Piney River Brewing won three medals at the US Open Beer Championship. Winners were announced this week.
US Open Beer Gold Medalist, Black Walnut Wheat; silver medalist, Andy’s Root Beer, and bronze medalist, Float Trip Ale.
Piney River received a gold medal for Black Walnut Wheat, a silver medal for Andy’s Root Beer, and a bronze medal for Float Trip Ale.
The US Open Beer Championship is held annually in Oxford, OH. This year, over 6,300 beers from around the world were entered in 110 different beer style categories. The contest is open to professional brewers and home brewers. US Open judges hail from England, Canada and the US.
Black Walnut Wheat won the top prize in the “American Wheat Dark” category. This is the fourth consecutive medal for the beer at the competition, having claimed two silver and one bronze medal in the past.
This American-style wheat beer is dark in color and brewed with hand-harvested black walnuts. The beer features an aroma of black walnuts and finishes with a black walnut flavor. According to Brian Durham, co-founder and brewer at Piney River Brewing, Black Walnut Wheat is the flagship beer of the Ozarks brewery.
“No matter where it’s sold, Black Walnut Wheat is always our most popular beer,” Durham said. “It’s easy to drink, and the black walnuts in the beer provide an interesting aroma and flavor profile.”
Andy’s Root Beer won a silver medal in the non-alcoholic root beer category, the first award for the new craft soda produced at Piney River. The root beer is a project started by Andy Durham, the 13-year old son of Brian and Joleen Durham.
“Andy’s Root Beer was packaged in cans and sent out for distribution just a few weeks ago,” Durham said. “Andy and all of us at Piney River are thrilled to receive this award for the very first root beer we canned.”
Float Trip Ale won a bronze medal in the “American Wheat Light” category. This wheat-based blonde is pale yellow in color with a light hop bitterness and a crisp finish. The beer won a gold medal in the 2017 US Open Beer Championship.
According to Durham, Float Trip Ale is the second most popular beer produced year-round at Piney River.
“It’s always fun to win an award for any beer, but it’s especially great to see awards go to your top selling beers,” Joleen Senter Durham, brewery co-founder, said.
Matt Beatty is head brewer at Piney River Brewing. Beatty oversaw the production of both beers that placed in the competition.
“It thrills Joleen and I to bring more recognition to craft beer being made right here in the Ozarks,” Brian Durham said. “Matt and our brewery staff are consistently turning out great beer.”
Piney River Brewing is located on Durham’s 80-acre farm, operating out of a restored barn built in the 1940’s and a larger production “barn”. The Durhams founded the brewery in 2010 with a 10-gallon brewing system. In 2017, Piney River Brewing produced over 2,800 barrels of beer.
Piney River Brewing operates a tasting room that is open to the public every weekend. The brewery has distribution throughout most of Missouri and Arkansas.
A complete list of US Open Beer Championship winners can be found at www.usopenbeer.com. Additional information about Piney River Brewing can be found at www.pineyriverbrewing.com.
