Bootstrap’s Wreak Havoc wins another bronze

Bootstrap Brewing Company’s beer, Wreak Havoc, claimed its second bronze medal of the year at the 2018 US Open Beer Championship, held earlier this month in Oxford, Ohio. Bootstrap is based out of Niwot, with a second location in Longmont.

Open to both professional and home brewers, this year’s competition included more than 6,300 entries in 117 categories, judged by a “blind” panel of experts from the U.S., Canada and England.

Bootstrap’s “smooth and delicious” amber was awarded third place in the Imperial Red Ale category, along with Oskar Blues’ G’Knight and Peticolas Brewing’s Velvet Hammer, which tied for gold. Wreak Havoc also picked up the bronze in the IRA category at the 2018 World Beer Cup back in May. Oskar Blues is located in southwest Longmont.

Other local winners at the US Open include Louisville’s Liquid Mechanics, which won three medals overall and came in eighth in the Top Breweries rankings. The Dallas-based Peticolas picked up a total of five medals (three gold, two silver) to capture the competition’s top prize, Grand National Champion.

“We’re always thrilled to win awards as it’s always a confirmation that our team is making great beer,” Bootstrap co-owner Leslie Kaczeus said. “All of the winning breweries are turning out amazing products and it’s always an honor to be listed with so many great breweries.”

With competition season over for the summer, Kaczeus and husband Steve (Bootstrap’s brewmaster and co-owner) are gearing up for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), which is returning to the Colorado Convention Center in September. The Kaczeus’s are sending their widest selection of beers yet, including Stick’s Pale Ale, which has also won two awards in 2018, a silver at the North American Beer Awards and gold at the Los Angeles International Beer Competition.

“This year we get to enter eight beers as we have two locations,” Leslie Kaczeus said. “We are entering 1956 Golden Ale, Chillax Pineapple Gold, Stick’s Pale Ale, Flagstaff Amber, LushPuppy IPA, Wreak Havoc Imperial Red, BMF Red IPA, and NutStrap Imperial Stout.”

Organizers expect more than 800 breweries and 4,000 beers at the annual event, which has become the biggest beer festival/competition in the country since its debut in 1982. Wreak Havoc has medaled there twice, with a silver in 2015 and a bronze in 2016.