Results of the KPR 2022!
An international panel of judges selected the best beer in Poland, from a record 754 entries. The Kraft of the Year 2022 was a beverage in the native beer style: Baltic Porter!
In mid-December, the fifteenth edition of our country's largest and oldest Craft Beer Competition was held in Krakow, Poland, organized by the distributor of raw materials for breweries - Browamator, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It was also the largest-ever competition of professional beers, as 119 industry players submitted as many as 754 beers, which were judged in 58 categories! The main prize - Kraft of the Year - or the title for the best beer was won by "Porter 180", which was brewed by brewer Krzysztof Zawlik at the cult Staropolski Brewery from Zduńska Wola.
This year, the Competition was held for the first time in Krakow's Studio Club in parallel and in partnership with the industry conference Professional Brewers Symposium (organized by the Polish Craft Brewers Association). The closing ceremony of both events was the Gala Announcing the Results of the 2022 Craft Beer Competition, hosted from the stage by Tomasz Kopyra, chairman of the jury of judges. The event brought together several hundred representatives of small craft, restaurant and regional breweries from all over the country. Thus, it can be considered a celebration of Polish brewing.
Prior to the Gala, for 3 days an international group of 41 beer judges from Poland, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Panama, USA, Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Ukraine, Netherlands, UK and Spain evaluated a record number of 754 beers, in 58 categories and over 100 subcategories. There were preliminaries, then finals, and the grand jury, among the category winners, considered the best beer of the entire Competition to be "Porter 180," which was brewed by brewer Krzysztof Zawlik at the cult Staropolski Brewery from Zduńska Wola.
- This edition of the competition is unique in many respects. Despite difficult times for the industry, we received a record number of entries from Polish craft breweries, as many as 754 beers! The turnout is gratifying, as we know from judges abroad that competitions around the world have been recording fewer entries in recent months than in previous years. The international grand jury of the competition, which chose Kraft of the Year 2022 from among the gold medal winners, considered the best beer in the style that fully represents Polish brewing, the Baltic Porter. This is a strong, rich, coffee and chocolate bottom-fermented beer, for which Polish brewers have been famous worldwide for years. At the same time, the judges appreciated the other gold medalists after their deliberations, describing the level of the beers as "world-class," said Tomasz Kopyra, head of the jury of the KPR Kraft of the Year 2022.
This evening was also special for the representative of the Cult Brewery Staropolski from Zdunska Wola, who received the Kraft Roku 2022 award from the stage on behalf of the author of the best beer of the competition:
- I would like to thank first of all our brewmaster Krzysztof Zawlik, because thanks to him we brew such a good porter and win such important awards," said Bartosz Margasinski, commercial director of the Cult Staropolski Brewery.
The gala also celebrated 20 years of Browamator, the organizer of Kraft of the Year. The company distributes raw materials for breweries, and has been organizing the Craft Beer Competition since 2007 to promote craft brewing in Poland. The founders and owners - Ziemowit Falat and Przemyslaw Czarnik - summed up this time from the stage, presenting commemorative photos of the company's activities with commentary.
- Since 2002, we have been supplying Polish breweries with the best raw materials and the best equipment, so that they can brew the best beers. A lot has happened over these 20 years: from the first deliveries to hobby brewers, then supplying to professional breweries since 2004. The early days of the company were when we traveled around Poland with promotion and education about brewing. We organized the Homebrew Beer Competition in Zywiec, on the occasion of the Birofilia festival, and from 2007 the Craft Beer Competition together with Andrzej Sadnik, and then from 2014 with Tomasz Kopyra. From the perspective of these 20 years, it's an amazing experience watching how this beer scene in Poland has grown and where it is now. I think also with our great participation," said Ziemowit Fałat, co-owner of Browamator.
The Craft Beer Competition - Kraft of the Year - has been organized by Browamator since 2007 to promote craft brewing. The best beer of the Competition is awarded the title of Kraft of the Year. The head of the competition jury is Tomasz Kopyra, the technical judge is Mateusz Puślecki. The beers are judged by an international group of experts: beer-certified judges, sensory scientists and brewers at the breweries, as well as specialists working in the beer industry for many years. Since 2022, it has been organized in cooperation with the Professional Brewers Symposium and under the auspices of the Polish Craft Brewers Association.
Full results of the Kraft Craft Beer of the Year 2022 Competition, photos from the competition and the awards ceremony are available at kraftroku.pl:https://kraftroku.pl/post/wyniki-konkursu-piw-rzemieslniczych-kraft-roku-2022,27.html