The annual competition put on by the North American Brewers Association was held this week in conjunction with the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest in Idaho Falls, ID (which is actually going on as I type).  According to the Association, the North American Beer Awards provides an opportunity for commercially produced beers to be judged against the best beers in the country. The event is conducted as a single blind sampling followed by rank ordering of the entries within a category.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze medallions are awarded in a wide variety of categories. More than 1,400 entries were received last year.  Judges consists of brewers, certified judges and other qualified professionals who determine how closely an entry meets the style definition for the category in which it is entered.

Here’s a list of Montana winners, in alphabetical order, from last night’s awards ceremony:

Bayern Brewing
Silver – Bayern Helles Lager – Helles Lager

Big Sky Brewing Company
Gold – Trout Slayer – English-Style Summer Ale
Gold – Moose Drool Brown Ale – American-Style Brown Ale
Silver – All Souls Imperial Saison – Other Belgian-Style Ales
Silver – Summer Honey Seasonal Ale – Honey Beer

Bitterroot Brewing
Silver – Sawtooth Ale  – English-Style Summer Ale
Bronze – Nut Brown Ale  – English-Style Brown Ale
Bronze – Imperial Honey Citra Ale  – American-Style Strong Ale

Blackfoot River Brewing Company
Silver – Montambic – American Style Wild or Sour Ale

Bozeman Brewing Company
Bronze – Bozone Maibock – Helles Bock/Maibock
Gold – Montana Common Beer – California Common

Carter’s Brewing 
Bronze – Eldorado ESB – English-Style Pale Ale
Bronze – Saison de Carter – Saison
Silver – Biere de Mars – Biere de Garde
Silver – Smokehouse Lager – German-Style Rauchbier

Kettlehouse Brewing Co.
Silver – Gin Eddy – Barrel Aged Beer

Madison River Brewing Co.
Silver – Dropper IPA – American-Style India Pale Ale
Silver – Frostbite Barleywine  – American-Style Barley Wine
Gold – Copper John Scotch Ale Montana Brewing Co.

Montana Brewing Co. 
Bronze – MBC Golden Ale – Golden or Blonde Ale
Silver – Custer’s Last Stout – Oatmeal Stout
Gold – Red Sorrel Holiday Ale – Herbed/Spiced

Philipsburg Brewing Company
Silver – Haybag Hefeweizen – Hefeweizen

Red Lodge Ales Brewing Co.
Gold – Czechmate Pilsner – Bohemian-Style Pilsner
Bronze – Jack’s 90 Scottish Ale – Scottish-Style Export
Silver – Red Lodge Porter – Robust Porter
Silver – Summer Daze – Weizen Bock

Uberbrew
Gold – White Noise – Hefeweizen
Gold – Wampa Hybrid Style Beers (two or more style tr
Silver – Alt – Altbier

The complete list of awards sorted by brewery and category is available here.