Boulevard Pilsner earns gold at the World Beer Cup

The world is learning what Kansas City already knows: Boulevard is good enough to win gold. The brewery’s Pilsner took gold in the American-Style Specialty Lager Category at the 2010 World Beer Cup.

“We’re still soaking it in — this is our first win,” says Jeremy Ragonese, Boulevard’s director of marketing.

The World Beer Cup is the largest beer competition in the world. This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries submitted 3,330 beers in 90 categories. The beers are judged on taste, aroma, appearance and whether they are reflective of a particular style. Boulevard submitted 13 different styles of beer, and the judging took place in Chicago on April 6 and 7.

“This is the Olympics of beer, and it’s a huge thing for a craft beer to win in the category that we won,” says Ragonese.

The Pilsner was placed in a category with 18 other entries, which included ice beers and malt liquor. The silver went to Mickey’s Malt Liquor and the bronze went to Colt 45. It’s a category not typically won by craft brewers because lagers have long been the bread and butter of the major brewers in America — Mickey’s is made by Miller and Colt 45 is from Pabst. 

“This beer was 14 years in the making,” Ragonese says, “and I think this win validates the brewer’s devotion to producing a Pilsner.”