Bloomington-Normal's largest brewery has won a gold medal at this year's Great American Beer Festival.
The award for Destihl comes as brewing continues to boom nationwide. The number of breweries in the U.S. has grown by 53% in the last five years, according to Destihl spokesperson Neil Reinhart.
"A lot of people thought COVID would slow that growth. It may have slowed the rate, but not the trend. It is a super-competitive industry," said Reinhart.
In 2006, there were just 1,400 U.S. breweries. In 2016, There were 5,700. In 2020, there were 8,700 breweries, said Reinhart.
The gold medal came for Destihl's hazy IPA called Tour Bus, which Destihl said is brewed with hops that provide "juicy mimosa-like notes of tropical and citrus fruits and berries." There were 427 entries in that category, the most of any of the 97 categories covering 175 beer styles evaluated at the festival. It also required five rounds of judging with separate panels of tasters.
The company also won a bronze medal in a similar category of Imperial India Pale Ales. So-called "Imperial" ales have a higher alcohol content by volume (ABV).
Other Illinois breweries also did well in the IPA competition.
"There is a long history of craft brewing in Illinois, and there are so many great breweries producing awesome beers that it just pushes all of us to keep raising the bar, making all of us better,” said Matt Potts, Destihl's CEO. “Our Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, one of the biggest state guilds in the country, also stresses upon its members much importance on producing quality beers brewed with pride in Illinois."
About half of Destihl's business comes from so-called "sour" ales and beers. Reinhart said those also continue to sell well. But Hazy IPAs are the company's big growth category, accounting for 25% of Destihl's sales.
"Tastes do shift pretty fast. IPAs continue to be very strong. IPAs in total are still by far the biggest segment of the craft beer industry. Hazy IPAs are a sub-segment of IPAs, but those are the fastest-growing segment," said Reinhart.
Reinhart said the other end of the beer spectrum, lighter easier to drink beers, is growing, too.
Reinhart said Destihl sales have grown 20% or more in each of the last few years, adding the Bloomington-Normal based company is working on new beers in 2022. He said there are more Deadhead brands coming and other things Destihl hopes will grab people's attention.
