It was a tremendous thrill for Willoughby Brewing Co. to win the World Beer Cup's Gold in Specialty Beer for its Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter, said head brewer Rick Seibt. He and Willoughby Brewing's brewer Wyatt Routson were among thousands of brewers gathered for the awards  at the Hyatt Regency Denver when the honors were announced and presented.
"We've always had a tremendous customer response to this beer but to be recognized by our peers in a competition of such magnitude is a brewer's dream," Seibt said. He describes the winning dark porter as having flavors of coffee, peanut butter and chocolate that work well together.
"It's become something of a cult favorite beer that people buy in growlers and send all over the country," he said. "We have to ration it when we serve it at the Great American Beer Festival in October because it's always the first beer to sell out."
 Willoughby Brewing doesn't package the  Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porte beer in bottle or cans yet, although it's been requested by places as distant as Chile.
"We jumped out of our seats," Seibt said when  the announcement came that its Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter had won the Gold  "We high fived each other and got so excited we almost ran up on the wrong side of the stage to accept the award."
Many said they expected a lot of German wins at the international contest, and even anticipated seeing breweries from Colorado, California and Washington  among those honored..
"But bringing an award like this home to small city Willoughby is such an honor," Seibt said.  Other Northeast Ohio  breweries honored with awards include Thirsty Dog Brewery from Akron and Fat Head's Brewery from Middleburg Heights.