(Washington, D.C.) – Montana’s senior U.S. Senator and co-chair of the Bipartisan Small Brewers Caucus, Max Baucus congratulated three Montana breweries for landing top awards at the 30th Annual Great American Beer Festival last weekend.
■ Carter’s Brewing in Billings won a Silver medal in the American-Style Black Ale Category for its Blackened CDA.
■ Kettlehouse Brewing Company in Missoula won a Bronze medal in theGluten-Free Beer category for its Seeley Axe White beer.
■ Montana Brewing Company in Billings won a Silver Medal in the Baltic-Style Porter category for its White Eagle Baltic Porter.
This week Russell Nemetz interviewed Evan Taylor with the Montana Brewing Company about the Great American Beer Festival.
“These highly coveted awards show Montana’s small brewers mean business. I applaud Carter’s, Kettlehouse and Montana Brewing Company for representing our state so well at this national competition. Montana’s small brewers support good-paying jobs and these awards will help draw even more attention to this important business in our state,” said Baucus.
526 breweries representing 48 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico entered the 2011 competition. Awards from the professional judge panel at the festival are recognized around the world as symbols of brewing excellence.
Baucus led the formation of the Bipartisan Small Brewers Caucus to highlight the economic impact of small brewers in Montana.
Montana has the second-highest number of small breweries per capita in the nation, with 28 registered breweries. Small brewers use over 5.6 million pounds of malted grain, approximately half of which is grown in Montana. They employ more than 250 Montanans.
Facts about the Montana brewing industry:
- Small brewers utilize over 5000 retailers, and sell their products in 24 states.
- Small brewers manufacture and package over 88,000 barrels (2,728,000 gallons) of fine handcrafted beer in pints, bottles, cans, and kegs each year.
- Small brewers experienced 10{fe867fa2be02a5a45e8bbb747b653fe2e9d0331fd056b85cd0c1a3542435a96e} growth in barrels of beer produced in 2010, and had sales over $24,000,000.
Source: Senator Max Baucus
