Call it the Year of Rapp.
Rapp Brewing, the small-batch brewery in Seminole specializing in obscure Germancentric beer styles, cleaned up at the 2014 Best Florida Beer Championships Sunday.
Rapp and his two-man brewing team — Joe Scheibelhut and Troy Bledsoe — won three gold medals, a bronze, a silver, Best of Show for their sour-salty Gose and Best small-batch Brewery in Florida.
Not bad for a guy who was a homebrewer just three years ago.
It was a particularly impressive win given the significant changes in this year’s judging. For the first time since the championships began in 2002, a gold medal really means something.
In the past, multiple gold medals were given in individual commercial brewing categories, so there could be a half-dozen gold-medal winning IPA’s, and the same for silver and bronze. Your beer had to really suck not to win something. This year, the championships followed the approach of the world and national competitions, awarding only one gold in each category, and the same for silver and bronze.
Perhaps the most surprising result was how many breweries across the state were honored. Sure, Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing won two gold medals, but so did Ybor City’s Tampa Bay Brewing Company, Tallahassee’s Proof Brewing Co and Due South Brewing in Boynton Beach. Other gold medal winners from Tampa Bay included Brew Bus, Dunedin Brewing, Saint Somewhere Brewing in Tarpon Springs. Other local medal winners included Barley Mow, Pair O’ Dice, 7venth Sun, Southern Brewing and Winemaking, Big Storm, Copp Winery and Brewery, Florida Avenue, Green Bench Brewing, Cigar City Brewpub, Yuengling, Darwin’s on 4th, Motorworks, and Coppertail (which hasn’t even opened yet).
The Best of Show winners for large-batch breweries showed how quality beer is all over the state: Swamp Head Brewery in Gainesville was first, Engine 15 Brewing Co. in Jacksonville Beach was second and Due South Brewing Co. was third.
Another surprise: Cigar City’s highly coveted Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout didn’t win any medals — most likely because the brewery didn’t enter it. They knew they would have to contribute a half-barrel of it for Sunday’s Brewer’s Ball beer fest and awards ceremony and wanted to hold onto it for next week’s Hunahpu’s Day release, said CCB Vice President Justin Clark. Besides, Hunahpu’s is world renowned already. (Due South Brewing Co. won gold, and Cigar City Brewpub placed second for its Oyster Pleasin Season).
Rapp's Gose was featured in this week's Drinking Issue.
A complete list of awards can be found here.
