Almost 2200 beers competed for coveted awards

After two days of intensive tasting, the winners of this year's European Beer Star were decided. A total of 2168 beers from 40 countries competed in 73 categories for the coveted awards. These include internationally known beer types such as Pilsner, wheat beer or India Pale Ale, but also specialities such as wood barrel-aged strong beers, Belgian Dubbel or sour beers were tasted and judged. The special thing about it: only the best three beers per category are awarded gold, silver and bronze.

A 130-member international jury of experts, consisting of brewmasters, trade journalists, beer sommeliers and other beer experts, evaluated the submitted beers in a two-day blind tasting in early August purely according to sensory criteria - appearance, smell and taste. In addition, varietal characteristics were objectively assessed.

Stefan Stang, General Manager of the Verband Private Brauereien Bayern e.V., is extremely satisfied with this year's edition of the beer competition: "Despite the difficult environment in which the international brewing industry currently finds itself, we are proud to have cracked the mark of over 2,000 beers submitted again this year. We thank everyone who contributed to the success of the 19th edition of our European Beer Star and congratulate all the successful breweries who were able to bring home one or even more awards."

International field of participants

Although the name suggests it, the European Beer Star is not a "European championship" of the best beers. Rather, the focus is on beer styles of European origin. Almost two thirds of all beers entered come from abroad. "We are delighted with the outstanding response from a total of 40 countries. The participating breweries spared no effort to send in their beers on time for the tasting despite the currently disrupted supply chains," says a pleased project manager Kilian Kittl. Especially from Italy and Austria, the organisers were able to record new registrations.

The 219 awards of this year's European Beer Star go to a total of 21 countries around the globe. With a total of 82 awards, including 32 gold, 27 silver and 23 bronze, German breweries lead the medal table of the European Beer Star 2022. Italy came in second with a total of 35 medals (10 gold, 9 silver, 16 bronze), followed by the US breweries, which won a total of 25 of the coveted awards (8 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze) across the "big pond". The Austrian breweries convinced the expert jury a total of 18 times (6 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze), only closely followed by Belgium with 15 awards (4 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze). For the first time in the history of the European Beer Star, Ireland brought a gold medal to the "Emerald Isle".

Shower of medals for breweries from Germany, Austria and Italy

With three gold, two silver and one bronze award, Birra Perugia from the Italian province of Umbria was the most successful brewery in this year's competition. But medals also rained down for the Upper Bavarian brewery Camba Bavaria (2 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze) and the Stiegl brewery from Salzburg in Austria (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze). In addition, a complete set of medals went to Batzen-Bräu in Bolzano, to Ottakringer Brewery in Vienna and to Birrificio Vetra in Milan.

Schneider Weisse and Schlossbrauerei Unterbaar once again proved their expertise in wheat beer - three awards each went to Kelheim and Baar for wheat beer specialities of various kinds. Of a total of 27 awards in the wheat beer categories, 21 went to Germany. However, the gold medal in the category "South-German Style Hefeweizen Hell" went to the Chinese brewery "Urbrew" from Handan, thus causing a surprise.

Bamberg-based Hellerbräu, better known as "Schlenkerla", secured double gold in the "Smoke Beer" and "Strong Smoke Beer" categories. Löwenbrauerei Passau was not only successful with the best "German-Style Helles", but also won a bronze award in the category "German-Style Dunkel". Gold for the best "German-Style Pilsner" went to the family-owned brewery M. Ketterer from Hornberg in the Black Forest.

New categories pick up on trends in the brewing industry

Just as the international beer market is constantly changing, the European Beer Star is also constantly evolving. This year, for example, two new categories were introduced. In the category "Italian Grape Ale" - a beer style invented in Italy that also uses grapes or grape juice - all three awards went to the home country of this style. In addition, "flavoured or pastry stouts", which are enjoying increasing popularity worldwide, were judged for the first time at the European Beer Star 2022. It is hardly surprising, then, that gold and bronze went to the USA and silver to China in this category.

New categories pick up on trends in the brewing industry

Just as the international beer market is constantly changing, the European Beer Star is also constantly evolving. This year, for example, two new categories were introduced. In the category "Italian Grape Ale" - a beer style invented in Italy that also uses grapes or grape juice - all three awards went to the home country of this style. In addition, "flavoured or pastry stouts", which are enjoying increasing popularity worldwide, were judged for the first time at the European Beer Star 2022. It is hardly surprising, then, that gold and bronze went to the USA and silver to China in this category.

The European Beer Star 2022 took into account the growing trend towards alcohol-free beers with four independent categories for alcohol-free beers for the first time. The awards in these categories go to Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the USA and Spain.

After the extremely successful premiere of the "Free-Style Beer" category last year, this category again enjoyed great interest from the participating breweries. In addition to outstanding beer quality, storytelling about the respective beer plays a central role in this special category. With a creative idea, technically and tastefully perfectly implemented, paired with refreshing storytelling, a tea beer by SokchoBeer from South Korea was able to convince the final jury the most.