Peep the Great American Beer Festival's Top Beers and Ciders of 2024!

 

GABF was lit!

I just got back from the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) and it was arguably the most memorable and exciting one yet! I had a blast with the National Black Brewers Association, fellow homies I have met throughout the years, and the great people who are a part of the industry as a whole. Below are the winners of numerous categories in both beer and cider styles sent directly from the GABF competition, the largest in the nation! Here is the complete list as well.

Cheers!

The Great American Beer Festival® Announces the Top Beers and Ciders of 2024

The nation’s largest professional beer competition awarded 326 medals to 273 breweries and cideries

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.

Check out the 2024 winners here!

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.