MORRISVILLE, NY—SUNY Morrisville was formally awarded as the Grand National Champion of the 2018 U.S. Open College Beer Championship, as presented to the college that brews the best beers in North America.
The presentation was held at the Copper Turret Restaurant & Brewhouse, Morrisville’s student-teaching facility where the championship beers were brewed before the college was crowned as champions last May.
“Our thanks go out to the U.S. Open College Beer Championship,” SUNY Morrisville President David Rogers said during the ceremony. “This is a great recognition of the overall strength and quality of our brewing efforts.
“The growth of craft brewing as an industry, affiliated with hospitality and tourism, has taken off. It’s important that colleges in the SUNY realm like Morrisville help to create the next workforce of experts. We acknowledge the help and support we have received from our governor and elected officials.”
The U.S. Open College Beer Championship, now in its third year, is a competition among student brewers at colleges and universities that offer brewing courses to help determine the best future brewers in North America.
This year's competition was based on five categories: Belgian; Bavarian; Stout; IPA; and Open, where students could enter any style of beer they brewed. SUNY Morrisville claimed the gold medal in Bavarian for its German-style pilsner, The Crop. Morrisville also won a silver medal for The Arsenal, a Madison County Hopped IPA, and a bronze for its Belgian-style tripel, Belgian Draft Horse, en route to placing first overall.
Dow Scoggins, director of the U.S. Open Beer Championships, presented the bronze, silver and gold medals and a championship plaque.
“It is my honor, my privilege and my pleasure, on behalf of the directors of the U.S. Open Beer College Championships, to present the plaque for the grand champion of the beer championship,” Scoggins said. “You are competing against universities of 50,000 (students). You were the only college that won three medals.”
The winning beers, submitted to the competition by SUNY Morrisville head brewer Micheal Coons, were brewed by SUNY Morrisville agricultural business development BBA students Mary Cosenza, of Colden, New York, and Josh Alley, of Liverpool, New York.
“It feels amazing to not just be a part of the first year brewing, but also to win such a prestigious award,” Cosenza said while donning all three medals. “I hope everything we’re doing can help future students achieve their dreams in brewing.”
Toasting with a cranberry ale that was the conception of Cosenza, Coons recognized and thanked many of those in attendance, which included a packed house featuring dignitaries, local brewers and raw material suppliers, and numerous members of the Morrisville campus and community.
While expressing his many thanks, Coons also emphasized the use of local hops and barley malt in all beers brewed by the college.
“We are honored and humbled by the results of the U.S. Open College Beer Championships,” Coons said after originally receiving the award last May. “The students that have been working in the campus brewpub are a testament to the value of practical education. This is the cornerstone of what it means to be a student at Morrisville, and the philosophy around which we are developing the brewing curriculum.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work that they have done, but more so I am proud of the passion with which they approach the brewing industry.”
The champion beverages can be found on tap year-round at the Copper Turret Restaurant & Brewhouse. The brews, which incorporate local products and whose names pay homage to the college and community, are three of the brewery’s four flagship beers along with the oatmeal-coffee stout Cherry Valley.
