KATY, TX (Covering Katy News) – Katy's No Label Brewing earned high honors for a handful of its most adventurous brews at an industry awards ceremony in New York City on March 18.
No label competed against more than 700 entries across 30 categories from 15 countries in one of the beer world’s most popular beer events.
The working-class-celebrating brew Hard Hats & Six Packs, a Japanese rice lager, won gold honors.
Don Jalapeño, the brewery’s jalapeño-infused collaboration with the world-renowned Blood Bros. BBQ from Bellaire, took home silver honors, proving that beer and spicy barbecue are a perfect pairing. The ale has 6% alcohol volume and features peppers sourced and smoked on location at Blood Bros., then delivered to No Label for boiling and brewing.
"This beer represents the friendship between our two companies, and I just could not be any happier about this win,” No Label co-owner and creative director Tom Paynter said.
"Barbecue and beer are always a winning combination, especially when you combine the inventive nature of our kitchen team and the No Label crew's adventurousness when it comes to craft beer,” Blood Bros. co-owner Robin Wong added.
The sturdy Cali Boy West Coast IPA, with 7.5% alcohol volume, and the flavorful El Carlito, 8.3% alcohol content, its Weizenbock, took home Bronze honors.
"We won a World Beer Cup award last year for Cali Boy West Coast IPA, and then we were blessed with a second accolade for it,” Paynter said. “It's very humbling. It recharges our team's beer batteries, and it's just terrific to bring more attention to Katy. We’re now on a mission to aggressively push our beer into the Dallas and Austin areas."
No Label will soon enter the Austin and Dallas areas with two new collaborations. Team No Label is pairing with Austin's Meanwhile Brewing for a mystery brew that will be previewed at Wild West Brew Fest in Pflugerville on April 7 and their respective taprooms. An additional collaboration with Denton County Brewing will be available in late spring.
"Bringing our beers to the rest of Texas is incredibly important for our brewery, but making collabs with all these breweries along the way makes it just so much fun,” Paynter said.