Jacksonville’s Aardwolf Brewing earns a bronze in prestigious Great American

Melvin Brewing out of Jackson won gold for their American-style fruit beer Chchchcch-Cherry Bomb and bronze for their fresh or wet hop beer Melvin IPA.

It’s the second year in a row that an Ohio brewery took home the top honor in the imperial IPA category – the second most competitive style with 208 entries.

Take Back the Streets, a double pale ale that was briefly on tap at the brewpub this summer, won a bronze medal in the Other Strong Beer category, among 43 entries.

Hosted by the Brewers Association every year in Denver, the Great American Beer Festival is the largest and most prestigious beer competition and tasting festival event in the U.S. This year, over 750 breweries competed for gold, silver and bronze medals in over 90 categories. Pumpkin Grinder from Mankato Bewery of Mankato, Minn., won a silver medal.

Fat Head’s co-owner and brewer Matt Cole couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. It’s the first medal for Lager Heads.

– Platform Beer Co. in Cleveland: Gold for Black Eagle Gratzer in the historical beer category. JAFB also won a silver past year for its Wooster New Stout.

Pottstown’s Sly Fox Brewing won a silver in the Belgian- and French-Style ale category for Grisette.

It also won gold in the American-style Black Ale category for Midnight Moonlight.

Fat Head’s Oregon-based brewery won gold in the Rye Beer category for its Blitzkrieg Bock. It’s the first medal for Lager Heads.

Indiana saw six other brewers win medals on Saturday.

Out of the 336 entries – that’s 5 percent of the overall entries – Strongsville, Ohio’s The Brew Kettle Brewery won bronze.

More than 6,600 beers were entered by 1,552 breweries from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, searching for medals in 92 categories covering 145 different beer styles.