More than 270 breweries and cideries won medals at the Brewers Association’s (BA) Great American Beer Festival (GABF) on Saturday in Denver.
The BA awarded 326 medals to 273 competitors in the 38th year of the competition and 42nd year of the festival. Up to 327 awards were available, but a bronze medal was not awarded for amber-to-dark non-alcoholic beer, according to a press release.
This year’s competition was hosted in partnership with the American Cider Association (ACA) and included five cider categories for the first time. In addition to the new categories, 280 offerings were first-time GABF entrants, and 25 were first-time winners.
Medals were awarded across 102 beer categories and 170 subcategories and the five new cider categories, as well as for Pro-Am (beers created by professional brewers and amateur homebrewers) and collaboration (beers created by two or more professional breweries) competitions.
Offerings were judged blindly by 285 beer experts, who spent seven days evaluating 8,836 commercial beer entries, 233 commercial cider entries, 95 collaboration entries and 52 Pro-Am entries. Entries were submitted from all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
“The Great American Beer Festival continues its commitment to recognizing exceptional beverages from across the country in the 2024 competition,” BA competition director Chris Williams said in the release. “With the addition of five new cider categories, we’re pleased to recognize the best of the best in beer and beyond.”
An average of 85 offerings were submitted to each category. Juicy/hazy IPA was once again the most popular category, with 349 entries. Long Beach, California-based Ambitious Ales’ Professional Human Being took the gold in the category, followed by Single Hill Brewing’s Groundswell (Yakima, Washington) and Movement Brewing’s Crash of Rhinos (Rancho Cordova, California).
The next four most popular categories by entries were West Coast IPA (292), American-style IPA (217), Dortmunder or German-style Oktoberfest (210) and German-style Marzen (195).
The most-entered cider category was fruited and botanical cider, with 74 entries. Portland, Oregon-based McMenamins Breweries’ Blackberry Cider took gold, followed by Ozark Beer Co.’s Ozark Strawberry Rhubarb Cider (Rogers, Arizona) and 2 Towns Ciderhouse’s Pacific Pineapple (Corvallis, Oregon).
Two breweries tied for the most medals won at this year’s competition, with a total of four each. Los Angeles, California-based Highland Park Brewery won four gold medals, including awards for American-style IPA, contemporary American-style lager, American-style pale ale and juicy/hazy imperial IPA. Grover Beach, California-based Apogee Brewing took home the gold in specialty saison, and three bronze medals: Belgian-style or French-style ale, Belgian-style strong specialty ale and Belgian-style abbey ale.
The gold medal in the collaboration competition went to Washington-based No Boat Brewing and Obelisk Beer Co. for their Twenty-Fold Sword New Zealand-style IPA, which beat out 94 other entries. Illinois-based Werk Force Brewing and Rocky Reef Brewing’s Stupid Sticky Fingers wood- and barrel-aged imperial stout took the silver, and Texas-based Live Oak Brewing and Hold Out Brewing’s Spudweiser American pilsner took bronze.
In the Pro-Am competition, Missouri-based Kansas City Bier Co. and amateur brewers Mike and Stephanie Butler beat out 51 other competitors with their Piwo Grodziskie smoked wheat bier. Auburn, California-based Crooked Lane Brewing and amateur brewer Matt Hall took silver, and Richmond, Virginia-based Starr Hill Beer Hall and amateur brewer Joel Miller took bronze.
Additionally, the BA named eight brewery of the year winners based on brewery size, with winners determined by the amount of medals won in this year’s competition:
- 0-250 barrels: Apogee Brewing Co. (Grover Beach, California);
- 251-500 barrels: Alesong Brewing & Blending (Eugene, Oregon);
- 501-1,000 barrels: Grand Fir Brewing (Portland, Oregon);
- 1,001-2,000 barrels: Everywhere Beer Co. (Orange, California);
- 2,001-5,000 barrels: Riip Beer Co. (Huntington Beach, California);
- 5,001-15,000 barrels: Sunriver Brewing Co. (Sunriver, Oregon);
- 15,001-100,000 barrels: von Trapp Brewing (Stowe, Vermont);
- Brewery Group: Highland Park Brewery (Los Angeles, California).
Cidermaker of the Year was awarded to 2 Towns Ciderhouse.
Interested in the full list of winners? Check out it out here.