Wormtown Brewery in Worcester was named the Grand National Champion of the U.S. Beer Open in Atlanta on July 4. Wormtown beat out nationally known breweries such as Stone Brewing Company of California and Deschuetes Brewing Company of Oregon, which tied for second place.

In the competition, Wormtown won gold medals for its Hopulence (Imperial IPA), Be Happy (American IPA) and Biere De Miele (Belgian/French Ale). It also won a silver medal for its ALS Farmhouse (Belgian/French Saison).

"It wouldn't be a stretch to say everyone at Wormtown Brewery was surprised," said brewer Ben Roesch. "It's only our second time entering. We're certainly not known for Belgian beers - we really haven't done too many of them - and to have push us over the top to win the competition was kind of cool."

In other beer news, on Monday, the Harpoon Brewery announced it has teamed up with the Pan-Mass Challenge to brew a special beer.

Billy Starr, the founder and executive director of the PMC, went to Harpoon and helped Jamie Schier, Harpoon quality control manager/brewer, to brew the PMC beer. It�s a kolsch style ale brewed with coriander and lemon zest. It is also brewed with a single hop, the Wakatu hop from Belgium, which adds tropical fruit flavors to beers.

"It was a really cool day," said Schier. "This is my 12th year riding [in the PMC]. I originally got involved in the PMC because I had a college roommate who unsuccessfully battled cancer and died at 32."

Harpoon has been sponsoring the PMC for 16 years. This year, the PMC beer will be on draft at the Harpoon Beer Hall July 21 through July 28, and $1 from each pint purchased will be donated to the PMC.

The rest of the beer will be brought to the finish line of the PMC for riders to drink after completing the 100-plus-mile bike ride.

I�m always on the lookout for what�s new in liquor stores, and this week the ultimate mixed 12-pack is scheduled to hit the shelves - the Sierra Nevada Beer Camp across America.

The pack features a dozen different beers - 10 bottles and two cans. Each beer is a collaboration beer, brewed by Sierra Nevada and 12 other breweries.

The collaborations involve breweries from around the country, such as Cigar City Brewing in Florida, Russian River Brewing Company in California and 3 Floyds Brewing Company in Indiana. The styles include a maibock, a coffee milk stout, an altbier and a Scottish ale.

The mixed pack should be in shelves this week, and all 12, as well as all of the breweries, and many others, will be traveling around the country as part of the Beer Camp Across America festivals. The New England festival will be held on Aug. 1, from 5 to 10 p.m., at Thompson's Point in Portland, Maine. Tickets are available at www.sierranevada.com/beercamp.

Email Norman Miller at nmiller@wickedlocal.com or call 508-626-3823. Check out the Beer Nut blog at blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut. Follow him on Twitter at @realbeernut. Also check out "Norman Miller, The Beer Nut" on Facebook.