Brewbound revealed the trade publication’s 2025 industry Award Winners and Rising Stars during the 2025 Brewbound Live business conference in Marina del Rey, California, on December 10.
The Brewbound Awards celebrate the achievements of industry leaders, trend setters, breakout brands, change agents and up-and-coming entrepreneurs during the last year.
View the full list of 2025 award nominees.
Winners of the 12th annual Brewbound Awards include:
Brewbound Awards 2025
Craft Brewery of the Year
The Craft Brewery of the Year is awarded to one independent craft beer company producing fewer than 100,000 barrels annually that has excelled in this increasingly challenging marketplace.
New Trail Brewing
Williamsport, Pennsylvania-based New Trail cracked the top 50 craft breweries by volume in 2024, marking a third-consecutive year of double-digit growth following triple-digit gains in 2021. Built on hazy IPAs, New Trail has grown into its capacity and has expanded beyond its flagship hazies with lagers, West Coast-style IPAs and non-alcoholic beers.
Large Brewery of the Year
The Large Brewery of the Year is awarded to one large beer company producing more than 100,000 barrels annually that continues to innovate and grow.
Deschutes Brewery
Call it a comeback. Bend, Oregon’s Deschutes posted 9% volume growth in 2024, bouncing back from an 11% decline the previous year. Deschutes’ focused strategy on its Fresh Squeezed family and its non-alcoholic portfolio, as well as breakout partnerships with Costco and Patagonia, have helped flip the company’s trends. Deschutes is now flowing into 2026 with momentum and preparing to drop a Party Bomb.
Person of the Year
Reserved for individuals whose work has created lasting, substantial, positive change in the bev-alc industry.
Lauren Woods Limbach, New Belgium Brewing
Lauren Woods Limbach has built a legacy in 28 years at New Belgium. Woods Limbach created the Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered brewery’s famed wood-aged sour beer program, including La Folie, Le Terroir and Transatlantique Kriek. The portfolio was instrumental in introducing American palates to traditional Belgian styles. After nearly three decades in craft beer, Woods Limbach will retire in January, leaving behind a body of work that helped shape modern craft beer.
Beyond Beer Company of the Year
The Beyond Beer Company of the Year is awarded to one company within the cider, hard seltzer, alcoholic kombucha, packaged wine or canned cocktail segments.
Carbliss
Carbliss has established itself as a fast-growing player in the canned cocktail market, posting double-digit growth in 2025. Founders Adam and Amanda Kroener have methodically built the vodka-based cocktail brand, which is on pace to do more than 4 million cases in 2025. After going deep in its core Midwestern markets, Carbliss has begun expanding to Florida, Arizona and other warm weather locales that have been clamoring for the zero-calorie, zero-sugar, 100-calorie vodka cocktail.
Best New Product
Sierra Nevada Pils
Sierra Nevada Pils pays homage to European tradition in several respects. Sierra Nevada went back to basics with Pils, starting as a draft-only offering to win over consumers in bars and restaurants before entering off-premise retailers in a unique package format: 8.4 oz. can 8-packs. The goal for Year 2 is to continue its on-premise focus to drive trial and get drinkers into Pils, which is now a “core four priority.”
Cause of the Year
Executive Order Me A Beer – Right Proper
When federal workers began losing their jobs earlier this year, Right Proper Brewing stepped up with the Executive Order Me A Beer program to buy beer for out-of-work federal employees. The program works as a pay-it-forward: Patrons pay $8 per beer given to former federal workers who popped into the brewery with their federal ID. Co-founder Leah Cheston described the D.C. brewpub’s role as being there for the community, with she and her husband, Thor, kicking off the program by buying the first 50 beers for federal workers.
It wasn’t just about free beers, though. Right Proper hosted happy hours for affected workers to redeem the drinks while networking and getting career coaching and resume support.
Beer Champion of the Year
Oregon Beverage Alliance
Oregon craft breweries, wineries, distillers, distributors, ingredients suppliers and trade groups have banded together in recent years under the Oregon Beverage Alliance to fend off attempts to raise taxes on beer anywhere from 8% to 1,200% over a half decade. Their efforts have been largely successful, preventing the state’s bev-alc companies from facing increased costs at a time when the industry is facing several headwinds, from slowing sales to inflation to increased cost of goods to consumer pressures.
Rising Stars
Rising Stars are bev-alc companies whose work has great potential to shift or create categories, bring forth new ideas about products or brands and show growth that indicates they will have an enduring presence in the bev-alc industry.
Best Day Brewing
Best Day Brewing has established itself as a top independent non-alc beer maker. The California NA company has built itself in the natural grocery channel across key markets, with chain expansion on the horizon to accelerate growth.
Bravazzi
Hard Italian soda brand Bravazzi is winning drinkers in its home markets with a full-flavor product line. Bravazzi established itself in the on-premise and is now making inroads with off-premise chains.
Destihl Brewery
Destihl has doubled its volume since 2021, posting 53% volume growth in 2024. The Normal, Illinois-based craft brewery has supplemented its own production with partner brands, including Wrexham Lager, Hanson Brothers’ Mmmhops IPA, an Evel Knievel-branded beer and NIL beers in its home state, including with the University of Illinois Fighting Illini.
Good Boy Vodka
Good Boy Vodka sold 2 million cases in 2025, with significant distribution expansion. The addition of lemonade exceeded sales projections, and with a slate of new products – both alcoholic and non-alc – on the way, the company is poised for additional growth in the years ahead.
Outlaw Light Beer
Outlaw Light Beer is on pace for 200,000 barrels by the end of 2025. The fast rise of the light beer brand has led to a revival of Denver’s Tivoli Brewing and more market expansion is on the way in 2026.
Pure Project
Started with a taproom focus, San Diego’s Pure Project’s growth has exploded in recent years with the addition of distribution. While consistently posting double-digit barrel growth, the brewery has posted 150% growth in on- and off-premise retailers since 2023. Pure Project has remained true to its core mission of sustainability as a 1% For the Planet Company.
RationAle Brewing
Non-alcoholic beer brand RationAle leveled up its operations in 2025, building out its team with beer industry veterans, shoring up its supply chain and launching an intriguing new offering with Japanese-style Dry.
Rupee Beer
Brothers Van and Sumit Sharma created the first Indian-American beer brand, leaning into traditional flavors and popular beer styles. Founded during the pandemic to supplement to-go orders at their family’s restaurant, Rupee Beer has accelerated its growth in the liquor channel while also picking up chain placements. Rupee is aiming to reach even more drinkers, leaning into fast-growing trends, including non-alc beer and hard tea.