Denver, CO . • October 12, 2024—The Brewers Association (BA) revealed the top beers and ciders of 2024 at an awards ceremony during the Great American Beer Festival (GABF®). In partnership with the American Cider Association, the prestigious competition bestowed awards in five new cider categories. With more than 1,200 cider producers in the U.S., the GABF competition keeps consumer drinking preferences and trends at the forefront of the event.
This year, 273 breweries and cideries earned 326* medals. The Great American Beer Festival judge panel evaluated noteworthy brews and ciders across 102 beer categories (including 170 subcategories), five new cider categories, and the Pro-Am and Collaboration competitions.
The competition was made possible thanks to more than 250 volunteers who facilitated the multi-step judging process and 285 beer experts who evaluated 8,836 commercial beer entries, 233 commercial cider entries, 95 Collaboration entries, and 52 Pro-Am entries. Judging occurred in three phases over seven days and included brewery entries from all 50 states plus 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,” said Chris Williams, competition director for the Brewers Association. “With the addition of five new cider categories, we’re pleased to recognize the best of the best in beer and beyond. Congratulations to this year’s winners!”
The awards ceremony, live streamed on The Brewing Network on Saturday, October 12, 2024, was held at the Bellco Theatre in Denver as part of the Great American Beer Festival.
GABF COMPETITION STATISTICS
- 38th edition of the GABF competition
- 8,836 beers judged
- 1,869 breweries & cideries in the competition from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico
- 285 judges
- 250+ volunteers
- Average number of beers entered in each category: 85
- Category with the highest number of entries: Category 102 - Juicy/Hazy IPA (349 entries)
- 326 total medals awarded
- 273 medal-winning breweries
- 280 first-time GABF competition entrants
- 25 first-time GABF competition winners
- Five new cider categories
TOP 5 MOST-ENTERED BEER STYLE CATEGORY WINNERS
Category 102 | Juicy/Hazy IPA (349 entries)
GOLD: Professional Human Being | Ambitious Ales | Long Beach, CA
SILVER: Groundswell | Single Hill Brewing Co. | Yakima, WA
BRONZE: Crash of Rhinos | Movement Brewing Co. | Rancho Cordova, CA
Category 100: West Coast IPA (292 entries)
GOLD: Codebreaker | Trademark Brewing | Long Beach, CA
SILVER: Pacific Portal | Alma Mader Brewing | Kansas City, MO
BRONZE: IPA for Aliens | Masthead Brewing Co. | Cleveland, OH
Category 101: American-Style IPA (217 entries)
GOLD: Competition | Highland Park Brewery - Chinatown | Los Angeles, CA
SILVER: One Way | Old Caz Beer | Rohnert Park, CA
BRONZE: Lexical Gap | Pollyanna Brewing Co. | Lemont, IL
Category 50: Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest (210 entries)
GOLD: Festbier | Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co. | Glenwood Springs, CO
SILVER: Festbier | Northwoods Brewing Co. | Northwood, NH
BRONZE: The Cushman | Morgan Territory Brewing | Tracy, CA
Category 52: German-Style Maerzen (195)
GOLD: Pleasantbräu Oktoberfest | Soul Brewing Co. | Pleasantville, NY
SILVER: Marchtoberfest | Galveston Island Brewing | Galveston, TX
BRONZE: Oktoberfest | Left Hand Brewing Co. | Longmont, CO
MOST-ENTERED CIDER CATEGORY WINNERS
Category 203: Fruited & Botanical Cider (74 entries)
GOLD: Blackberry Cider | McMenamins Breweries | Portland, OR
SILVER: Ozark Strawberry Rhubarb Cider | Ozark Beer Co. | Rogers, AR
BRONZE: Pacific Pineapple | 2 Towns Ciderhouse | Corvallis, OR
MOST-MEDALED BREWERIES
Apogee Brewing Company | Grover Beach, CA
Gold, Lucy Loves Rye, Category 76: Specialty Saison
Bronze, Aurora, Category 73: Belgian-Style Ale or French-Style Ale
Bronze, Monks on the Moon, Category 78: Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale
Bronze, Monks In Space, Category 79: Belgian-Style Abbey Ale
Highland Park Brewery - Chinatown | Los Angeles, CA
Gold, Competition, Category 101: American-Style India Pale Ale
Gold, Baseball, Category 40: Contemporary American-Style Lager
Gold, Timbo, Category 91: American-Style Pale Ale
Gold, DDH Pillow, Category 98: Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale
COLLABORATION COMPETITION (95 entries) See criteria here.
GOLD: Twenty-Fold Sword | New Zealand-Style IPA | No Boat Brewing Company and Obelisk Beer Co. | Snoqualmie, WA
SILVER: Stupid Sticky Fingers | Wood & Barrel Aged Imperial Stout | Werk Force Brewing Co. and Rocky Reef Brewing Co. | Plainfield, IL
BRONZE: Spudweiser | American Pilsner | Live Oak Brewing Company and Hold Out Brewing | Del Valle, TX
PRO-AM COMPETITION (52 entries) See criteria here. Sponsored by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. & White Labs
GOLD: Piwo Grodziskie | Kansas City Bier Co. and Mike & Stephanie
Butler | Kansas City, MO
SILVER: Rising Sun | Crooked Lane Brewing Co. and Matt Hall | Auburn, CA
BRONZE: South of Helles | Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop - Richmond and Joel Miller | Richmond, VA
*Out of 327 possible awards, 326 were conferred. Bronze was not awarded in Category 15 for Amber to Dark Non-Alcohol Beer.
Editor’s note: Photos for media use are available on the GABF website. Members of the media are encouraged to contact brewerspr@backbone.media with any questions.
The 2024 Great American Beer Festival was made possible in part by the generous support of its sponsors and in partnership with the American Cider Association.
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About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association (BA) is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers, and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The BA represents 5,000-plus U.S. breweries and more than 30,000 homebrewers. The BA’s independent craft brewer seal is a widely adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers. The BA organizes events, including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference™ & BrewExpo America®, Homebrew Con™, National Homebrew Competition, and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer® and Zymurgy® magazines, and Brewers Publications® is the leading publisher of brewing literature in the U.S. Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com® and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association®. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Brewers Association is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital/familial status. The BA complies with provisions of Executive Order 13672 and the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.
34 Colorado breweries earned hardware at the awards ceremony on Oct. 12
DENVER (Oct. 12, 2024) — The Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) is pleased to congratulate the 34 Colorado breweries that collected a total of 38 medals among 102 beer-styles at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition at Bellco Theatre at the Colorado Convention Center earlier today. The GABF competition drew 8,970 entries from 1,773 breweries across the United States.
Produced by the Brewers Association (BA), GABF is the nation’s largest professional beer competition. Its medals are globally acknowledged as an emblem of brewing excellence and among the most sought-after accolades within the brewing community.
“Colorado’s breweries continue to shine with their high-quality beers in a variety of styles. Especially noteworthy this year is that five different breweries won medals in five different German-style lager categories,” says CBG Executive Director Shawnee Adelson.
Notable trends:
- This is the third year in a row that New Terrain Brewing Company, River North Brewery, Westbound & Down Brewing Co., and Resolute Brewing have medaled at GABF.
- Two Colorado breweries (Station 26 and Liquid Mechanics) took home hardware for the chili beer category.
- First timers included: Alpine Beer Company, Burns Family Artisan Ales, Eagle River Brewing Company, Long Table Brewhouse, Second Dawn Brewing, and Stodgy Brewing Company.
- Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co. had back-to-back wins, including a gold medal for Festbier which was the 4th most entered category.
- Two medals for Cannonball Creek pushing their GABF medal streak to 12 years. Featherweight Pale Ale medaled for the fifth time.
- Bootstrap took home its second gold medal in row in the Strong Red Ale category for Wreak Havoc. It is the fourth GABF medal for Wreak Havoc.
- Resolute Brewing’s Execrator medaled for the third year in a row in the German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock category.
2024 Colorado Craft Brewery Winners:
Gold Medal Winners:
- Denver Beer Co. Canworks - Fennel Rye Ale (Field Beer)
- Liquid Mechanics Brewing Company - El Poblano Borracho (Chili Beer)
- River North Brewery - Squirrels Just Want to Have Fun (Coffee Beer)
- Holidaily Brewing Company - Fat Randy (Gluten-Free Beer)
- Launch Pad Brewery - Silver Medal Worthy (American-Belgo-Style Ale)
- Bull & Bush Brewery - Ghoul Fuel - Rum Diaries Edition (Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer)
- Westbound & Down Brewing Company - Western Justice (Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout)
- Westbound & Down Brewing Co. Mill - Infinity Pils (Hoppy Lager)
- Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co. - Festbier (Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest, 4th most entered category)
- Denver Beer Co. (Lowry Field) - Coppermind (Irish-Style Red Ale)
- Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. - More Than a Zealand (New Zealand India Pale Ale)
- Bootstrap Brewing - Wreak Havoc (Strong Red Ale)
Silver Medal Winners:
- Cheluna Brewing Company - Enduro (Fruit Wheat Beer)
- And coming off two GABF medals last year
- River North Brewery - Pumpkin Spice J. Marie (Pumpkin Beer)
- Bull & Bush Brewery - Temporary Paradise-Rum Diaries Edition (Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer)
- Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Co. - Las Cruces (American Amber Lager)
- Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co. - Crystal River (Munich-Style Helles)
- Eagle River Brewing Co. - Czech-6 (International Dark Lager)
- Westbound & Down Brewing Co. - Don't Hassle The Hef (South German-Style Hefeweizen)
- Stodgy Brewing Co. - Scottish Ale (Scottish-Style Ale)
- Verboten Brewing - Grow Old with You (Old Ale or Strong Ale or Barley Wine)
- Cannonball Creek - Featherweight Pale (American-Style Pale Ale)
Bronze Medal Winners:
- Station 26 Brewing Company - Palisade Peak (Chili Beer)
- First GABF medal since 2014
- The Empourium Brewing Company - Animals Strike Curious Poses (Honey Beer)
- New Terrain Brewing Company - Mirage (American Sour Ale)
- 12Degree Brewing - Cactus Juice (Fruited American Sour Ale)
- Long Table Brewhouse - 50 On It (Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer)
- Second Dawn Brewing Company - Wolf of the Woods (Italian-Style Pilsener, new category)
- Left Hand Brewing Co. - Oktoberfest (German-Style Maerzen)
- Resolute Brewing Co. - Execrator (German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock)
- Third year in a row win for this category
- Rock Cut Brewing Co. - Altruism - Rock Cut Brewing Co. (German-Style Altbier)
- Green Mountain Beer Company - Polterweiss Hefeweizen (South German-Style Hefeweizen)
- Oskar Blues Brewery - Old Chub (Scotch Ale)
- Burns Family Artisan Ales - Artemesia (Old Ale or Strong Ale or Barley Wine)
- Aspen Brewing Company - Independence Pass Ale IPA (American-Style Strong Pale Ale)
- Alpine Beer Co. - Windows Up (Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale)
“GABF continues to prove that we are the State of Craft Beer, with breweries old and new winning medals in such a diverse array of categories,” says Adelson.
For the full list of 2024 GABF medalists, visit GreatAmericanBeerFestival.com.
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About the Colorado Brewers Guild: The Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) is a nonprofit trade association with the mission to promote, protect, and propel independent craft breweries in the State of Craft Beer through advocacy, community, education, and public awareness. The majority of the state’s 400+ licensed breweries are members. See a list of events that support membership, learn how to become a member, and more at coloradobeer.org.
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