6 Michigan beers win medals in Great American Beer Fest

Six Michigan-made beers were honored last weekend with medals from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, a national competition with 6,647 entries across 147 beer styles.

The one gold-medal winner from Michigan was reDANKulous (9.5% alcohol by volume) from Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, in the Imperial Red Ale category. The brewery describes the beer, the 13th installment in its Backstage Series, as "no frills, bold" and pouring "burnt amber with some sweetness," but with hops as the "true headliner" at 90 international bittering units, according to its website. Founders website also says:

"The spicy, piney, tropical complexities of Chinook, Mosaic and Simcoe hops hit you right away with their dank aroma—and they stick around. Take a sip to have your palate simultaneously walloped and caressed in all the right places."

Short's Brewing Company received a silver medal for experimental beer, a category where the Elk Rapids brewery has stood out in past years. This year's entry, Melt My Brain, (6.1% ABV) is a golden ale brewed with coriander, juniper berries, limes and blended with tonic water.

“I thought about making this beer when I was mowing my lawn about 4 years ago," Short's founder and CEO Joe Short said in a news release. "I was chopping some juniper bushes with the mower. In that process, aromatics of juniper filled the air and got me thinking about gin...and tonic.”

The brewery in 2010 and 2014 won gold in experimental beer for its Key Lime Pie beer. And in 2009, it won silver for its Bloody Beer.

The Great American Beer Festival had participants from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C, this year. It also had the largest number of judges ever, with 242 beer experts from 15 countries.

Gold:

reDANKulous by Founders Brewing Co. of Grand Rapids; Imperial Red Ale category

Silver:

Dubbel Entendre by River's Edge Brewing Co. of Milford; Belgian-Style Dubbel or Quadruple category

India Pale Ale by Arcadia Brewing Co. of Kalamazoo; Classic English-Style Pale Ale category

Melt My Brain by Short's Brewing Co. of Elk Rapids; Experimental Beer category

Concrete Dinosaur by Right Brain Brewery of Traverse City; Rye Beer category

Bronze:

Rogue River Brown by Rockford Brewing Co. of Rockford; English-Style Brown Ale category

Spirits of Detroit columnist Robert Allen covers alcohol for the Free Press. He can be reached at rallen@freepress.com or Untappd, raDetroit; Twitter,@rallenMI, Facebook,robertallen.news; and Periscope, @rallenMI.