Over the weekend, Texas craft breweries brought home a whopping 21 medals at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival in Colorado — and Alamo City-area breweries accounted for a third of the state's total haul. The festival, which draws tens of thousands of people annually, is considered one of the industry's most prestigious competitions.
Of the breweries inside San Antonio proper, Roadmap Brewing — which earlier this year medaled in the World Beer Cup awards — took gold for its Alright, Alright, Alright in the International-Style Pilsener category. Mad Pecker Brewing's Bitter Soul Extra Special Bitter brought home a silver medal in its category, while the toasty malt overtones of Freetail Brewing's Bowie Bock snagged a bronze medal in the International Dark Lager group.
Casting the net a little further outside city limits, Blanco’s Real Ale Brewing took home a gold in the Golden or Blonde Ale category for Fireman’s 4, and Fredericksburg’s Altstadt Brewing grabbed a gold in the Munich-Style Helles category. Johnson City-based Pecan Street Brewing hauled in two medals — a bronze and gold — for its Road Devil Amber in the German-Style Altbier category and Pecan Street Rye lager in the Rye Beers group, respectively.
“At the end of the day, winning a medal itself means very little, but getting to celebrate it with our entire staff and San Antonio beer community means everything,” Roadmap co-owner Dustin Baker said. “[That's particularly true] with this beer, which is at the heart of what we want to do at Roadmap: brew clean and drinkable beer that can be enjoyed by all.”
Jeremy Banas
Nearly 240 judges from seven countries evaluated this year's Great American Beer Festival contenders.
Each of San Antonio's winning beers is available at its respective brewer's taproom. A complete list of the 2022 winners is available at the Great American Beer Festival website.
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