Taking place from August 12th - 16th, 2014, in London, England, the Great British Beer Festival is Britain's biggest beer festival, and the amount of cask ale entries from American brewers increases each year. Project Dank beat out 100 other cask ales from the United States to claim the prestigious Michael Jackson Award, named for the influential beer writer who passed away in 2007.
"This is one of the greatest honors we have received here at La Cumbre. Our team of brewing professionals have been awarded many medals in the United States, but to send one of our casks over to the biggest festival in the UK and to win this award... it's just incredible. Our entire staff has been heavily influenced by the work of the late Michal Jackson, and to receive the medal bearing his name is one of the greatest achievements of my career" said Head Brewer, Daniel Jaramillo.
Project Dank is an American-style India Pale Ale that changes with every batch. As the brewery describes it "Project Dank is just that; a project. It is an ever changing expression of our hoppiest endeavors. Each recipe is different, featuring different hops and hopping techniques. One thing will remain common..............HOP INSANITY." Since first brewing this beer just a year ago, Project Dank has been the most sought after beer from NM, racking up a bronze medal at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival and being crowned The National IPA Champion in the annual competition held by the Brewing News.
"So much time, thought, and resources go into sourcing and selecting the hops that we use in our India Pale Ales, that to be recognized once again for them is incredibly rewarding. Keeping inventory of over 40 different varieties of hops from 10 different countries is challenging to say the least, but it's achievements like these that remind us that it's all worth it. Words don't do justice to how proud I am of our brewing staff," added Master Brewer and Founder Jeff Erway
Project Dank is available in 22 oz. bottles and on draft at the La Cumbre Brewing Co. tap room as well as in and around Albuquerque and Santa Fe. There will also be a special tapping of cask conditioned Project Dank on Friday, August 29th at the La Cumbre tap room.
La Cumbre Brewing Co. was founded in December 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Jeff and Laura Erway. The company brews more than 60 brands of beer representing an enormous variety of styles. In just 3 years, La Cumbre has been honored with 4 medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and 3 medals at the World Beer Cup, including 3 medals in the extremely competitive American-style IPA category with 2 different beers. La Cumbre is New Mexico's fastest growing production brewery and is distributed throughout the state as well as on the Western Slope of Colorado.