Having grown through perseverance, experience, and passion, 2864 beers from across the globe passed through the distinguishing palate of a veteran panel of judges in a collective desire to be classified as a world class beer. The 7th Annual World Beer Cup, this year basking under the reliably sunny weather of San Diego, California, occurs every two years, and is, according to the Brewer's Association of Boulder, Colorado, “the most prestigious beer competition in the world”. Self-promotion aside, the competition truly is a remarkable gathering of brewer's and their barley-rich offspring.

644 breweries from 58 countries entered beers in 91 categories. 38% of the beers striving for recognition experienced a fermented birth in another country. 70% of the 129 experts lending their refined beer receptors to analyze and extract deserving brews call a foreign land home. Not particularly surprising, the category with the highest number of entries would make any anxious “hophead” proud. 77 beers lined-up to offer their hoppy disposition in the American-Style IPA category, and seemingly were bound to cause some palate fatigue among the distinguished panel. Thankfully, before the panel's taste buds ceased functioning from an a continuous assault of hops, the Odell IPA of Odell Brewery in Fort Collins, still basking in glory from a gold at the Great American Beer Festival, accepted gold yet again. Congratulations Odell!

Colorado breweries took a very respectable 22 medals in 18 different categories. They watched as only California and Germany received more accolades, with 35 and 25 respectively. US brewer's won a greater percentage of medals in all style families other than German Style Ales, which as you might have guessed was won fairly handedly by the brewmeisters in the land of Oktoberfest and liter-sized mugs. Surprisingly, American brewer's took more medals in the Belgian Style Ales category than the Belgian's themselves.

Judging was performed by process of elimination. Sitting at round tables like esteemed knights, the judges would be served six beers at a time while being read the style guidelines of the beer they're about to taste. They would then commence analyzing the beers according to various attributes – color and appearance, aroma, bitterness, etc.. The judges would first determine whether the beer entered fits properly within the category. If the beer satisfies the requirements of the category, it is then judged against the five other beers at the table. A process of elimination assisted by conversation, debate, and personal preference selects three beers out of the six, and passes the worthy on to the next round. Beers will generally pass through two sets of judges before they pass on to the medal round. The final round will usually present between 6 to 12 beers, and can potentially last for hours, as no time limit is imposed. In certain circumstances no gold is awarded, thus giving more credence to those fermented libations that win.

Coinciding with the World Beer Cup, the Craft Brewer's Conference and Exposition provided a venue for brewery supplies, gear, merchandise, technology, and beer-related organizations, and a host of valuable seminars ranging from beer and food pairings to the barley crises. Brewer's also had the distinct opportunity to rub elbows with their contemporaries from around the world to share and extract information in a very uninhibited atmosphere. It was a sizable melting pot, with beer firmly at the core. As expected, many great beers made appearances during the three day event, and an oasis of 100 hundred draft beers from the farthest reaches of the planet awaited the information saturated participants at the conveniently located Tiki bar in the courtyard of the Town and Country Hotel and Conference Center. It certainly seemed like a very worthwhile endeavor for anyone involved in the brewing industry.

Below you'll find the Colorado breweries that won awards at the Cup. For a fill listing, go to the Brewer's Association website. Enjoy and Drink Well!