Winners of the LongShot and Golden Beer competitions

Last week the winners were announced of two prestigious brewing competitions in Israel:

The Samuel Adams LongShot competition for home-brewers and the

Golden Beer 2017 for commercial craft brewers.

13th Annual Samuel Adams LongShot

Sergei Lekach (center) is awarded
Best in Show at the
Samuel Adams LongShot competition.

The Samuel Adams LongShot contest is the oldest in Israel for home-brewers and it has given impetus to several of them to take their brewing to the next level -- whatever that may be.  It's sponsored by Samuel Adams Beer in Boston and Tempo Beer Industries in Israel, and is under the professional direction of the Beer-D center in Tel Aviv.

I'll just list the winners here because 1) they haven't been announced in English yet, and 2) I haven't tasted any of them. 

Best in Show

Coffee Oatmeal Stout -- Sergei Lekach

Pale Ale

First:  American Pale Ale -- Yair Livne, Yair's Beer

Second:  Sweet Blond -- Sagi Schonewald, Opi's Brewery 

Third:  Oceanside -- EzRa

Dark Ale

First:  Coffee Oatmeal Stout -- Sergei Lekach

Second:  Red Red -- Amir Shalev

Third:  Dab-Lin -- Emanuel Zeidman and Avi Riji

Lager

First:  Czech Pilsner -- Boaz Lanner

Second:  Black Bavaria -- Emanuel (Mano) Peled

Third:  Smoked Lager -- Nachum Haver

Freestyle

First:  Beet Beer -- Nachum Haver

Second:  Ad Hoc -- Nimrod Rotem

Third:  My First Berliner Weisse -- Motti Tzukerman

Golden Beer 2017

From the eldest to the youngest: The first Golden Beer competition awarded 26 prizes to 97 beers that took part.  (That's better than a one-in-four chance of winning something.)  These had to be commercial beers, that is, produced by brewers with a legal production license.  The organizer was the Ben Ami Studio, the same agency which produces the annual BEERS Exhibit in Tel Aviv.  

Cynics would say that the organizers were getting in on the wave of beer competitions which seem to be springing up all over the place.  I'm not (much of) a cynic, but I naturally recoil from calling the winners, as the competition's PR did, "the best beers in Israel."  A little humility is in order, as is a little space for beer lovers to decide for themselves.

That being said, the winners are still to be congratulated for being judged by a jury of their peers and succeeding.    

Here, then, are the winners of the Golden Beer 2017 competition:

Light Lager

First:  Pils -- Jem's

Second:  Pils -- Sheeta

Second:  Pils -- Buster's

Amber / Dark Lager

First:  Double Bock -- Bazelet (Golan Brewery)

Second: Dark Lager --Jem's

Pale Ale

First:  Patriot -- Dancing Camel

Second:  Pale Ale -- Shapiro

Third:  Pale Ale -- Mosco

IPA

First: Gorgeous New England -- Joya

Second:  IPA -- Sheeta

Third:  Pressure Drop -- HaShachen

Wheat

First:  Wheat -- Mosco

Second:  Wheat -- Shapiro

Third:  Wheat -- Sheeta

Belgian Style

First:  Red Belgian Ale -- Barzel

Second:  Belgian Tripel -- Emek Ha'ela

Porter / Stout

First:  Dark Beer -- Malka

Second:  Midnight Stout -- Dancing Camel

Third:  Oatmeal Stout -- Shapiro
Third:  Porter Alon -- Negev
Third: Stout -- Jem's

Flavored Beer

First:  Smoked Beer -- Mosco

Second:  Gordon Beach Blond -- Dancing Camel

Third: Jack's Winter Ale -- Shapiro
Third:  Olde Papa -- Dancing Camel

Gluten-Free
First:  Sweet Cider -- Buster's