Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company has continued a 12-year-long tradition, winning at the Great American Beer Festival, the nation’s largest beer competition and what Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease calls “the Academy Awards of the American craft brewing community.”
The Buellton brewery took home two awards, winning bronze medals for their Hoppy Poppy IPA and Dreaming of Bamberg beers.
Figueroa Mountain now has the distinction of being the only brewery that has medaled in every competition since 2011, with a running total of 31 pieces of hardware. Perhaps more impressively though, is that this win brings the company’s medal count for all major beer competitions past the 200 mark, to a total of 201 … for now, at least.
“We feel so fortunate to have been recognized with these awards,” said an ecstatic Kevin Ashford, brewmaster and creative director at Figueroa Mountain. “Keeping a streak of wins longer than any other American brewery shows that brewing great beer is more than just the work of one person; it’s about building a great team.”
The Great American Beer Fest, now in its 40th year, attracted 9,904 beers this year from 2,154 breweries throughout the United States.
The award marks the fourth medal at GABF for Hoppy Poppy IPA, having previously won in 2017 through 2019. Dreaming of Bamberg, a beechwood-smoked beer in the German Eisbock style, medaled in its first year being entered.
Mr. Ashford accepted the awards with several members of the “FigFam,” including founder Jaime Dietenhofer. Jaime and his father Jim started the brewery together in 2010, shortly before entering their first GABF competition the following year.
Through their passion for craft beer, they sought to share the beauty and the spirit of the Santa Ynez Valley with beer lovers throughout the state. Their beer can be found in bars, restaurants and grocery stores throughout California, as well as in their taprooms throughout the region.
It has since expanded to four locations throughout Southern California, and is in the midst of a buildout of three more locations in Los Angeles in the coming months. For more information, visit FigMtnBrew.com.
email: nhartstein@gmail.com
