SPOKANE, Wash. — It all started with a simple challenge from Mountain Lakes Brewing Company to Black Label Brewing Company: who could brew the best "Single Malt and Single Hop" style beer?
Soon after, Tim Hilton, one of the co-owners of Mountain Lakes, shared his idea with several other brewers across Spokane and four other breweries were added into the fold: Bellweather Brewing, The Grain Shed, Humble Abode, and Whistle Punk.
And so the first idea of the "Lester Cup" competition was born.
"We like each other, and we really want Spokane beer to become a scene," Hilton said. "We want people to come to Spokane for beer. And we don't do that by trying to put each other out of business, it's really to try to play well with each other and have a reason for people to visit all of them."
The rules were quickly created: starting first with a SMaSH style beer, each brewery would create their own original and unique twist to be sold in their breweries.
Beer enthusiasts would then travel to each of the six breweries, sample the beers and vote on the winner.
Along with winning the coveted Lester Cup itself, the winning brewers would also win the right to choose the beer style for their next round of the competition-- which is held once in the winter and once in the summer.
"We all loved it," said Black Label's Dan Dvorak. "We thought it would be fun to challenge each other and have some fun with it too."
"I think beer is a connecting point for people," said Bellwether's Dave Musser. "And I honestly feel like we all win with something like this."
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has created new obstacles for breweries to draw in customers and beer-voters, a simple twist to their approach has made the Lester Cup even easier to enjoy while also making it safer.
Starting in the Summer 2020 Lester Cup, all six breweries began canning their beers to keep the competition going, offering one single six-pack for beer enthusiasts to take home and enjoy safely.
That trend continued into the Winter 2021 competition as well, a move all of the brewers were firmly behind.
"100%, we made the right choice to continue doing this," said Teddy Benson from The Grain Shed. "I actually love the process of selling them in cans."
The theme for the Winter 2021 Brew-Off is Pastry Stout, chosen by the Whistle Punk, who won the Summer 2020 competition.
Here are the beers offered by each brewery, in alphabetical order:
- Bellwether: "Doctor Carrot"
- Black Label: "Salted Caramel"
- Humble Abode: "Tiramisu Stout"
- Mountain Lakes: "Hot Cross Buns"
- The Grain Shed: "Pannetone Stout"
- Whistle Punk: "French Toast Milk Stout"
If you're interested in participating in this year's voting process, feel free to check out each of the six competing breweries, who are still selling some of their final six-packs of beer. Each six-pack comes with a ballot to cast your own vote and a unique voter-ID to make sure your vote counts.