Beer Star Awards?
Via John Foyston, I see that Deschutes has won another busload of awards from a tasting festival--The European Beer Star Awards. Who? The 21st Century may go down as the "awards" century. In a version of Andy Warhol's prophesy, we might say that in the future, everyone is destined to win 15 awards.
It's not just limited to beer, of course--literary awards, film and TV, music, food, liquor, wine; they all now have an ever-greater number of awards. (I am a culprit: look for my Beervana beer of the year later this month.) The reason is that awards presenters burnish their own image while createing excitement and interest for their organization. Breweries no doubt like it because everyone loves winning. The ultimate effect, however, is that if everyone is honored, no one is. The net effect of all these awards is that the more we see the results, the less we care.
So now we have the European Beer Star Awards, which has apparently been around just four years. Its bona fides seem good--it's hosted by a couple of Munich breweries and the association of small and independent breweries of Europe. Based on the entrants (62% German) and winners (visual inspection confirms that the majority--or at least a plurality--were from "Deutschsland"), EBSA appears to be a mainly Teutonic affair, however. It featured 575 beers from 28 countries--though it's not clear how many breweries that represents. Boston Beer was the big American winner, with eight medals, but Oregon did great, too. We had six winners, including three golds for Deschutes. Rogue and BridgePort also took home some metal. A pdf of the winners list is here.
Make of it what you will. Cheers to the winners!
It's not just limited to beer, of course--literary awards, film and TV, music, food, liquor, wine; they all now have an ever-greater number of awards. (I am a culprit: look for my Beervana beer of the year later this month.) The reason is that awards presenters burnish their own image while createing excitement and interest for their organization. Breweries no doubt like it because everyone loves winning. The ultimate effect, however, is that if everyone is honored, no one is. The net effect of all these awards is that the more we see the results, the less we care.
So now we have the European Beer Star Awards, which has apparently been around just four years. Its bona fides seem good--it's hosted by a couple of Munich breweries and the association of small and independent breweries of Europe. Based on the entrants (62% German) and winners (visual inspection confirms that the majority--or at least a plurality--were from "Deutschsland"), EBSA appears to be a mainly Teutonic affair, however. It featured 575 beers from 28 countries--though it's not clear how many breweries that represents. Boston Beer was the big American winner, with eight medals, but Oregon did great, too. We had six winners, including three golds for Deschutes. Rogue and BridgePort also took home some metal. A pdf of the winners list is here.
Make of it what you will. Cheers to the winners!