Excellent, the beer totally deserves that award and it's a great showing for Great Lakes. The EFPorter is probably one of my favorite beers, and I get it whenever I can (it's somewhat expensive, normally $8 for 6). You can find it in food marts all over Ohio.

Last year, "Thirsty Dawg" had a great showing, but Great Lakes isn't on the 2003 list. Here's all the Ohio winners from last year; Ohio Wins Category: 7 Coffee Flavored Beer Silver: Merlin's Black Magic, Rocky River Brewing Co. of Ohio, Rocky River, OH Category: 8 Specialty Beer Gold: California Crisp, Thirsty Dog Brewing Co., Akron, OH Category: 39 American-Style Amber/Red Ale Bronze: Hoppus Maximus, Thirsty Dog Brewing Co., Akron, OH Category: 51 French-and Belgian-Style Saison Silver: Artisan Saison, Rocky River Brewing Co. of Ohio, Rocky River, OH Category: 61 Imperial Stout Bronze: Siberian Night, Thirsty Dog Brewing Co., Akron, OH

In Reply To #20 Yeah, there seems to be a fair amount of turn-over among medal winners year over year. Alaskan Smoked Porter is an exception--I think they've had a 12-year run (I could / should check that factoid). But many beers are one-medal wonders. Makes a cynical person suspect a deliberate sharing of wealth. There certainly is a strong reward in the market-place for having won a medal at GABF. It follows that organizers would be inclined to increase the number of categories, and thus the number of entrants and potential winners. I noticed that this was the first year that all three medals (gold, silver, bronze) were awarded in every style. What do you think happened to Thirsty Dog in 2004 after such a great year in 2003? If they're still crafting great beer, then you could make a good argument that the GABF judges are not a valid proxy for determining the Best (and Worst) Beer States (gotta stay on topic!).

In Reply To #21 Hey, the medals me nothing to me, they reek of politics and marketing. I never look to see if a beer or ale is a mdeal winner. What I have before me gets judged by me, period.

In Reply To #22 Also also never pay much attention to the GABF results. It seems like half of the decent beers around advertise a medal within the last 5 years or so. But how hard is that? If there are 1000 medals awarded in 5 years, and only half are repeated winners, that gives 500 beers medals. Of course, I feel the same way about the Grammies and Oscars too. It's all politics. I wouldn't go far as to say that BAD beers are earning awards, but it doesn't mean they'll be your favorites. Now to contradict myself, I don't feel that looking at the GABF results is a bad way to see what the best states are. But we might want to look at all the beers submitted, and results over a several year period.

In Reply To #23 Of the 5 or 6 GABF winners I sampled this past October in Denver, all held true to the. Granted the "best macro" award or whatever it is called is bullshit, but most micro awards are legit. States that I enjoy beer from: PA CA IN OR VT DE I think that covers most of the top states.

In Reply To #23 Regions, heritage, politics aside, I would drink with the Beerpals any day and be a better person for it. We are all on the same bus. DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

In Reply To #14 Not the final winner take all BS electoral college version. Hate to tell you this, brother, but contrary to the BS that you may have heard in the media, if it were not for the BS electoral college as you put it, which I might add is in the Constitution, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the most heavily populated parts of the country would be deciding who wins the White House, and to hell with everyone else....I am sorry, I had to interject this because it's the truth, I apologize because I know there is a moratorium on political debate on this site, but my initial post regarding this was about how the blue states seem to have the pioneer brewers and the red states don't have as many...I wasn't the won who got full bear political......

hands down you gotta say that california is the best and the worst is missouri for anheisuer busch is there

well i havent looked at the map of my reviews, but i'll go with New York, my home state, and i've had a lot of good stuff from Colorado . Southerners dont seem to do beer well, moonshine is more the specialty.