Hairless Hare brewery snags 2 national gold medals

Vandalia's Hairless Hare Brewery scored two gold medals in the 2017 Alltech Commonwealth Cup, an international beer competition based in Lexington, Ky.

The two gold medals were awarded to Hairless Hare’s Rye the Hell Knot, and its Cold War. The Vandalia brewery also was awarded a silver medal for its Kings Reserve and a bronze for its Barrel Aged Barley Wine. The craft brewery is located at 38 W. National Road.

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Springboro's Crooked Handle Brewing Co. and the Dayton Beer Company also scored multiple silver and bronze medals, as Dayton-area breweries earned a total of 17 medals for the beers they submitted. A full list of 2017 medal winners is available at us.alltechbrewsandfood.com/commonwealth-cup.

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We reached out to Hairless Hare co-founder Mike Legg about his brewery’s accomplishment, and here was what Mike had to say:

“It’s always nice to have the work you’re so passionate about be recognized and awarded. As a small-batch brewery, anytime we can bring awareness to our beers and our brewery, it’s huge for us.

“All the additional medals brought home by Crooked Handle Brewing Co. and Dayton Beer Company also will help grow awareness of the Dayton beer scene. Dayton is producing amazing beer and we are excited to put our mark on it.”

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More than 50 breweries from four countries submitted 325 beers for the competition. Only 20 of the 325 beers were awarded gold medals. Five breweries scored two golds as Hairless Hare did — and no brewery collected more than two golds.

The beers were evaluated by a panel of judges using Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines, according to an Alltech release.

Dayton-area breweries have done well at this event in previous years. Two years ago, Dayton Beer Company captured the overall "Best of Show" award for its Batch 100 golden strong ale at the Alltech Commonwealth Competition, which was founded in 2013.

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The announcement of the medal winners corresponded with the 4th Annual Alltech Craft Brews & Food Fest held Friday at the Lexington Convention Center.

This year’s best-of-show Commonwealth Cup was awarded to Tears of My Enemies, a scotch barrel-aged milk stout brewed by Monday Night Brewing in Atlanta, Georgia.

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