Seattle's Burke-Gilman Brewing earns top honors as America's Alpha King

Huge congrats to 2020 Alpha King champion, Burke-Gilman Brewing of Seattle. It’s not really part of the Great American Beer Festival, but it happens at the same time and the winner is usually announced at the GABF. (Read our previous post about this year’s GABF winners.) This year the Alpha King winner was Burke-Gilman Brewing of Seattle. The Alpha King Challenge is a competition sponsored by Yakima Chief Hops and Three Floyds Brewing to determine the most well-balanced and drinkable hop-forward beer in America. It is a highly, highly coveted award.

In the 22-year history of the award, this is only the second time a Washington brewery has earned the title Alpha King. In 2006, Boundary Bay Brewery won for its Imperial IPA. Among the other winners of this contest over the years, the likes of Pliny the Elder (Russian River Brewing), Two Hearted Ale (Bell’s Brewing), and 2×4 IPA (Melvin Brewing/Thai Me Up).

Burke-Gilman Brewing also won a GABF gold medal this year. The beer that won the Alpha King award was not the same beer for which the brewery won the GABF gold medal. The Alpha King winner was Hopotheosis, a 7.1 percent ABV New England IPA. The beer that won the GABF gold medal was The Hopsplainer, a hazy Imperial IPA. To be clear, they won two of the most esteemed “hoppy beer awards” for two different beers. Impressive.

Fresh Hopotheosis — a juicy fresh hop DIPA with Citra, Mosaic, Idaho 7, Strata, and Galaxy hops.

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