingredient Brewing (Malta) Freudian Sips Kolsch.
Hazy DIPA (47 entries): Gold, Catskill Brewery (Livingston Manor) Ratface Mcdougall; Silver (tie), Aurora Brewing (King Ferry) Simcoe Super Fresh to Death and Wayward Lane (Schoharie) Cloud Generator; Bronze (tie), Kings County Brewers Collective (Brooklyn) Bright Lights, Big Kitty and Underground Beer Lab (East Syracuse) Topology Double NEIPA.
Hazy IPA (89 entries): Gold, Fidens Brewing (Colonie) Pigeon Camera; Silver, Prison City Brewing (Auburn) Haze On; Bronze, Peacemaker Brewing (Canandaigua) Crooked Soul.
Hazy pale ale (50 entries): Gold, Wayward Lane Brewing (Schoharie) Cultivar: Motueka; Silver, Great South Bay Brewery (Bay Shore) Cosmic Juice; Bronze, Underground Beer Lab (East Syracuse) Defies Logic.
Imperial stout and porter (35 entries): Gold, Naked Dove Brewing (Canandagiua) Russian Imperial Stout; Silver, Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing (Weedsport) Baltic Porter; Bronze, Strangebird Brewery (Rochester) Bear Fight imperial stout.
Kettle and simple sours (11 entries): Gold, West Kill Brewing (West Kill) Creekside dry-hopped kettle sour; Silver, Big Slide Brewery & Public House (Lake Placid) Leipzig Gose; Bronze, Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing (Weedsport) Berliner Weise.
Light lagers (modern and contemporary) (62 entries): Gold, EBBS Brewing (Brooklyn) Pilsner No. 2; Silver, Wild East Brewing (Brooklyn) L’ultima Moda Italian Pilsner; Bronze, Kings County Brewers Collective (Brooklyn) 4am Pilsner.
Light lagers (traditional) (73 entries): Gold, Genesee Brewing (Rochester) Genesee Brew House Helles lager; Silver, New York Beer Project (Lockport) Lockport Lager; Bronze, Kings County Brewers Collective (Brooklyn) Infinite Machine Pilsner.
Pale ale (33 entries): Gold, Ausable Brewing (Keeseville) Wayne Legitzky; Silver, Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing (Weedsport) Bay Bridge Pale Ale; Bronze, Heroes Brewing (Rochester) Builders Brew American Pale Ale.
Porter (non-imperial) (30 entries): Gold, Blue Point Brewing (Patchogue) Dark Portal; Silver, The Warbler Brewery (Delmar) Thacher; Bronze, Genesee Brewing (Rochester) Genesee Brew House Robust Porter.
Stout (non-imperial) (28 entries): Gold, WT Brews (Baldwinsville) Present Absence; Silver, Slate Town Brewing (Granville) Chocolate Milk Stout; Bronze, Kings County Brewers Collective (Brooklyn) Bodega Cat.
Strong ale (non-Belgian) (28 entries): Gold, K2 Brothers Brewing (Penfield) Imperial Red Rye; Silver, The Drowned Lands Brewery (Warwick) Cabin Fever barleywine; Bronze, West Shore Brewing (Clarence) Winter Warmer.
Wheat beer (American, wit, hefe) (39 entries): Gold, Wood Kettle Brewing (Greece) Pearl to Pine; Silver, The Drowned Lanes (Warwick) Gather House; Bronze, McGraw Box Brewing (McGraw) Holznot Hefeweizen.
Wild and sour ale (25 entries): Gold, Grimm Artisanal Ales (Brooklyn) J’Adoube (blended barrel-aged saison racked onto second-use local Balaton cherries); Silver, Duncan’s Abbey (Tarrytown) Abbot’s Reserve Flanders red ale; Bronze, New York Beer Project (Lockport) Yellowstone Wild Ale.
New York State Beer winner (farm brewery using at least 60 percent NYS ingredients): Genesee Brewing (Rochester) Genesee Brew House Helles lager.
Collaboration winner: Wood Kettle Brewing (Greece) and Nine Spot Brewing (Rochester) Pearl to Pine weizenbock.
Governor’s Cup Beer Cup winner: 1. Genesee Brewing (Rochester) Genesee Brew House Helles lager; 2. Big Ditch Brewing (Buffalo) Double Barrel Aqueduct imperial stout; 3. Wayward Lane Brewing (Schoharie) Xylem wheat wine.
NYS brewery of the year: Wayward Lane Brewing (Schoharie).
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