KC Bier Co., Kansas City’s largest independent and locally-owned brewery, announces that it won two medals during the 34th Annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the largest beer competition in the United States. Winners were announced during the first-ever GABF virtual ceremony on Oct. 16 by the Brewers Association (BA), the national trade group representing independent craft breweries in the U.S.
Two of the brewery’s year-round brands were awarded medals in two of the most competitive categories: Hefeweizen took silver in the German-Style Wheat Ale category (145 entries), and Pure Pils received a bronze in the German-Style Pilsener category (the third largest category with 200 entries). More than 100 judges evaluated 8,806 total entries from 1,720 breweries from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., in 35 socially distanced judging sessions during an 18-day period.
Steve Holle, KC Bier Co. founder and managing owner, and Karlton Graham, KC Bier Co. head brewer, both studied German brewing at the Doemens Academy outside of Munich, where they learned traditional brewing techniques including decoction mashing, two-tank fermentation and conditioning, and natural carbonation.
Holle said the two medals are a testament to the brewery’s commitment to brewing high-quality German-style bier using time-honored brewing methods and only four ingredients: water, yeast, and all-imported German malt and hops.
“Our mission always has been to brew authentic-tasting German-style beer and deliver it with the same character, flavor and freshness as beer brewed and consumed in Germany,” Holle said. “We go to great lengths to brew our bier in the traditional way, and are honored that the judges recognized our dedication to these methods that helped Hefeweizen and Pils stand out among hundreds of entries in their categories.”
The GABF medals for Hefeweizen and Pils round out an impressive set of accolades for the brewery’s core four year-round brands. Dunkel, a Munich-style brown lager, was named the Best Local Lager in Kansas City in The Pitch Best of KC Awards in 2019 by more than 40,000 voters; and Helles Lager was named one of the 19 Best Beers of 2019 by Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine.
All four brands are available year-round on draft and in 6-packs in liquor and grocery stores across the entire state of Kansas, and in western and northeast Missouri.
