Seven Texas breweries won big at the World Beer Cup this weekend in Philadelphia�� and three of them were from Austin. Circle Brewing, Independence Brewing and the ABGB won gold medals and a bronze medal, respectively.

The World Beer Cup, a prestigious competition held by the Brewers Association, is one of the highlights of the Craft Brewers Conference, a five-day educational conference and trade show for more than 1,400 participating craft breweries. The competition, featuring U.S. and international breweries, closes out the conference.

And if a brewery takes home a medal from the World Beer Cup, they must be doing something right: 96 categories and more than 6,500 entered beers means there�s a lot of competition and no guarantee that a brewery will come back with a win. That�s why Circle Brewing, Independence Brewing and the ABGB getting medals is all the more remarkable.

Circle Brewing earned a gold medal in the historical beer category for the recently launched�Archetype Historical IPA, which the brewers created to taste exactly as an IPA would have tasted hundreds of years ago. The brewery got its start in Austin five years ago by making beers using only the four traditional ingredients of hops, malts, yeast and water, also a historical practice.

Independence Brewing was another Austin medal winner�� for the brewery�s Power & Light Pale Ale in the golden or blonde ale category. The light, easy-drinking brew launched in 2014 as an homage, like many of its canned brews, to Austin.

The final Austin brewery to win was brewpub the ABGB, whose pilsner called the Rocket 100 grabbed a bronze medal in the American-style lager category. The Rocket 100 has already been a medal winner, having gotten a gold at last year�s Great American Beer Festival. (That�s another notable beer competition in the U.S.)

Texas� four other World Beer Cup are Houston�s Karbach Brewing, Dallas� Deep Ellum Brewing, Dallas� Oak Highlands Brewery and Addison�s Bitter Sisters Brewing.

For more information, visit worldbeercup.org.

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