The 2023 New York State Craft Beer Competition Winners

Now in its seventh year, the New York State Craft Beer Competition has become the largest state-level competition in the country, a spectacular celebration of the New York State craft beer community.

Sponsored by the New York State Brewers Association, this year’s competition featured 1,350 beer entries from 189 breweries across 29 different categories.

And on March 24 a total of 90 medals were awarded at the Awards Ceremony in Albany, NY, as well as the Governor’s Craft Beer Cup and the “Brewery of the Year” awards.

This year’s Governor’s Cup went Genesee Brewing Company for their “Genesee Brew House Helles.”

The 2023 Brewery of the Year award was won by Wayward Lane Brewing, a less than 2 year old brewery out of Schoharie, NY.

“It’s so exciting to see this year’s winners which represent a wide spectrum breweries from every region of the state, said Paul Leone, Executive Director of the New York State Brewers Association.

“From the most well-known breweries to breweries many may have never heard of before today. One thing they all have in common, they are all brewing award winning beer which is some of the best in the country.”

And here are all of this year’s big winners….

2023 New York State Craft Beer Competition Medal Winners 

Category 1: Wheat Beer (American, Wit, Hefe) – 39 entries

• Gold: Pearl to Pine – Wood Kettle Brewing
• Silver: Gather House – Drowned Lands
• Bronze: HOLZNOT HEFEWEIZEN – McGraw Box Brewing Co.

Category 2: Amber and Dark Lagers – 97 entries

• Gold: Exposinator Doppelbock – Naked Dove Brewing Company
• Silver: Tmave Pivo – Swiftwater Brewing Company
• Bronze: Doppelbock – Rohrbach Brewing Company

Category 3: Golden/Blonde Ales (American, Kolsch, Cream Ales) – 54 entries

• Gold: La Crema – Aurora Brewing Co.
• Silver: Kolsch No. 2 – EBBS Brewing Co
• Bronze: Freudian Sips – Active Ingredient Brewing Company

Category 4: Amber/Red Ales (British, American, Irish, Scottish) – 67 entries

• Gold: Irish Red Ale – Seneca Street Brew Pub
• Silver: Sleepy Pants Hoppy Amber – 18th Ward Brewing
• Bronze: ESB – Laurentide Beer Company

Category 5: Pale Ales – 33 entries

• Gold: Wayne Legitzky – Ausable Brewing Company
• Silver: Bay Bridge Pale Ale – Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.
• Bronze: Builders Brew American Pale Ale – Heroes Brewing Company

​​Category 6: American IPA – 45 entries

• Gold: Cross Section IPA – Wagner Valley Brewing Company
• Silver: Venomous Villains – Kings County Brewers Collective
• Bronze: Derailleur – Artisanal Brew Works
• Bronze: Explosible IPA – Bright Eye Beer Co.

Category 7: Hazy Pale Ale – 50 entries

• Gold: Cultivar: Motueka – Wayward Lane Brewing
• Silver: Cosmic Juice – Great South Bay Brewery
• Bronze: Defies Logic Hazy Pale Ale – Underground Beer Lab

Category 8: American IPA Variations – 36 entries

• Gold: 8 Legged RyePA – Spider Bite Beer Co.
• Gold: Hyphen – ONCO Fermentations, Inc
• Silver: Prizm – Wayward Lane Brewing
• Bronze: Grass Wagon – Catskill Brewery

Category 9: American DIPA – 21 entries

• Gold: Saber’s Edge – Pearl Street Grill and Brewery
• Silver: Lean To – West Kill Brewing
• Bronze: Pacific Dawn – Captain Lawrence Brewing Co

​​Category 10: Barrel Aged Sour – 19 entries

• Gold: Something, Something, Something 2022 – Prison City Brewing
• Silver: Valley Beer Vintage 2020 – Hudson Valley Brewery
• Bronze: No Bronze Awarded

Category 11: Barrel Aged Non-Sour – 77 entries

• Gold: Double Barrel Aqueduct – Big Ditch Brewing Company
• Silver: Last of the Steam-Powered Trains – Grimm Artisanal Ales
• Bronze: Barrel-Aged Cast Iron Lager – Brewery at the CIA

​​Category 12: Belgian Farmhouse – 34 entries

• Gold: Thirst Aid Kit – Community Beer Works
• Silver: Sweet Potato Farmhouse – Big aLICe
• Bronze: Daypack Saison – Liquid State Brewing Company

Category 13: Belgian Other (Trappist, Strong, etc.) – 37 entries

• Gold: Rophenia – Spider Bite Beer Co.
• Silver: Single – Brewery Ardennes
• Bronze: Cloud Swing Belgian-Style Tripel – Liquid State Brewing Company

Category 14: Experimental – 41 entries

• Gold: Dionysus – Seven Points Brewing Company
• Silver: ​We Made It – Willow Rock Brewing Company
• Bronze: Yule Lad – Rare Form Brewing Company

Category 15: Fruit & Vegetable (Non-Sour) – 44 entries

• Gold: Buy The Berries Blueberry Wheat – Steelbound Brewery
• Silver: S2 Lemongrass & Ginger Saison – Transmitter Brewing
• Bronze: The One V-43: Island Addition – New York Beer Project

Category 16: Fruit & Vegetable Beer (Sour) – 80 entries

• Gold: Delta pH – Bartlett Pear – Active Ingredient Brewing Company
• Silver: Desert Rose – Roc Brewing Co.
• Bronze: Tropical Sour – Valcour Brewing Company

Category 17: Brown Ale (American & British) – 33 entries

• Gold: Major Trail Brown Ale – Skaneateles Brewery
• Silver: The Whale – Community Beer Works
• Silver: Brownstone Revival – Sixpoint Brewery
• Bronze: Oh, Bother – Riseform Brewing Co.
• Bronze: Bluff Point Brown – Keuka Brewing Company

​​Category 18: Porter (Non-Imperial) – 30 entries

• Gold: Dark Portal – Blue Point Brewing
• Silver: Thacher – The Warbler Brewery
• Bronze: Genesee Brew House Robust Porter – Genesee Brewing Company

Category 19: Stout (Non-Imperial) – 28 entries

• Gold: Present Absence – WT Brews LLC
• Silver: Chocolate Milk Stout – Slate Town Brewing Company
• Bronze: Bodega Cat – Kings County Brewers Collective

​​Category 20: Imperial Stouts and Porters – 35 entries

• Gold: Russian Imperial Stout – Naked Dove Brewing Company
• Silver: Baltic Porter – Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.
• Bronze: Bear Fight Stout – Strangebird

Category 21: Strong Ales (Non-Belgian) – 28 entries

• Gold: Imperial Red Rye – K2 Brewing
• Silver: Cabin Fever – Drowned Lands
• Bronze: Winter Warmer – West Shore Brewing Company

Category 22: Kettle and Simple Sours – 11 entries

• Gold: Creekside – West Kill Brewing
• Silver: Leipzig Gose – Big Slide Brewery & Public House
• Bronze: Berliner Style Weisse – Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.

Category 23: Wild and Sour Ales – 25 entries

• Gold: J’adoube – Grimm Artisanal Ales
• Silver: Abbot’s Reserve – Duncan’s Abbey
• Bronze: Yellowstone Wild Ale – New York Beer Project

Category 24: Light Lagers – Modern & Contemporary – 62 entries

• Gold: Pilsner No. 2 – EBBS Brewing Co.
• Silver: L’ultima Moda – Wild East Brewing Co.
• Bronze: 4AM PILS – Kings County Brewers Collective

​​Category 25: Light Lagers – Traditional – 73 entries

• Gold: Genesee Brew House Helles – Genesee Brewing Company
• Silver: Lockport Lager – New York Beer Project
• Bronze: Infinite Machine – Kings County Brewers Collective

Category 26: Hazy IPA – 89 entries

• Gold: Pigeon Camera – Fidens Brewing Company
• Silver: Haze On – Prison City Brewing
• Bronze: Crooked Soul – Peacemaker Brewing Company

​Category 27: Hazy DIPA – 47 entries

• Gold: Ratface Macdougall – Catskill Brewery
• Silver: Simcoe Super Fresh to Death – Aurora Brewing Co.
• Silver: Cloud Generator – Wayward Lane Brewing
• Bronze: Bright Lights, Big Kitty – Kings County Brewers Collective
• Bronze: Topology Double NEIPA – Underground Beer Lab

​Category 28: Coffee, Chocolate, Spice & Other Adjunct Beer (non-sour) – 90 entries

• Gold: Xylem – Wayward Lane Brewing
• Silver: Drink yourself a Jacket – Valcour Brewing Company
• Bronze: Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout – Blue Point Brewing

​Category 29: Coffee, Chocolate, Spice & Other Adjunct Beer (sour) – 9 entries

• Gold: No Gold Awarded
• Silver: Super Spruce – Grimm Artisanal Ales
• Bronze: No Bronze Awarded

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2023 NYS Brewery of the Year

Wayward Lane Brewing (Schoharie, NY)

2023 Governor’s Cup

Genesee Brew House Helles – Genesee Brewing Company

Best Collaboration Beer:

Pearl to Pine – Wood Kettle Brewing & Nine Spot Brewing

​Best New York State Beer (at least 60% NYS Hops & NYS Malt)

Genesee Brew House Helles – Genesee Brewing Company

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Congratulations to all of this year’s winners…Live long and prosper