Wiseacre Brewing Co. struck gold in Colorado this weekend, winning top honors for its 99-calorie Sky Dog Premium Lager at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival.
Sky Dog, 4% ABV, which was released just one year ago, captured the gold medal in the contest’s American-Style Light Lager category, beating out 156 other entries.
The medal is the Memphis craft brewery’s first-ever gold at GABF, which is the premier beer competition in the United States.
The win comes a decade after Wiseacre’s top-selling Tiny Bomb won a bronze medal in the German-Style Pilsener category in 2014.
It’s the first gold medal win at GABF by a Memphis brewery since 2011, when Boscos won gold for its Hefeweizen — one of six gold medals won by the trailblazing brewpub since 2000.
“We are over the moon about this news! My brother Davin fell in love with light lagers long before we opened in 2013, which I think was very ahead-of-his-time for someone who finished brewing school in 2008, just as heavier beers were starting to gain momentum,” said Kellan Bartosch, who co-founded Wiseacre with his brother, Davin Bartosch.
“Something unique about making Sky Dog is our desire to connect with non-traditional craft beer consumers. This beer is 99 calories and the price point hits below craft and in line with import beers. The GABF medal tells a story about what our country’s best beer palates think. But if people who prefer macro beers and imports give this a try, I think they’ll be convinced that craft breweries can make a quality product for their tastes, too.”
His brother, Davin, added: “There are so many lists and competitions that it’s hard to know what matters, but GABF is the biggest and most important one in our country. Not only that, but this category had the 6th most entries and unlike almost all of the other categories, in this one we are competing with macro and domestic brands.”
More on Wiseacre’s Sky Dog
Sky Dog — a clean, fuller-flavored light lager — is brewed with North American two-row malted barley, American corn, and Czech Republic Saaz hops.
Its release last year was part of a campaign by Wiseacre to promote lower-alcohol, lower-calorie craft beer options.
“Part of my mission with Tiny Bomb was to make something with lower specs in terms of tiny calories, but make it a flavor bomb. I definitely recognize that Tiny Bomb is too much for some people who enjoy beer, but this just shows that you can have something that tastes better and still hits those marks,” Davin Bartosch said.
“Sky Dog is lower in calories than most ‘light beers’ out there, but our beer design and execution from our team has created something with a surprising amount of body and flavor with a distinctly Wiseacre zippy finish. We have never frowned upon people who like domestic beers, but now we have something that can not only replace what is in their fridge, but can exceed their expectations of light beer.”
Sky Dog is currently available in Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi and Tennessee, but Wiseacre is planning to launch in additional states soon.
Wiseacre’s other lower-calorie, year-round beers include Tiny Bomb American Pilsner(129 calories, 4.5% ABV), Irusu Rice Lager (99 calories, 4% ABV), Beach Within Reach Berliner Weisse (139 calories, 4.2% ABV), Air Bath Session IPA (149 calories, 5% ABV) and Memphis Sands Helles Lager (149 calories, 5.1% ABV).
About the 2024 GABF competition
The 20224 edition of the GABF competition awarded medals to breweries and (for the first time) cider producers in 102 categories. There were 8,836 commercial beer entries, 233 commercial cider entries, 95 collaboration entries, and 52 pro-am entries.
A total of 273 breweries and cideries earned 326 medals in the contest.
Judging occurred in three phases over seven days and included brewery entries from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
In addition to Wiseacre, other Tennessee brewery winners in the 2024 GABF competition included:
- Brett Beer category | Gold medal: First Release Part 2, Peaceful Side Brewing, Maryville, TN
- Brown Porter category | Gold medal: Don’t Feed the Bears, Gatlinburg Brewing Co., Sevierville, TN
- Irish-Style Red Ale category | Silver medal: Engine 402, Orange Hat Brewing Co., Knoxville, TN
- Historical Beer category | Bronze medal: Kentucky Common, Blackhorse Pub & Brewery, Alcoa, TN
- Stout category | Bronze medal: Diatomaceous Dry Stout, Hutton & Smith Brewing Co. – Production Facility, Chattanooga, TN
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