The nation’s biggest beer festival is a wrap, and there’s a new list of champs. The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) has named its esteemed winners and some great producers from coast to coast made strong showings. Overall, the results point to an ever-creative and resilient craft brewing sector.
This year’s fest went down in Denver, October 12th-14th. It’s a massive congregation, with some 326 medals issued to breweries and cideries. The largest competition of its kind in the U.S., the GABF can offer serious marketing cache and street cred in the competitive world of craft beer.
This year, nearly 300 judges presided over more than 8,000 entries from all fifty states as well as Puerto Rico and D.C. California showed quite well, with Highland Park Brewery of L.A.’s impressive beer scene and Apogee Brewing of Grover Beach each taking home four medals.
Best brewery awards are segregated based on production size. The largest award went to Trapp Brewing out of Stowe, Vermont while Apogee was named best brewery in the 0-250 barrels category (aka, the smallest). In between, Alesong from Eugene, Grand Fir Brewing from Portland, Everywhere Beer Co. from Orange, California, Riip Beer Co. from Huntington Beach, and Sunriver Brewing Co. were all named best breweries, in their respective production sizes. That’s a tremendous showing for west coast breweries.
Mark your calendars, as the whole thing goes down next year, so get excited. If you need a new favorite brewery, the GABF is a great resource for that. You can see the entire 2024 winners list here. It’s worth a look, as the categories are wildly specific, ranging from smoke beers and German dark lagers to robust porters and strong red ales.
Want to make a trip out of it? Check out our Denver travel guide and the best beer cities in America.
