Piney River Brewing recently two bronze medals at the US Open Beer Championship.
The annual contest held in Oxford, Ohio, features more than 5,000 bears from around the world entered in 90 categories. The contest is open to professional brewers and home brewers. Judges hail from England, Canada and the U.S.
Black Walnut Wheat placed in the “American Wheat Dark” category. The beer is dark in color and brewed with hand harvested black walnuts. The beer features an aroma of black walnuts and finishes with a black walnut flavor.
It medaled again after receiving a silver medal in 2015.
“No matter where it’s sold, Black Walnut Wheat is always our most popular beer,” said Joleen Senter Durham, co-founder of Piney River Brewing. “It’s easy to drink, and the black walnuts in the beer provide an interesting aroma and flavor profile.”
Bronzeback Pale Ale won the bronze in the “International Pale Ale” category. The American-style pale ale is pale yellow in color and features a lot of flavor and aroma from multiple hop additions during brewing and after fermentation is complete. Galaxy and Citra are the featured hops in Bronzeback Pale Ale.
It is the first award for the beer.
“Bronzeback is one of my favorite beers to brew and to drink,” said Brian Durham, head brewer and co-founder of Piney River Brewing. “This beer is crisp in flavor and has great hop aroma.”
Amber Powell, lead brewer at Piney River Brewing, oversaw the production and packaging of both beers that placed in the competition.
“It thrills Joleen and I to bring more recognition to craft beer being made right here in the Ozarks,” Brian Durham said. “Amber and the staff here are consistently turning out great beer.”
Piney River Brewing is located on the Durham’s 80-acre farm, operating out of a restored 75-year old barn and a larger barn. Brian and Joleen Durham founded the brewery in 2010 with a 10-gallon brewing system.
In 2015, Piney River Brewing produced more than 2,200 barrels of beer and completed a $1.2 million expansion on the farm, allowing the brewery to increase production with a new brew house, canning line and cold storage.
Piney River Brewing operates a tasting room that is open to the public every weekend. The brewery has distribution throughout most of Missouri and Arkansas.