(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Old Irving Brewing, a craft brewery on Chicago’s Northwest Side, took home gold in last week’s World Beer Cup in Las Vegas.
Trevor Rose-Hamblin, the head brewer and co-founder at Old Irving Brewing, didn’t attend the World Beer Cup award ceremony in Las Vegas. He said he watched the stream from his home with his 4-year-old son.
“When it was announced, I freaked out,” he told WBBM. “At this point, he was already in his bedroom, and I’m screaming and jumping, and he ran out of his bedroom and jumped with me. He didn’t know why.”
The brewery won first place out of 326 entries in the most competitive category: hazy or juicy India Pale Ales. He said it took two years to develop what became Beezer.
“We numbered then, so we got up to, like, No. 10 or 11 before finally making an official name for it and creating a label and everything like that,” Rose-Hamblin said. “I worked very hard on it, so I’m very proud of the work that went in.”
Beezer also won gold in a domestic competition, the Great American Beer Festival, five years ago.
In addition to IPAs, Old Irving brews lagers, sour ales and barrel-aged beers.
Other local winners included Brother Chimp in North Aurora, Tonality in Mundelein, Double Clutch in Evanston, and Crystal Lake Brewing in Crystal Lake.
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