USA Beer Ratings Announces 2019 Results

Butcherknife Buzzcock English Mild Ale wins the prestigious Beer of the Year award in the 2019 edition of USA Beer Ratings.

Entered in the Brown British Beer category, Buzzcock is also awarded Best Beer by Value, Best Beer by Packaging and Best In Show by Country and accumulated a stunning 96 points.

The win confirms that the craft beer movement continues to drive quality, packaging, and value for consumers in the dynamic USA Beer market.

The 2019 USA Beer Ratings awarded 10 Gold medals, 30 Silver and 36 Bronze medals in the competition that judges quality alongside packaging and value, have been released emphasizing the diversity of beers available to the consumer with 35 styles judged.

Buzzcocks English Mild Ale comes in at a relaxed 4.3% alcohol, with a dark color and a light body, its mildly hoppy finish make for an easy drinker without overdoing it. This historic style of Mild Ale, as opposed to Porter or Bitter, dates back to the 17th Century or earlier and originally meant as a young ale, referring to its more mildly hopped production technique. Asserting an individuality, Buzzcocks has increased body and hop character in line with modern tastes, bringing the mild style up to date whilst providing this delicious unfussy, casual ale for an unhurried drink.

Sid Patel, CEO of USA Beer Ratings said, "It is a testament to the dynamic nature of the beer industry in the USA, that it keeps re-creating and re-fashioning often forgotten styles of beer and make them into stunning contemporary beers. Buzzcocks is a deserving winner of Beer of the Year, alongside Best by Value, Packaging and Best in Country and symbolic of the creative depth of the industry. There has been a great diversity of entries this year to the USA Beer Ratings and we congratulate all the entrants for taking part."

A key factor that contributes to the quality of USA Beer Ratings is the judges. Our leading panel of judges is commercially active and aware, being directly involved in the development of new beers brands or buying beers for resale.

The judges are selected from some of the most discerning buyers, educators, selectors and operators in the market from across the USA. From owners of single outlets with stellar reputations to retail chains with many outlets, restaurant, and hotel groups, to ciceros working with leading distributors, the judging reflects objectively all the strata of the spirits trade.

The rigorous judging process critically includes marks for quality out of 50, value out of 25 and packaging out of 25. In order to receive a Gold medal beers need to score 90 and over, silver 80-89 and Bronze 70-79. Beers are tasted and marked blind for quality, then judges are given the price to score for value and finally, the packaging is revealed and rated. Gold medal winners score highly in each category.

Full results of the USA Beer Competition are available here.

About USA Beer Ratings

The USA Beer Ratings has been created exclusively by the Beverage Trade Network, the US drinks events, services, business, and publishing group dedicated to helping drinks producers and brand owners get closer to the buyers, distributors, and retailers that can bring their products to market.The USA Beer Ratings looks to highlight and reward successful market-driven consumer beers. An award from the USA Beer Ratings competition is a prestigious mark of approval that is highly valued by consumers when they are making the choice of which beer to buy.