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Streaker and Puma Win Medals

We're continually entering our beers and ciders into competitions throughout the year to see how our suds stack up. Over the past few days we’ve received incredibly exciting and equally as humbling news: Puma won a gold medal at the U.S. Open Beer Championship for the International Style Pilsner category; and Streaker, our crowdsourced Rye IPA, also won gold in the American Pale Ale category at the Indiana State Fair Brewers’ Cup.

The U.S. Open Beer Championship is one of the largest beer competitions in the world and received almost 5,000 beers in 90 different styles this year. “With that huge of a field it’s tough to win a medal of any sort. And when breweries like Firestone Walker and Melvin [Brewing] are placing, you know it’s a big deal,” says our Head Brewer, Jim Matt (pictured below with Dow Scoggins of the U.S. Open Beer Championship).

Each medal was distinctly awesome in its own right.

For Puma, we did a series of experiments throughout the colder months, “and from all of those iterations,” Jim continued, “we landed on a flavor profile we really enjoyed, and to get a medal like this is hugely affirming.”

Streaker, which won gold in an incredibly competitive style subset, is so exciting not just because it's our newest beer in cans, but also a crowdsourced beer, meaning we let the people choose the name, style, hops and malts. Jim even added, “The public involvement in the recipe formulation was really awesome and we drink Streaker quite a bit internally. It serves as a great counterpoint to Truth.”

This recognition swells us with pride and gratitude. We’ve worked hard to continually tighten consistency and quality, especially with our lab up and running. Jim finishes, “It’s awesome to see the brewers coming in everyday with a smile on their face, and leaving with one just as big. There aren’t too many industries where you get to truly enjoy what you’re making at the end of the day.”

For a bit of nostalgia, Jim added that not only did he work for Sun King and live in Indiana, but he even used to compete as a home brewer in the Indiana Brewers’ Cup — and now he acts as one of the judges.                                                       

Both beers are currently available in 6 packs. Puma will be around until early August and Streaker until late September. Thanks for reading and being a part of the journey!