Recently, the 2022 medalists in the Best of Craft Beer Awards were announced and Milwaukee's Gathering Place Brewing has earned a silver medal in the Rye Beers category.
The award was earned for Ryed of the Valkyries, the Riverwest brewery's dunkel lager, which it describes as, "our gentle nod to the classic Bavarian dunkel with the addition of three types of rye malt giving it a slight bready spiciness. Honey and toasted bread round out the flavor enhanced by a slight fruity pear and herbal hoppy aroma."
"We're thrilled that Ryed of the Valkyries Dunkel Lager won a medal from the Best of Craft Beer competition," says Gathering Place founder and owner Joe Yeado. "And we're especially excited that one of our lagers brought home some hardware. This is one of the largest beer competitions in the U.S. and we're humbled that the judges – who are fellow brewers – chose Ryed of the Valkyries as one of the best rye beers in the country."
The medal is especially impressive considering the challenges of brewing with rye.
"Brewing with rye can be difficult and making lagers is challenging. Combining the two to make a rye lager takes a tremendous amount of skill and I credit Corey Blodgett, our head brewer, with the vision and technique to execute this beer at such a high level," says Yeado.
"The fact that this beer – crisp and delicate at 4.8 percent ABV – stood up to bigger, stronger beers and won a medal is a testament to its quality."
Yeado adds that Ryed was an immediate hit with area drinkers and Gathering Place has continued to brew – and to tinker and improve – the beer since it was introduced.
"We first made Ryed of the Valkyries shortly after we opened in 2017 and it quickly became a fan favorite," says Yeado. "We refined the recipe with each batch, though we haven't made it since April 2020.
"When we brought it back in November we were excited to release Ryed in cans for the first time. We had only planned to make one batch, but it sold so quickly that we knew we needed to make more right away."
While Gathering Place does all styles well, it is especially successful at creating balanced lagers, which requires skill.
"We love lagers and have chosen to dedicate a significant amount of our production to these wonderful styles," says Yeado.
"We love lager so much that we put on a lager only beer festival each year called Lager & Friends. Now in its fourth year, the festival will take place June 4 and feature 60-plus lagers from breweries across the country. Tickets are currently on sale and we look forward to pouring our award-winning Ryed of the Valkyries and other lagers at the festival."
The Best of Craft Beer Awards drew 2,721 entries in 55 categories from 482 breweries in 49 states. The 165 medals were based on the decisions of 120 judges.
"This was a super competitive year, and we saw a second Wisconsin location rise up and claim a medal," says Miles Wilhelm of Original Gravity Events, which runs the awards.
One other Wisconsin brewery medaled, as Appleton's Stone Arch earned a bronze in the Scottish Ale category.
This is a beer I pick up whenever I'm in the Fox Cities area and it has become a summer campfire favorite for me.
Congratulations to both breweries!
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
