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!
.jpg)
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.
###
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.