Nickel Brook's win and a peek into Neustadt Springs

Simply the best... and it beat a Stone Brewing beer!!!

More than 3,000 beers from all over the world made their way to the U.S. Open Beer Championship in Atlanta on the July 4th long weekend - an annual competition, now in its 23rd year, that sees established breweries and even home-brewers go toe-to-toe over the bar with their best brews. Judges from Canada, England, Finland and the USA are on hand for this blind taste-test challenge. I'm not sure they're actually blind-folded the judges although the Finnish guy probably should have been - he seemed kinda sketchy...

While I think Texas was the state that collected the most hardware (by my count) and Wormtown Brewing in Worcester, Massachusetts was declared the first-place winner over-all on the strength of three golds and a silver, some Ontario breweries came home clutching medals themselves. Frankly, I would have stayed in Atlanta - big-ass room full of the best beers in the world? Why the hell would you leave? It would be a day I'd never forget... if I actually remembered it. Which I wouldn't.

It's like the US Open Golf Championship but way
better because it involves beer, rather than golf...

Okay, let's start with my home-town boys, Burlington's Nickel Brook, who won gold for American-Style Black Ale with their delicious Malevolent Imperial Black IPA, which not only beat out Stone's Sublimely Self Righteous Black IPA (if you triumph over the prestigious Escondido, Calfornia brewer in anything, that's like two golds), it was also the only Canadian gold of the weekend. But they weren't finished there, also snapping up a bronze for Old Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout in the Wood/Barrel-Aged Strong Stout. One happy Nickel Brooker told me that bronze win was equally satisfying to them since that category is one of the most fiercely fought-over in the entire show. Much like the Nobel Peace Prize, brewers would kill to win this one...

My other homies, Cameron's Brewing out of Oakville, also snagged a pair of bronzes at the meet - one for their very tasty Auburn Ale in the American Amber/Red category and another for their Cream Ale in the American Cream Ale division.

The Cameron's Brewing Cube-Mobile. Know why their
logo is painted on in reverse on the hood? So you can
read it in your rear-view mirror... and then get the hell
out of their way!!! Wherever they're going is far more
important than wherever you're going, especially work

Quick Cameron's aside: My old buddy, Scottie, who I worked with at the Beer Store back in the 1990s, recently PMed me to ask what would be a good keg of craft beer to grab as visiting family from Scotland would be descending upon his household shortly. Something with a nice kick but not blow-the-top-of-your-head-off hoppy. I suggested he call Cameron's (Scottie also lives in Oakville) to see if they kegged their terrific California Sunshine American Pale Ale. They do and he has happily pre-ordered a 30-litre (1,014 US ounces) keg of the liquid golden nectar. I suspect it will meet with rave reviews from the Scottish side.

Much like Cameron's both Wellington Brewery out of Guelph and Toronto's Mill Street Brewery padded their trophy cases with a pair each. Welly won silver for their County Dark Ale in the Brown Ale category and added more shiny silver for their Iron Duke in the Old Ale division. Equally impressive in that division was the Niagara College Teaching Brewery collecting a bronze for their Brewmaster Strong. A Mill Street win I should have seen coming was their silver for their outstanding Vanilla Porter in the Herb and Spice beer division. They followed that with a bronze for their Organic Lager in the Best Of  Show Organic Beer group.

I am hoping that Mill Street will enter this in the
Best Of Show Organic Beer division next year!

I honestly hope they enter their 100th Meridian Organic Amber Lager in the same division next year - it's been one of best finds so far this summer.

Sawdust City Brewing, the best damn brewery in all of Bracebridge, Ontario, struck silver in the Imperial Stout group with their delicious and cheekily-named Long Dark Voyage To Uranus. I have had it on its own and then a raspberry-infused version made specially for the outdoor Winter Craft Beer Festival at Steam Whistle this past January where the brewery tacked on the word "Bloody" to the beginning of the name. What can I say? Both were bloody good. But for the second year running, the brewery also got a nod in the Top-Ten Most Creative Names for the show. Last year, it was the above-mentioned imperial stout that topped the list - this year, their The Princess Wears Girlpants Belgian IPA cracked the list.

But as I looked at the winners' list, one Ontario brewery beat them all handily and came up four times winners.

Neustadt Springs Brewery collected four medals at the US
Open  Beer Championships on the July 4th long weekend

Yes, Neustadt Springs Brewery, situated in a tiny town of just 500 people about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Kitchener, walked to the podium four times that weekend. I have seen Neustadt Springs at pretty much every Beer Fest I've attended but didn't know much about them, other than the town's heavy German settlers' influence - Neustadt translated means "New Town".

Well, thanks to Google (seriously, how does any student anywhere fail any course with Google at their disposal?), I am well-versed in all matters Neustadtian.

British immigrants Andrew and Val Stimpson, seen here in the
stone-vaulted cellar, reopened the now renamed Neustadt
Springs Brewery in 1997 and haven't looked back since...

Neustadt Springs, then called Crystal Springs Brewery, was built back in 1859 by Henry Huether, an immigrant from Baden, Germany, who helped settle the village by bringing over 40 skilled stonemasons from the homeland. The resulting brewery, above right, is apparently just one of the many beautiful buildings they created. The original brewery was built with wood until it burned down and was replaced with the fieldstone one seen here 10 years later. Like many breweries, it shut down due to Prohibition in 1915 and then became a creamery. When that shut down, it became a community dance hall and farmers market locale.

That is until British couple Andrew and Val Stimpson landed in town and decided to reopen it as a brewery after an 82 year absence.

The Stimpsons put the "new" in Neustadt!
Say, I wonder who this town's cheering for
when Germany and Argentina clash today??

According to the pair, quoted on the brewery's website, the decision came after Andrew could find neither a suitable British pub nor a Canadian beer style he enjoyed. So what the hell, eh? Just start up your own brewery and problem solved! It took 10 long months of prep time to get the building turned back into a proper brewery but they finally got it open two days before Christmas in 1997. Were they an instant success? Uhh, yeah - their first batch of beer sold out in five hours, leaving Andrew in the awkward position of having to go to a Beer Store on Christmas Eve... or be beerless. I suspect he has since thought to set aside a few jugs for himself.

With this kind of history behind it, we salute the Stimpsons as did the US Open, giving them a silver for their Mill Gap English Bitter in the Bitter field, another silver for their Ever Ard in the English Mild Ale category, a bronze for their Scottish Pale Ale in the Scottish Ale division and finally, another bronze for their Kiss of the Adder in the Specialty/Anything Goes division.

Suffice it to say, I will be paying far more attention to Neustadt Springs Brewery at future beer fests, hopefully as soon as this coming Saturday when Burlington holds its first-ever Summer Beer Fest (three days!) at Spencer Smith Park down on the lake. If not there, well, I'm certain they'll be at the Toronto Festival of Beers at the CNE that I'll be attending the following weekend. Why? Because my life is one long beer festival, that's why...

Okay, next up in a couple of days, we'll be looking at what American craft goodies my old high school buddy Greg brought me up from his home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. I don't wanna tip anything off but when I texted Stevil St Evil to RateBeer one since I was driving home and strangely my flip-phone has no access to RateBeer, the beginning of his response was "HOLY FOOK!" So yeah, it's a goodie. But guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here!!! Until next time, I remain...