Chapel Hill, NC – It’s been a great month for Carolina Brewery as two more prestigious awards have been bestowed on this already highly decorated local craft brewery.  This past weekend Carolina Brewery’s popular Sky Blue Golden Ale won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado in the German-style Kolsch category.  The GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world and a symbol of brewing excellence.  This year’s festival was the largest ever with 666 breweries submitting 4,338 entries for the competition.

Also, this year for the first time the North Carolina State Fair hosted a craft beer brewing competition.  There were 166 entries in this inaugural Brewers Cup and Carolina Brewery’s Sky Blue Golden Ale was again a winner, taking home 1st place for their Kolsch-style ale in the Light Hybrid Beer category.

“We are very excited to win these awards,” said owner Robert Poitras.  “The entire Carolina Brewery staff takes pride in the hard work and on-going efforts of our brewers.”

Over its 17 year history, Carolina Brewery has been awarded numerous honors for its beers.  It has won 10 awards at the World Beer Championships alone, including a gold medal for Copperline Amber Ale.  Its beers have also medaled many times at the Carolinas Championship of Beer which takes place during the annual Hickory Hops Festival in North Carolina.

Carolina Brewery is the Triangle’s oldest brewery and one of the founding members of North Carolina’s craft beer community.  Their goal of producing high quality, true-to-style beers has not changed since the company’s inception in 1995.

About Carolina Brewery

Carolina Brewery is a locally owned brewery and restaurant that has drawn international attention for its handcrafted beers, all brewed in-house by Director of Brewing Operations Jon Connolly and his team. Founded in Chapel Hill in 1995, Carolina Brewery is the oldest brewery in the Triangle area and will celebrate its 18th anniversary in February 2013.

Within the last three years, Carolina Brewery has expanded its wholesale operations and now services accounts from the beaches to the mountains of North Carolina, including the Charlotte, Triangle, Triad and Wilmington areas as well as Charleston, South Carolina, surrounding beach communities and most recently, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Carolina Brewery is equally dedicated to food and its expanding menu, which raises the bar on traditional pub fare. A special rotating menu with flavors and ingredients specific to the season augments the core menu of burgers, soups, salads, pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and desserts. For more information, please visit www.carolinabrewery.com.

About the Beers

The following Carolina Brewery beers are distributed year-round:

Sky Blue Golden Ale: For those desiring a lighter beer that still has handcrafted integrity, this beer is a Kolsch style ale made famous in its namesake city of Cologne. This thirst-quenching brew is spritzy, not too malty, with the pleasing aroma of imported Hallertauer hops. While fermented warm like all ales, Kolsch beer undergoes a cold aging period like a lager which results in a brew that is complex yet easy to drink.

BRONZE MEDAL GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL

SILVER MEDAL-WORLD BEER CHAMPIONSHIPS

1st Place NC BREWERS CUP

Flagship India Pale Ale: Originally, this intensely hopped ale was brewed in the 18th century to survive the long sea journey from the cooler breweries in England, around the Cape of Africa to India where the temperatures were too warm to brew. This beer has a unique floral aroma from the generous addition of Cascade hops to the fermenter in a procedure known as dry hopping.

GOLD MEDAL 2006 GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL, English-style IPA

Copperline Amber Ale:

This brilliant red ale, brewed with caramel and pale malts is a best seller at the Carolina Brewery. Using traditional brewing methods, the ale yeast provides a touch of fruit and works in tandem with the malt to make for a very drinkable ale. Kent Golding hops lend just enough bitterness and aroma to round out the flavor.

GOLD MEDAL – WORLD BEER CHAMPIONSHIPS

SILVER MEDAL – CAROLINAS CHAMPIONSHIP OF BEER

Oatmeal Porter:

This hearty dark ale with pleasing hints of molasses and chocolate is robust and full bodied. Fresh rolled oats compliment the brew by creating a nice silky texture and a creamy, rocky head. This style was originally a blend of three different beers and  became a style of its own during the early 1700’s when it was the favorite drink of the porters in the produce markets of London, England.

SILVER MEDAL – WORLD BEER CHAMPIONSHIPS