fat head's

A change at the Great American Beer Festival has cost Fat Head's Brewery its Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year award. Matt Cole is owner and brewmaster.

(Peggy Turbett, The Plain Dealer Peggy Turbett Peggy Turbett Peggy Turbett)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - A review of how breweries are classified has cost Fat Head's Brewery a prestigious award won at the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

Initially, Fat Head's was named Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year on Saturday, the finale of the three-day event. But sometime after results were announced in the mid-afternoon, judges instead gave the honor to Karl Strauss Brewing Co. of San Diego.

What is at the crux of the change is the size of specific breweries, especially those like Fat Head's that have multiple locations. Fat Head's brews beer in North Olmsted, Middleburg Heights and Portland.

"The rules say if you have a conglomerate of breweries it refers to the largest. Multiple locations have to compete at the same level," said Matt Cole, Fat Head's brewmaster and owner. "The problem with that is it doesn't reflect us.

"Middleburg Heights is clearly a mid-sized brewing company. North Olmsted and Portland are clearly large brewpubs," he said.

The Brewers Association rules governing GABF brewery-classification state: "... If Moe's Brewing Company enters both Moe's Brewing Company Production Facility (producing 100,000 BBL) and Moe's Brewpub (producing 7,000 BBL) in the competition, both locations must compete in the largest applicable (Brewery of the Year) category for the company as a whole. In this case, both compete in Mid-Size Brewing Company."

And then this prescient declaration: "The BA will re-categorize incorrect entries as needed."

The Champion Breweries categories includes these size definitions:

A brewery that produces fewer than 1,000 barrels is considered a very small brewing company. Those that make 1,000 to 14,999 are thought of as a small brewing company. Mid-sized means 15,000 to 6 million barrels. More than 6 million barrels is a large brewing company.

A brewpub crafting fewer than 750 barrels is considered a small brewpub. A mid-sized brewpub would make 750 to 1,500, and making more than 1,500 barrels would classify as a large brewpub.

"They're basically saying North Olmsted produces between 15,000 and 6 million barrels," Cole said. "We (North Olmsted) produce 1,800 barrels. We're a large brewpub, not a mid-sized brewing company.

The change does not affect any of the five medals Fat Head's earned at the annual competition, it eighth consecutive year of winning. Fat Head's won a gold, two silvers and two bronze medals.

Cole said several factors are considered for the seven Champion Breweries awards, including weighted points from gold, silver and bronze medals. Also considered is competition in a specific category - meaning, a gold in Imperial India Pale Ale, which drew more than 200 entries, is worth a little more than a gold in a category that attracted only a few dozen entries.

"They (GABF organizers) don't want to see multiple locations winning these big prizes," Cole said. "To me, it's not fair because it doesn't represent our operation. We should enter by the size of our operation. It doesn't even look right. If you have 10 locations it defers to the largest. They are trying to eliminate various breweries winning at various sizes. If you can go out and win large brewpub, small brewing company, mid-size brewing company, more power to you."

Email and phone queries to the Brewers Association went unanswered Sunday.

Karl Strauss won four awards at the competition, golds for its American-style Sour Ale, Queen of Tarts, and for Windandsea Wheat, a South German-style Hefeweizen. Its Mosaic Session IPA won a bronze in the session India Pale Ale category. Its Liquid AC from its La Jolla location took bronze in the English-style Summer Ale group. The brewery was founded in 1989 and has more than half a dozen brewpubs.

Cole - whose email signoff is 'Peace Love and Hoppiness!' - is not prone to ranting or whining. Instead, he simply wants to see a clearer rules change. Monday, he has a conference call scheduled with Brewers Association officials.

"I'm on a mission so that the other breweries don't have this happen to them in the future," he said. "It's only fair. It's a very competitive competition."