The sights and sounds of the Great American Beer Festival are a joy to experience. The pride felt by medal winners is seen in their eyes and actions. Hugs are plentiful. GABF medals, awarded during the nation’s oldest and most prestigious gathering of beers each fall, are the holy grail for brewers. These coveted symbols of success, selected by more than 100 judges from over 2,700 beers in 75 different categories, identify the masters among the brewers.

The South did respectfully well this year. The Tarheel state’s sole winner this time was Foothills Brewing. Brewer Jamie Bartholomaus scored two shiny new silvers for his Winston-Salem brewpub with Baltic Porter (his gold winner last year) and Gruffmeister 8 Maibock.

Three other regional breweries each scored a pair of medallions. Little Rock, Ark.’s Diamond Bear, represented at the festival by co-owner Russ Melton, collected a gold for Brewmaster Robert Kort’s English-Style Diamond Bear Pale Ale and a bronze for Honey Weiss in the American Wheat category. From Kentucky, Alltech’s Lexington Brewing claimed its second and third medals, both silvers, for Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, in the prestigious Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer category, and Kentucky Weissbier, brewed with local homebrewer Bill Caldwell for the Pro-Am contest. Nut Brown Ale (silver) and Brown Porter (bronze) did well for Blackstone Brewing’s David Miller and assistant Travis Hixon.

In Memphis, Chuck Skypeck is still beaming over Boscos’s string of successes. The company has brewpubs in Memphis, Nashville and Little Rock, Ark., and will be opening a Memphis micro by the end of the year. Boscos collectively submits beer for the GABF competition via an internal company blind tasting. So Skypeck is “not sure” where the 2007 gold-winning Hefeweizen was brewed, though he suspects it came from Nashville. For the record, Jimmy Randall brews in Memphis at Boscos Squared. Fred Scheer is the main man at Boscos Nashville. The downtown Little Rock store “brews by committee,” rotating duties between Skypeck and his brewing team. Newcomer Mike Campbell is in training to take over the microbrewery when it opens.

The state of Virginia managed only two medals this year. With a bronze bangle for Milkman Stout, Capitol City’s Arlington location’s medal chain is still unbroken. According to Director of Operations Mike McCarthy, the new bronze will join at least eight other GABF medals on the wall. Nick Funnell’s Crazy Jackass Ale scored gold for Great American Restaurants and its Sweetwater Tavern brewpubs in Centreville, Falls Church and Sterling.

Atlanta Brewing was Georgia’s only winner. Brewery representatives Chris Caban and Steve McLendon picked up the 14-year-old micro’s first medal (in only its second year of competition) for Brewmaster David McClure’s Red Brick Blonde in the hotly contested Golden or Blonde category.

The count so far (above) is 12 medals for Southern breweries. Add six more for Gordon Biersch. Headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn., the 32-brewpub family stretches from Honolulu to Miami and includes seven Southern properties that have names other than Gordon Biersch. GB scored two 2007 golds, for Schwarzbier and Czech Lager, brewed by regional brewer Jason Oliver (Washington, D.C.) and Jim Sobczak (Rockville, Md.), respectively. Seven Bridges, a Jacksonville, Fla., brewpub, took silver for brewer Eric Lumen’s Southside Pils. Bronze baubles were awarded to Oliver for his Kölsch Summer Fest and to San Diego regional brewer Doug Hasker for Hefeweizen. Brewer Kevin Blodger had the biggest smile on his face when he garnered his very own bronze in the German Alt category.

Congrats to all GABF medalists, but especially our good ol’ boys from the South.

Non-GABF News

Contrary to my previous report, Dixie Brewing is not on its way to full recovery after Katrina’s deadly assault. Kendra Bruno, owner of the 100-year-old New Orleans brewery (a Southern brewing fixture if there ever was one), described the millions of dollars that she and husband Joe lost to the storm and the subsequent looting of the brewery and its irreplaceable “1907 thick copper.” With assistance from hundreds of supporters across the country, the owners celebrated the company’s first-century birthday on Halloween, serving Dixie Beer, Dixie Jazz Amber Light and Blackened Voodoo, now being contract brewed in Wisconsin.

The New Orleans site still has no electricity or water. Bruno estimated that it could take two years to rebuild the brewery. Unfortunately, she explained, there are “lots of ambitious people with their own plans for the site,” vultures who are drooling over the property. One-hundred-year-old regional breweries surely must be on the endangered species list.
Somehow Hog Haus has operated beneath my radar since 2004, when it was founded in Fayetteville, Ark. Brewer Steve Mazylewski, a native of Chicago, joined the company in August 2007 and has been well-received at Hog Haus. He was pleased to find an active homebrewers club and a widespread, above-average knowledge of good beer in the college town. Hog Haus features 10 draft handles, which keeps Mazylewski’s 10-barrel solid copper brewhouse extremely busy. Hog Haus should reach about 900 barrels of production in 2007.

Based in Memphis, Naked Lion Brewing started production this past summer. Essentially a one-man company masterminded by former Anheuser-Busch and Coors brewer Tony Vieira, Naked Lion has its beers contract brewed by City Brewery in La Crosse, Wis. Although Vieira has aspirations to own his own brewery someday, he’s content right now to “move slowly” because it takes “a lot of time and money to develop the right package.” Though he’s crafted over 200 recipes in his previous brewing career, the entrepreneur is happy selling just one beer right now. At almost 6% abv and 20 bittering units, Copper Flask is a very drinkable fest lager.

Chuck Haines founded Williamsburg AleWerks in January 2006. He and Brewmaster Mike Pensinger brewed the first batch in the company’s 25-barrel Alan Pugsley brewhouse in August of that year. Bottles of Colonial Wheat, Tavern Ale, Drake Tail IPA and others can be found throughout eastern Virginia. The limited and numbered Brewmaster’s Reserve series has, so far, featured an interesting bottle-conditioned Ironbound Ale, an imperial IPA; and Wolfe’s Trap Ale, an 8.5% abv American strong ale. Also in the specialty line, 400 Ale is a “big brown ale at 6.5% that commemorates the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown colony.”

Charlotte’s troubled Southend brewpub has new life. Under the guidance of celebrity chef Marvin Woods, the revitalized Woods on South is brewing again, thanks to Carolina Beer. According to brewery President John Stritch, the Mooresville (20 miles north of Charlotte) micro purchased the brewhouse, leased the floor space and is selling beer to Woods on South. Designed to bring Carolina closer to its largest market, the Woods 15-barrel “pilot line” is tour-friendly, with its own tasting room.

In other Carolina Beer news, the company’s first airport venture opened in Terminal D in early November. The pub’s beer list includes four Carolina draft beers and eight others in bottles. Construction is under way at the Mooresville facility, where expansion will take the plant to 165,000 square feet — plenty of room to house a new state-of-the-art bottling line, set for delivery in January.

Eastern Tennessee’s Copper Cellar has brewpub number four under construction. According to Head Brewer Marty Velas, a third Smoky Mountain Brewery & Restaurant is going up in the Knoxville community of Turkey Creek, right beside the corporation’s newest Calhoun’s Restaurant. Copper Cellar owns 17 restaurants under seven different brands, including Calhoun’s BBQ & Brew, a brewpub that opened in Knoxville in 1995, and two other brewing Smoky Mountain facilities in Gatlinburg (1996) and Pigeon Forge (2003). The new Smoky Mountain’s brewhouse is larger than the others, at 15 barrels, and will eventually “provide additional opportunities” with its extra capacity. “It’s fun to grow and expand,” said Velas, who is training brewers for the new brewpub, which should open in early 2008.

Two new South Carolina breweries are in the works. Josh Brewer plans to have his redundantly named Brewer’s Brewing open in Beaufort by early December. With seed money from Dogfish Head brewery (Brewer won the Delaware micro’s “What Dream Is Brewing In You?” competition and its $10,000 grand prize), the newly constructed “green” establishment is located in Jean Ribaut Square at the Beaufort Town Center. Friday nights at Brewer’s Brewing will be celebrated with the tapping of a cask-conditioned ale.

And up in Charleston, Palmetto Brewing brewer David Merritt is moonlighting at his own Coast Brewing. The seven-barrel North Charleston micro has been “going through growing pains” but was finally able to fire up the kettle in early September, followed by a grand opening celebration on October 20. Along with wife Jaime Tenny, Merritt brews “local and organic, whenever possible.” They run their car on biodiesel and will eventually do the same with the Coast boiler and service truck. Merritt’s HopArt IPA, 32/50 Kölsch and seasonals will see local distribution in kegs and in hand-bottled 22-ouncers and growlers at local retail outlets.

Alabama’s only microbrewery, Olde Towne, was destroyed by fire in early July. To encourage the resurrection of the brewery in Huntsville, local fans recently staged an Olde Towne Revival benefit to help owners Dr. Howard Miller and Don Alan Hankins in their rebuilding efforts. Auctions, T-shirt sales and live music from several bands raised $6,000. Event sponsors included Brooklyn Brewery, Lazy Magnolia and Terrapin Beer.

Speaking of Lazy Magnolia, Mississippi’s first and only micro, located in Kiln, was recently presented the “Rookie Business of the Year” award by the Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce.

In late August, Atlanta micro Sweetwater opened Sweetwater Draft House & Grill in Concourse B of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The establishment’s Big Kahuna Fish Sandwich brandishes the nickname of Sweetwater co-owner Frederick Bensch.