Steel Keg Association Announces 2023 Keg Champions

Denver, April 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The 2023 Keg Champions are honored by the Steel Keg Association this Earth Week in an inaugural celebration of restaurants, bars, and breweries for embracing the remarkable benefits reusable steel kegs deliver: sustainability, efficiency, and a fresh experience most consumers can’t get at home.

The 2023 Keg Champion Award winners in 7 categories:

1. Buffalo Wild Wings – National Restaurant (locations in 30+ states)
2. Mellow Mushroom – Regional Restaurant (locations in 2 – 29 states)
3. Clyde’s Restaurant Group – Local Restaurant (located in a single state) 
4. Yuengling – Large Brewery (500,000+ bbls of production / year)
5. Allagash Brewing Company – Mid-Sized Brewery (10,000 – 500,000 bbls)
6. Barley Brown’s Beer– Small Brewery (less than 10,000 bbls)
7. The Golden Mill – Draft Innovation

Stainless steel kegs’ reusability and 30+ year lifespan make them the ideal circular choice for breweries, bars and restaurants. The Steel Keg Association created the Keg Champion Awards to recognize hospitality leaders’ sustainability programs and the positive impacts of steel kegs on the beverage industry. 

“We were blown away by the response to this Keg Champion program. Over 2,000 breweries, bars, and restaurants were nominated!” says Dan Vorlage, Executive Director of the Steel Keg Association and MicroStar Logistics’ VP of Global Marketing. “While this is really about celebrating all of the keg champions out there, we’re proud to raise a pint to our inaugural winners, each a standard bearer in their category. They were distinguished by their commitment to sustainability and to delivering differentiated consumer experiences. Importantly, we also have a shared belief that this is not the culmination of an awards program, but just the beginning. Cheers to these winners and all of the keg champions out there.”

In addition to winning a coveted, iconic green Keg Champion Award (physically, the biggest award in the history of the food and beverage industry), the Steel Keg Association will donate $7,000 to benefit seven charitable organizations chosen by the 2023 Keg Champions. 

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About the Steel Keg Association

The Steel Keg Association is a marketing-focused non-profit organization on a mission to help increase the volume of beer and other beverages served from stainless steel kegs. The Association’s members represent a diverse collection of leaders in the global steel keg supply chain: BLEFA GmbH, Disptek Group, Hillebrand/ KegPros, Micro Matic, MicroStar Logistics, Schaefer Container Systems and Thielmann. To learn more or get involved, email [email protected] or visit steelkegassociation.org.

• Seven inaugural Keg Champions are celebrated today by the Steel Keg Association!
• The BIGGEST award in the history of the hospitality industry: the coveted Green Keg.