Blind Tiger Brewery Wins Major Awards!
On Saturday October 8th in Denver, Colorado, John Dean, Brewmaster at the Blind Tiger Brewery, was awarded the Gold Medal for the Blind Tiger Bock Beer, plus the Gold Medal for the Smoke Follows Beauty Smoked Bock Beer at the Great American Beer Festival 2022. He was also awarded Brewer of the Year and Brewery of the Year in the category of breweries producing 1001 to 2000 barrels per year.
This event is the National Championships for all breweries big and small and is celebrating 40 years of Craft Beer. These four awards bring to 27 the National and International medals and awards received by John Dean and the Blind Tiger Brewery.
The two award winners, Blind Tiger Bock and Smoke Follows Beauty Smoked Bock, are on-tap for Topekans can enjoy them. The high quality beer is brewed in Topeka by John Dean, Brewmaster, Alvaro Canizales, Head Brewer, and Connor Dean, Cellarman at the Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant, Topeka’s original home town Brewery.
Description of Blind Tiger Bock:
This tawny brown beauty will win your heart. Full bodied and rich with warm bread and sweet caramel notes. It just feels right. This traditional German style lager has a dominating malt character and a warming alcohol note. The light hopping is subtle. Indulgence is rumored to leave you feeling like you have been head-butted by a billy goat!
This beer also won the Bronze Award in the German Style Bock category at the 2022 World Beer Cup earlier this year! Known as “the Olympics of beer,” the World Beer Cup is the most prestigious beer competition in the world. 11,165 beers entered from 2,658 breweries hailing from over 60 countries, with Certified Judges from 30 countries.
How did Bock get its name? Bock was first brewed in the 14th century by German brewers in the Hanseatic League town of Einbeck. The style from Einbeck was later adopted by Munich brewers in the 17th century and due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced "Einbeck" as "ein Bock" which means "a billy goat." Thus the beer became known as "bock." To this day, as a visual pun, a goat often appears on bock labels.
Description of Smoke Follows Beauty:
At 6.5% ABV and 14 IBUs this is a Smoked Bock Beer, which in German parlance is called a “Rauch Bock.” Before the industrial revolution all beer had smoked flavor because the malt used in the brewing process was toasted or roasted over a wood fire before being added to the mash tun. In that regard, viewed through the lens of history, our modern beers without smoke flavor are relatively new. Try the subtle flavor of this blast from the past. Pairs well with bar-be-que and steak.
About the Brewmaster
John Dean, a native Topekan, has been the Blind Tiger Brewmaster since 1999. These four new medals and awards brings his total 27 National and International awards during his tenure! Jay Ives, majority owner of the Blind Tiger Brewery, said, “John Dean, this immensely talented and hard working man, is a Topeka treasure, brewing is an art, and we have Rembrandt!” John Dean is by far the most award-winning brewer in the Midwest.
Ives, continued, “This competition was incredibly stiff with amazingly great beers from more than twenty-one hundred breweries from all over the country. It is a real tribute to John Dean and Alvaro Canizales, Head Brewer, that Blind Tiger Bock and Smoke Follows Beauty have earned these medals and paved the way for these prestigious national awards. Here we are, a small, local organization competing with the giant beer companies - and winning!”
