American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
(Courtesy Brewers Association}
A win at the Great American Beer Festival competition is a BIG deal.
Taking a gold, silver or bronze medal in any one of this year’s beer categories can put a new brewery on the map and reaffirm the brewing skills of industry leaders that sometimes get overlooked.
And even though COVID-19 forced the GABF to go virtual this year, the competition continued and the winners announced on Friday as part of the event’s video rollout.
This year’s judging got tricky, but the Brewers Association (who oversee the Great American Beer Festival) skillfully pulled things off…
Judges for this year’s competition evaluated 8,806 entries from 1,720 breweries from all 50 states plus Washington, DC.
Socially distanced judging took place in 35 sessions over 18 days with strict safety measures in place.
And here are some more details on this year’s competition…
GABF Competition Statistics
- 34th edition of the GABF competition
- 8,806 beers judged
- 1,720 breweries in the competition from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C.
- 115 judges from 21 states
- Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 97
- Category with the highest number of entries: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (377)
- 272 total medals awarded
- 240 medal-winning breweries
- 337 first-time GABF entrants
- 19 first-time GABF winners
(Courtesy Brewers Association}
Most Medaled Breweries
The most medals won by individual breweries included:
Sun King Brewery – Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN – 4 medals
GOLD – Afternoon Delight, Category 26 – Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer
BRONZE – Cherry Busey, Category 30 – Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer
BRONZE – Pachanga, Category 34 – Light Lager
BRONZE – Sunlight Cream Ale, Category 49 – Golden or Blonde Ale
Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO – 3 medals
GOLD – Featherweight Pale Ale, Category 53 – American-Style Pale Ale
BRONZE – Vladimir Brutin, Category 18 – Experimental India Pale Ale
BRONZE – Let’s Talk About Mex, Category 37 – American-Style Cream Ale
Chuckanut Brewery – North Nut, Bellingham, WA – 3 medals
GOLD – Chuckanut Maibock, Category 47 – Bock
SILVER – Chuckanut Chuck Lite, Category 34 – Light Lager
BRONZE – Chuckanut Rye, Category 12 – Rye Beer
Riip Beer Co., Huntington Beach, CA – 3 medals
GOLD – Tangible Passion, Category 82 – Belgian-Style Specialty Ale
SILVER – The Riizzo, Category 10 – Coffee Stout or Porter
SILVER – Black the Riipper, Category 69 – American-Style Black Ale or American-Style Stout
- 23 individual breweries won 2 medals
- 213 individual breweries won 1 medal
Most-Entered Style Categories
The winners of the top five most-entered categories were:
Category 58: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (377 entries) –
GOLD: Spellbinder, Wren House Brewing Co., Phoenix, AZ
SILVER: Yojo, Moonraker Brewing Co., Auburn, CA
BRONZE: Wicked Pawesome, Metazoa Brewing Co. – Stringtown Production Facility, Indianapolis, IN
Category 57: American Style India Pale Ale (355 entries) –
GOLD: IPA, Perry Street Brewing, Spokane, WA
SILVER: Updrift India Pale Ale, Pelican Brewing Co. – Tillamook, Tillamook, OR
BRONZE: Nothing Noble, Von Ebert Brewing – Pearl, Portland, OR
Category 39: German Style Pilsener (200 entries) –
GOLD: Sprockets, Gravely Brewing Co., Louisville, KY
SILVER: Prost Pils, Prost Brewing Co., Denver, CO
BRONZE: Pils, Kansas City Bier Co., Kansas City, MO
Category 28: Wood & Barrel-Aged Strong Stout (199 entries) –
GOLD: A Night to End All Dawns, Kane Brewing Co., Ocean, NJ
SILVER: Ruckus, Melvin Brewing – Thai Me Up, Jackson, WY
BRONZE: Grasp of Oak, Moksa Brewing Co., Rocklin, CA
Category 60: Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale (192 entries) – GOLD: The Hopsplainer, Burke-Gilman Brewing Co., Seattle, WA
SILVER: Not A Scientist, Cloudburst Brewing, Seattle, WA
BRONZE: Sugar on My Tongue, Highland Park Brewery, Los Angeles, CA
(Courtesy Brewers Association}
Brewery and Brewpubs of the Year
Packaging Breweries:
Very Small Brewing Company of the Year
<1,000 barrels produced in 2019
Five Branches Brewing, Tarpon Springs, FL; Jerry Brown
Small Brewing Company of the Yearl
1,000 – 14,999 barrels produced in 2019
Big aLICe Brewing Co., Long Island City, NY; Big aLICe Production Team
Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year
15,000 – 6,000,000 barrels produced in 2019
Lost Forty Brewing, Little Rock, AR; Lost Forty Brewing Team
Brewpubs:
Small Brewpub of the Year
<750 barrels produced in 2019
The Good Society, Seattle, WA; Phil Cammarano & Nick Berger
Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year
750 – 1,500 barrels produced in 2019
Monkless Belgian Ales, Bend, OR; Todd Clement & Chris Dinsdale
Large Brewpub of the Year
Over 1,500 barrels produced in 2019
The Freehouse, Minneapolis, MN; The Freehouse Team
Large Breweries and Multiple Location Breweries
Brewery Group of the Year
Over 6,000,000 barrels produced in 2019 or multi-location breweries wishing to compete as a group
Three Creeks Brewing Co., Sisters, OR; Team Three Creeks
Congratulations to ALL of this year’ winners…Live long and prosper.
