Lone Tree Brewing Wins Third GABF Medal For Mexican Lager
With 284 entries, Light Lager was the third highest entered category at this year’s competition
Photo © Brewers Association
LONE TREE, CO— Lone Tree Brewing is now a proud three-time recipient of medals in the Great American Beer Festival® (GABF) American Light Lager category.
The first of these medals was a silver in 2015. Then in 2017, Lone Tree became the first independently owned craft brewery to win gold in the style category. This lager’s easy-drinking 5.3% ABV and accolades have grown its fan fame over the years, and helped to popularize the Mexican Lager style. As of this summer, customers can now purchase this flagship in a 12-pack in Colorado and Kansas.
With 284 entries, Light Lager was the third highest entered category at this year’s competition and the most entered lager category.
“This category at GABF has exploded in recent years!,” says Lone Tree Founder John Winter. “We are excited to continue to build on the momentum we are seeing with light lagers in the market, and so proud to serve this award winning lager to our patrons as a company flagship.”
Media inquiring about Lone Tree Brewing Company can contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT LONE TREE BREWING COMPANY
Lone Tree Brewing Company was the first brewery in Lone Tree, Colorado that opened near Park Meadows Mall in 2011. The neighborhood-focused, family-friendly brewery and tasting room regularly hosts community events that gather around a stylistically diverse lineup of flagship, seasonal, and limited release beers. Lone Tree’s cans are sold across the state of Colorado, and in select locations in Kansas. Its draft beer is poured at many bars and restaurants across its distribution footprint as well. Find the brewery online at lonetreebrewingco.com.
Lone Tree Brewing Releases Award-Winning Mexican Lager in 12-Packs
Mexican Lager is one of 11-year-old Lone Tree Brewing’s classic recipes that has undoubtedly helped to familiarize the Colorado beer market with this now trending lager style.
LONE TREE, CO— After fielding requests for more of its most popular recipe for years, Lone Tree Brewing is finally giving customers what they desire: 12-packs of Mexican Lager.
Mexican Lager is one of the 11-year-old brewery’s classic recipes that has undoubtedly helped to familiarize the Colorado beer market with this now trending lager style. Lone Tree Brewing first packaged this crowd favorite, formerly known as Summer Siesta on draft, after its 2015 Great American Beer Festival® (GABF) win. It earned a silver medal in the American Style Lager category that year, making Lone Tree the first craft brewery to win in that style category (followed closely by Sycamore Brewing who won a bronze medal in the category). In 2017, Lone Tree Mexican Lager received the gold medal, the first time an independent brewery has come out on top in this style category. The lager got a new look in 2018 when the brewery refreshed its branding.
“We’ve gotten requests to package Mexican Lager in an accessible 12-pack for years now,” says Lone Tree Brewing Sales & Marketing Director Dennis Stack. “We anticipated that craft lagers by the dozen would go on trend across the Colorado beer scene soon, and it seems that time is now… just in time to celebrate Cinco De Mayo and the longer days ahead.”
Mexican Lager 12-packs will join 6-packs of the famed lager on shelves across Colorado and in select locations in Kansas in coming weeks.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Lone Tree Brewing Co.
ABOUT LONE TREE BREWING CO.
Lone Tree Brewing Company was the first brewery to open in Lone Tree, Colorado in Denver’s South Metro area in 2011, and has remained a local staple for a decade. Lone Tree creates community around a stylistically diverse lineup of flagship, seasonal, and limited release beers that are sold in cans and on draft across Colorado, and in select locations in Kansas. Find the brewery online at lonetreebrewingco.com.
What Lone Tree Brewing Company's GABF Win Means For Craft
Given GABF’s rigorous judging process and the competition-heavy category, Mexican Lager’s performance stands as a testament to the passion and prowess of Josh West and the rest of Lone Tree’s team.
Photos by Colin Bridge, Words by Brody Leonard
Since its genesis in 1987, the Great American Beer Festival’s “American-Style Lager” category has been dominated by the goliaths of the beer industry. Pabst Blue Ribbon, Coors Banquet and other such frat party fodder took home the gold year after year. That is until 2017, when the little guys brought out the big guns. This year, Lone Tree Brewing Co. took gold with one well-placed missile: their Mexican Lager.
Straight out of Lone Tree, CO, this small brewery is serving up some game-changing beers. Formerly known as their Summer Siesta Mexican Lager, this brew’s medal marks the first time an independently owned brewery has come out on top in this style category. With movements such as Take Back Craft gaining momentum, this is big news in the brewing community.
That said, it’s not the first time a craft brewery has come close to dethroning the likes of Pabst, Coors and Miller. Lone Tree’s Mexican Lager (under its previous name) earned a silver medal at GABF 2015.
North Carolina-based Sycamore Brewing has also had success in this style category. Their Sun Grown Fresh Craft Lager earned bronze this year, as did their Southern Girl Lager in 2015. In fact, their 2015 bronze medal prompted them to collaborate with Lone Tree Brewing on an Imperial Pale Lager. The result, Breakthrough IPL, was a celebration of the two breweries almost unseating Pabst that year.
This year, almost is no longer. While Lone Tree’s head brewer, Josh West, humbly attributes the win to a “lucky alignment of the judges’ tastes that day,” happenstance seems unlikely.
Crisp and crushable, Mexican Lagers have been a trending style in the craft beer world. There is no specific Mexican Lager category at GABF— yet— and accordingly, this style is judged under the umbrella of American-Style Lager.
This broad category attracted 75 entries this year. Lone Tree’s victory amounts to more than the gustatory whims of a panel of beer-drinking experts.
After all, the judging process at GABF is an intensive process. Without knowing the beer’s brand or brewery, judges sit down and taste brews to determine three world-class beers in each category. The GABF Awards Philosophy states that a beer must display “the proper balance of taste, aroma and appearance” in order to be awarded a gold medal.
According to the U.S. Brewers Association, an exemplary American-Style Lager should boast a straw or golden hue. Malt sweetness should be very low, as should hop aroma and overall bitterness. In short, “American Lagers [should be] very clean and crisp, and aggressively carbonated.”
Given GABF’s rigorous judging process and the competition-heavy category, Mexican Lager’s performance stands as a testament to the passion and prowess of Josh West and the rest of Lone Tree’s team.
“We were one medal away from winning Small Brewery of the Year,” remarked West. “This year’s medals are immensely motivating — we’re very excited to see what we can do at next year’s Great American Beer Festival.”
Lone Tree Brewing Wins Two Great American Beer Festival Medals for Mexican Lager and Hop Zombie IPA
Lone Tree Brewing Company was awarded a gold medal for its Mexican Lager and a silver medal for its Hop Zombie IPA at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival®.
Photos by Colin Bridge
LONE TREE, CO — Lone Tree Brewing Company was awarded a gold medal for its Mexican Lager and a silver medal for its Hop Zombie IPA at the 2017 Great American Beer Festival® in the American Style Lager or Light Lager category and the Imperial Red Ale categories, respectively.
When Lone Tree’s Mexican Lager, formerly known as Summer Siesta, won a silver medal in the American Style Lager category in 2015, Lone Tree became the first independently owned craft brewery to win in the style category (followed closely by Sycamore Brewing who won a bronze medal in the category). “Our gold medal is a monumental achievement. It speaks to our quality, consistency and flavor,” says Lone Tree Head Brewer Josh West.
Mexican Lager is distributed year-round in canned 6-packs across Colorado and in select locations in Kansas and Nebraska.
The cult-followed Hop Zombie IPA comes out just once each year, during which time it has only been available on-draft and in limited bombers out of the brewery’s tasting room in Lone Tree, Colorado.
“These medals express to the beer world that we are relevant, passionate and committed to producing the highest quality craft beer possible,” adds West.
“The Mexican Lager was our way to prove to the beer consumer that sometimes less is more,” says Lone Tree Sales Director Bridgette Geiger. “The Hop Zombie was our way of saying if you take quality ingredients and craft them just right— and have a little fun in the process— good things happen.”
For more information about the winning beers or with any other media inquiries about Lone Tree Brewing Co., contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.
ABOUT LONE TREE BREWING COMPANY
Lone Tree Brewing Company was the first brewery in Lone Tree, Colorado that opened near Park Meadows Mall in 2011. The neighborhood-focused, family-friendly brewery and tasting room regularly hosts community events that gather around a stylistically diverse lineup of flagship, seasonal, and limited release beers. Lone Tree's cans and 22-ounce bombers are sold across the state of Colorado, as well as Kansas and Nebraska. Its draft beer is poured at many bars and restaurants in its distribution footprint as well. Find the brewery online at lonetreebrewingco.com.