What's all the fuss about awards anyways? Well let me tell you what I learned

Asians are won over with California beers.

Recently, I received an excited face book announcement from Denise Jones of Moylan’s Brewing Co. that they had taken 2 of the 4 medals awarded to California Breweries in the European Star Competition. I saw her several weeks later the other day at the California Small Brewers Conference for Northern California.




I congratulated her on the award and I learned a few things. First let me say that when I saw the award, I thought to myself, that’s a long way to send beer out for competition. I know that Moylan’s is not hurting for recognition so why compete in an international format? My other thought was, what they had hoped to accomplish by winning an award in a European country?



She mentioned a program that has been out for several years now. It was established by the Brewers Association (BA) in 2004. It was a result of a grant received from the Department of Agriculture’s , Market Access Program. With these funds BA has formed the Export Development Program(EDP). The objectives of the program are to:

• Educate international trade and media groups about the quality and diversity of products offered by the US craft beer industry and culture.

• Provide and promote brewers opportunities to place their product in key international target markets.

• To complement industry efforts to increase international distribution.

Participation in craft shows and competition has led to countless awards. This leads to bolstering domestic and international media exposure for U.S breweries, improving public relations and distribution agreements throughout Asia and Europe. All of this has resulted in a 196% U.S craft beer exports.



Sending beer out to Asian and European countries requires substantial administrative and financial support.

Participation requires that the brewery subscribe to the program. In order for a brewer to subscribe the brewers pay a fee based on the size of their operation. The fee is to offset related costs to provide administrative support, shipping, and representation of the shipped product. Currently there are 40 subscribers in the U.S.



After learning about this it helped me to appreciate that our U.S government considers beer to be an agricultural product. Winning medals overseas is more about raising awareness of the craft of beer making in the U.S. and that promoting this awareness stimulates our economy and trade relations.



While I wasn’t able to acquire a list of the 40 breweries subscribing to the Export Development Program I was able to view a recent competition in Asia. Some of the participating California breweries included: Uncommon Brewers, Stone Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Lagunitas, Green Flash, and The Bruery.

California is home to the most breweries in the U.S. according to California Small Brewers Association.Our brewers are not only very good at their craft when it comes to setting standards, pushing envelopes, and creating trends. They also have a strong desire to make sure that not only are they outstanding beers by California and U.S. standards but they are also to be recognized by their peers in other countries as well.

Entering competition is not longer a prestigious award on a local level. It is much more depending on where you submit you product. It is about creating awareness, education, developing interests and forming alliances. The next time you see a beer win a competition I hope that you appreciate as I have come to appreciate through the writing of this article, the comprehensive value that is acquired by the brewer, the brewery through their beer