See who won the annual BREW’D beer taste-off Saturday at Heckscher

When the dust settles at the annual Long Island Craft Classic in Heckscher State Park, only one island brewer can emerge victorious from the festival’s BREW’D taste-off competition.

Some 2,000 attendees (a record for the event) casted their votes Saturday, Aug. 11, in East Islip. And the winner was Moka Loa, an IPA brewed by Long Ireland Beer Company of Riverhead.

This year, Long Ireland and all the competing brewers had incorporate pineapple in their recipes.

“For our Moku Loa Pineapple IPA, we used a base beer of our Mosiac IPA and infused it with a pineapple extract,” said Greg Martin, co-owner of Long Ireland Beer Company. “We sampled various versions until we found the right balance of pineapple flavor to really allow it to shine. It was met with such a strong response that we will be tapping a special keg of Moku Loa at the brewery on Friday, Aug. 17 at 3 p.m.”

The festival, run by Starfish Junction Productions, offers craft beers, wines, ciders and plenty of barbecue, as well as the BREW’D competition, which pits Long Island breweries against each other in a head-to-head taste-off, judged by event attendees.

Missed it? Next year’s Long Island Craft Classic and the 3rd annual BREW’D competition is all set for Saturday, Aug. 10, also in Heckscher State Park.

Photo: The BREW’D competition winners from Long Ireland (L-R) Scott Pflug, Greg Martin and Mike Woodward.celebrate their big win Saturday. (Credit: Lesly Alvarez/courtesy)