The Alchemist and Lawson’s Finest Grab Silver in 2012 WBC

Once again breweries from “little” Vermont, The Alchemist and Lawson’s Finest, have scored beer medals in the international World Beer Cup (WBC) competition. Held this year in San Diego, the WBC is quite likely the most prestigious beer competition in existence. Let me lay out a few numbers for you from this year’s WBC competition, just to give you a sense of the magnitude of these two VT brewery’s accomplishment…

In this year’s competition, The Alchemist scored its 2012 WBC Silver Medal for its “Luscious” in the British-style Imperial Stout category. Some of you may remember that this was one of the beers rescued after the devastating flood that occurred during Hurricane Irene in August of 2011; the damage of which eventually caused the very unfortunate closing of The Alchemist Pub & Brewery in downtown Waterbury, VT. The rescue of this beer was one of the bright spots in Vermont beer history, as four Vermont breweries (Alchemist, Harpoon, Hill Farmstead and Rock Art) joined hands to ensure that this very special beer made it to the marketplace. All proceeds from the eventual sale of this beer were used to aid the recovery of Waterbury, which incurred extensive damage from the flood waters.

For Lawson’s Finest, the 2012 WBC Silver Medal was earned for their excellent Maple Tripple. This beer is uniquely brewed only once each year during “sugaring season” (Spring) using maple sap, instead of water, from Paul Marble’s maple sugar operation in Fayston, VT. The only other ingredients for this beer are malted barley, hops and ale yeast (and just a bit of maple syrup for carbonation).

Both of these brewers have previously won awards at the WBC… a Bronze Medal for Lawson’s Finest for Maple Tripple in 2010’s “Specialty Beer” category… and for The Alchemist a Gold Medal for Celia Saison in 2010’s “Gluten-Free” category.

I can speak from my own personal experience that both of the these beers are some of the best I have ever had.