(Portland, OR) – Ground Breaker Brewing, the first dedicated gluten-free brewery in the United States, is very excited to announce a partnership with family-owned and operated Artisan Distributing of California. The first shipment will head to California at the end of this week to be exclusively distributed in the Bay Area and Central Valley. Counties include Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo counties.
“We have been working tirelessly for the last four months to bring our unique beers to California and we’re happy to finally announce this partnership with Artisan,” said James Neumeister, Head of Research & Development. “They are a company who share our values and were highly recommended to us by other breweries we respect. We are thrilled to be expanding into California, it’s something we’ve wanted to do for three years. Artisan is the perfect partner to bring our vision to life."
Expanding availability of their beers wasn’t the only exciting news for Ground Breaker Brewing this week. With their fourth entry in four years, Ground Breaker took home the Silver Medal from the 2015 Great American Beer Festival® in the Gluten-Free Beer category for their IPA No. 5.
Four years, four medals. From left to right. Harvester Brewing Pale Ale (2012 GABF Bronze, Gluten Free), Harvest Brewing IPA No. 1 (2013 GABF Gold, Gluten Free), Ground Breaker IPA No. 5 (2015 GABF Silver, Gluten Free), and Ground Breaker Dark Ale (2014 GABF Gold, Gluten Free).
“American brewers continue to create innovative, flavorful high quality beers. That was on full display at this year’s Great American Beer Festival,” said Chris Swersey, competition manager, Great American Beer Festival. “The Great American Beer Festival continues to showcase the best this country’s brewers have to offer, with the competition growing and becoming ever more competitive. Congratulations to all participants and especially this year’s winners.”
Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the largest national beer competition that recognizes the most outstanding beers produced in the United States “It’s fitting one of our first beers to be put in a 12-ounce can package brought home a medal this year,” Neumeister remarked. Ground Breaker launched 12-ounce package in cans for IPA No. 5 and Olallie Ale in June. “Winning four medals in four years means we have a consistently good product, we are staying ahead of our competition.” Ground Breaker Brewing has won twice as many Great American Beer Festival medals as any other brewery in the Gluten-Free Beer category.