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(Photo @ 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.
Even though COVID-19 forced the Great American Beer Festival to be postponed (It will return to Denver in 2022) the competition still took place and the awards ceremony was held at the Bellco Theatre in Denver on Friday evening during the Craft Brewers Conference.
The Brewers Association awarded 290 medals to 265 breweries across the country during the 2021 ceremony, its largest competition to date. The best beers in 97 beer categories covering 175 different beer styles were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals during the 35th edition of the competition.
And here are some more highlights from his year’s competition…
(Photo @ Brewers Association}
GABF COMPETITION STATISTICS
- 35th edition of the GABF competition
- 9,680 beers judged
- 2,192 breweries in the competition from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico
- 170 judges
- Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 99.6
- Category with the highest number of entries: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (427)
- 290 total medals awarded
- 265 medal-winning breweries
- 425 first-time GABF entrants
- 30 first-time entrant GABF medal winners
MOST-ENTERED STYLE CATEGORIES
Category 64: JUICY OR HAZY INDIA PALE ALE (427 entries)
GOLD: DeadHead IPA Series: TourBus – DESTIHL Brewery, Normal, IL
SILVER: Art is Hard – North Park Beer Co., San Diego, CA
BRONZE: Blissed – Attitude Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Category 63: AMERICAN-STYLE INDIA PALE ALE (404 entries)
GOLD: Volatile Substance – Von Ebert Brewing – Pearl, Portland, OR
SILVER: JAF IPA – JAFB Wooster Brewery, Wooster, OH
BRONZE: Bullitt – All Season Brewing Co., Los Angeles, CA
Category 25: FRUITED AMERICAN SOUR ALE (249 entries)
GOLD: Sherbet Drip – Fall River Brewing Co., Redding, CA
SILVER: Tropical Hurt Locker – Short Fuse Brewing Co., Schiller Park, IL
BRONZE: Rasmine – Lynnwood Brewing Concern, Raleigh, NC
Category 80: GERMAN-STYLE WHEAT ALE (226 entries)
GOLD: Hefeweizen – JAFB Wooster Brewery, Wooster, OH
SILVER: Küsterer Original Weissbier – Cedar Springs Brewing Co., Cedar Springs, MI
BRONZE: Hazy Skies Hefeweizen – Pilot Brewing Co., Charlotte, NC
Category 43: GERMAN-STYLE PILSENER (210 entries)
GOLD: Meanwhile Pilsner – Meanwhile Brewing Co., Austin, TX
SILVER: Rail Pass – Bingo Beer Co., Richmond, VA
BRONZE: Golem Czech Pils – Gemüt Biergarten, Columbus, OH
(Photo © Brewers Association)
MOST MEDALED BREWERY
Moontown Brewing Co. – Whitestown, IN – 3 Medals
SILVER: Moonlite – 40: American Cream Ale
BRONZE: 40th Parallel – 44: Bohemian-Style Pilsener
BRONZE: Skool House Bock – 51: Bock
(Additionally, 15 breweries won two medals)
BREWERY OF THE YEAR AWARDS
0 – 250 Barrels
Radiant Beer Co., Anaheim, CA; Andrew Bell & Radiant Beer Co. Team
251 – 500 Barrels
Main & Six Brewing Co., Jacksonville, FL; Dennis Espinosa & Alex Leuthold
501 – 1,000 Barrels
Moontown Brewing Co., Whitestown, IN; Cody Peczkowski
1,001 – 2,000 Barrels
Cloudburst Brewing, Seattle, WA; Steve Luke & Zach Kornfeld
2,001 – 5,000 Barrels
Short Fuse Brewing Co., Schiller Park, IL; Brian Lagro & Craig Kofod
5,001 – 15,000 Barrels
Sudwerk Brewing Co., Davis, CA; Team Sudwerk
15,001 – 100,000 Barrels
Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, ME; Team Allagash
Brewery Group – Over 100,000 barrels produced in 2020 or multi-location breweries wishing to compete as a group
Metazoa Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN; Metazoa Brewing Team
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Congratulations to ALL of this year’s winners…Live long and prosper
(All image credits: Brewers Association)
