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Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. of Akron won seven awards at the recent Commonwealth Cup beer competition held in Kentucky.

(Marc Bona, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Several Ohio breweries - including Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. in Akron - won awards at the recent Commonwealth Cup beer competition in Lexington, Kentucky.

Thirsty Dog took home seven medals in the competition, which was part of the third annual Alltech Craft Brews & Food fest:

Gold: Whippet Wheat; Rail Dog, a smoked black lager.

Silver: Siberian Night Imperial Stout, Old Leghumper Porter.

Bronze: Milkhouse, a stout brewed for Gervasi Vineyard; Siberian Night aged in bourbon barrels, and Wulver, a wee heavy ale.

Judges awarded medals based on overall score, so beers were not evaluated solely against others of the same style, which is often the case in competition. Beers had to earn minimum points for bronze, silver and gold medals.

The competition drew 344 entries from 70 breweries around the world, said Alltech's Sterling Baxter. The four-day blind scoring comes from 12 judges - most of whom are recognized by the Beer Judge Certification Program, and others involved in the industry, he said.

"Kentucky is a commonwealth, and we wanted to do something that tipped the hat to bluegrass and Kentucky and everything that Kentucky represents," Baxter said of the cup's name. "We give awards based on the percentage the beer scored."

Cincinnati breweries cleaned up with 26 medals: Rhinegeist and MadTree each took home eight while Listermann garnered six and Urban Artifact received four.

Wolf's Ridge in Columbus won seven, and Dayton Beer Co. earned four.

Valley Vineyards in Morrow, about 40 miles northeast of Cincinnati, won a medal for a mead while its brewing counterpart, Cellar Dweller, earned two medals for beer.

The overall Commonwealth Cup winner went to Southern Tier Brewing 2X IPA. Last year, Dayton Beer Co. won for Batch 100, a Belgian-style ale.

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