Asheville breweries win in prestigious international beer competition, World Beer Cup

ASHEVILLE - Two local breweries were victorious in an international awards program dubbed “The Olympics of Beer Competitions.”

World Beer Cup, established in 1996, is considered the most prestigious beer competition and celebrates the art and science of brewing.

On April 24, the awards ceremony was hosted live at The Venetian in Las Vegas at the Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America and presented by the Brewers Association, a “not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.”

This year, 2,060 brewery competitors hailed from 50 countries. There were 9,300 beer entries submitted in 110 categories, according to the World Beer Cup.

The brews were judged blindly by 280 industry judges representing 37 countries.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., in Mills River, received the gold medal for its Weizenbock in the category of South German-style Weizenbock.

Hi-Wire Brewing Co., was awarded the silver medal for its Churro 10W-40 Imperial Stout in the Dessert Stout or Pastry Stout category.

Adam Charnack, who co-founded the flagship brewery in Asheville in 2013, called the World Beer Cup “the pinnacle of competitions.”

“It’s pretty cool to win an award for that beer,” Charnack said. “That series of beers is pretty near and dear to us and a staple of our portfolio for a long time. To be recognized for that is pretty awesome.”

Award-winning beers

Sierra Nevada’s Weizenbock, a light, flavorful, golden beer considered a bigger, bolder bock version than its unfiltered Kellerweis Bavarian-style wheat beer, and is 8% ABV.

"Weizenbock is a traditional Bavarian style strong wheat beer that uses a unique Bavarian yeast strain. It has a complex flavor profile and aroma with prominent notes of fresh bread and banana that come from the yeast," Scott Jennings, technical brewmaster at Sierra Nevada said in an email.

"We brew it the traditional way in open fermenters, which is fairly uncommon in the modern American craft beer scene. It’s a challenging style to brew but I like it because it demands precision in the brewing process to get it just right. It’s also one of my favorite styles to drink.”

Hi-Wire’s 10W-40 series is a specialty staple beer with different flavors released every couple of months.

Past flavors released in the series have included Mexican hot chocolate and king cake for Mardi Gras.

Charnack said that brewers predicted that the popular churro dessert would translate into a fun and delicious beer. Like other Hi-Wire beers, Charnack said the goal was to make it an approachable beer that wasn’t overwhelming.

“The key is to make a beer like that drinkable – not over the top, not so big and heavy you struggle to get through a pint. The key is to always have balance in beer," he said.

Churro 10W-40 Imperial Stout is brewed with chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and lactose to make a full-bodied dark beer that’s described as “accentuated by a nostalgic deep-fried dough aroma and decadent dark malt character." It’s 8% ABV.

On May 3, the Vietnamese Iced Coffee 10W-40 variant will be released in Hi-Wire taprooms.

In July, Hi-Wire will release Pumpkin Spicewalla Latte 10W-40 in collaboration with Spicewalla, an Asheville spice company that is part of the Chai Pani Restaurant Group. It will be sold at Hi-Wire’s taprooms and Chai Pani and Botiwalla ― the sister restaurants of Spicewalla.

A limited supply of the 10W 40 Churro beer is available in the Asheville taprooms, and Charnack said past flavors will be rereleased in taprooms soon.

Hi-Wire has 11 concepts across several states, including taprooms in Asheville in Biltmore Village, River Arts District and the South Slope brewing district.

Sierra Nevada serves Weizenbock at its Mills River and Chico, California, taprooms only, while supplies last.

In 2023, Hi-Wire won a silver medal in Experimental Beer for its Japanese Rice Lager, made in collaboration with Ben’s American Sake in Asheville.

In 2018, Hi-Wire won the bronze medal for its Dry Hopped Brett Pale Ale in Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer.

In 2022, Sierra Nevada won the bronze medal for its Sunny Little Thing for Fruit Wheat Beer, which won the silver medal in the same category the following year.

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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 2024 World Beer Cup medal awarded to Asheville area breweries