Skagit Valley College Cardinal Craft Brewing Win Four Medals in Beer Competition

Mount Vernon, WA – The Skagit Valley College Cardinal Craft Brewing Academy is proud to announce that four of its Academy craft brews have won medals in recent beer competitions.

Cardinal Craft Brew Academy’s Brown Ale earned a Bronze Medal in the English Dark Ales category at the sixth annual Washington Beer Awards.

This year, 181 Washington Breweries entered a total of 1,297 beers into the competition.  Skagit Valley College’s Academy was the only Washington Community or Technical College brewing program to compete and earn medals for its craft brews.

According to a release by the college, the entries were evaluated in a blind format using the Brewers Association style guidelines by panels of trained beer judges who awarded gold, silver, and bronze placements for each category.

The Washington Beer Awards competition was held as a way to celebrate Washington’s growing brewing culture and recognize excellence in the craft of brewing.  The Washington Beer Commission endorsed the competition.

Cardinal Craft Brewing Academy also competed this year in the North American Beer Awards, winning three Bronze medals for its California Common Lager, Scotch Ale and Smoked Porter.

The North American Beer Awards is a unique event sanctioned by the North American Brewers Association and is held in conjunction with the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest.  The competition provides an opportunity for commercially produced beers to be judged against the best beers in the country. The event is conducted as a single blind sampling followed by rank ordering of the entries within a category.

Skagit Valley  College’s Cardinal Craft Brewing Academy, now in its third year, was the first craft brewing program to be offered among Washington’s Community and Technical Colleges. The academy is designed to provide students with a foundation of knowledge for successful employment in the expanding of craft brewing industry.

SVC has collaborated with regional craft brewing and malting professionals in its multi-disciplinary program. Students learn brew science through hands-on experience in the academy’s Brew Lab, and at internships with local breweries. The year, the program opened a family friendly Tap Room, which is open the public on Friday afternoons.  Learn more at www.skagit.edu/craftbrew

 

 

 

Information provided by Arden Ainley, Chief Public Information Officer, Skagit Valley College