Five Wisconsin breweries, including three in the Milwaukee area, brought home medals from the annual U.S. Open Beer Championships, one of the largest brewing competitions in the country.
According to its website, "Breweries from Luxembourg to Louisiana sent in more than 6,000 beers representing over 140 different styles for the 2020 U.S. Open Beer Championship. This competition is the only one to include beers from professional breweries and beers from gold medal winners from the National AHA Homebrew Competition.
"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, judging was held in both the U.S. and Canada, at locations including Atlanta, GA; Oxford, Ohio; and Welland, Ontario. Judging in the U.S. Open Beer Championships is blind; judges know only the categories, not the names or locations of beers being judged."
The competition is 12 years old.
Here are the Wisconsin winners in 2020. Cheers to all of them.
Brut IPA
Bronze: Ultima – McFleshman’s Brewing (Appleton) – Wisconsin
German Wheat
Silver: Wisconsinite – Lakefront Brewery – Wisconsin
American Amber/California Common
Bronze: Point Classic Amber Lager – Stevens Point Brewery – Wisconsin
Honey Beer
Silver: My Turn Series: JUVARR – Lakefront Brewing – Wisconsin
Barrel-Aged Strong Stout/Porter
Gold: Milwaukee County Stout – The Explorium Brewpub – Wisconsin
Specialty / Anything Goes
Silver: You’re Killin’ Me S’mores – Brewfinity Brewing – Wisconsin
Near Gluten Free – IPA/DIPA
Bronze: Damn! That’s Good DIPA – The Explorium Brewpub – Wisconsin
Peanut Butter
Gold: Carver’s Peanut Butter Stout – The Explorium Brewpub – Wisconsin
Category Non-Alcoholic: Rootbeer
Silver: Point Premium Root Beer – Stevens Point Brewery – Wisconsin
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
