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Who Won Gold At the 2024 Great American Beer Festival Awards
Winner, winner beer dinner!
Huge state flags representing Ohio, Texas, and California were strung across the rows at the front of the auditorium. Reverberating Chants of OH..IO. OH..IO echoed across the pews. At the Great American Beer Festival Awards ceremony in Denver, CO, it isn’t just about the beer. That may seem like an oxymoron. But we promise it’s not. For the folks who pour their blood, sweat, and beers into their…beers, getting together as a community to celebrate everyone’s achievements is sometimes more important than winning the award itself.
“This is a celebration of the industry,” says Justin Hemminger, Deputy Director of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association and the proud bearer of that red, white, and blue Ohio flag. “Everyone roots for everyone.”
Hemminger says he’s been giving flags to members of the Ohio beer community since 2017. “We already have a lot of pride in the beer we make, so what better place to celebrate it than here?”
Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie | Hop Culture
The camaraderie during the awards is unparalleled.
When the first Denver brewery wins an award—in this case, actually gold for Haykin Family Cidery (cider made its first appearance in the competition this year)—a huge roar erupts from the far stage right. Historically, all members of Colorado breweries sit together, vocally showing their love for each state brewery that won.
“It’s always fun to cheer on friends and hear the names of people you respect,” said Phil Joyce, who brews at Bierstadt Lagerhaus and co-founded Amalgam Brewing.
This year, Joyce entered three of Amalgam’s beers in the competition: Modern Original, a Baltic porter collaboration with Bierstadt, and a Timbo Pils collaboration.
He adds, “There are always excitement and nerves,” whether you’re a veteran like Joyce or a newcomer.
Nate and Suzanne Newton, co-founders of Half Batch Brewing in Hendersonville, TN, attended the GABF Awards for the first time this year, although they’d entered and won several times before.
“This is the first time we’ve come to the festival, and it’s been a great time,” said Nate. “It’s fantastic.”
Last year, Half Batch’s imperial red ale, Contemplation Time, won a bronze. This year, Nate says they’ve entered five very different beers across a variety of styles: Oktoberfest, Pilsner, Belgian American ale, Scottish ale (which won a gold at the World Beer Cup this year), and that imperial red ale.
Over seven days, 285 judges tried 8,836 beer entries from breweries and cideries across 102 categories. For the first time ever, this included 233 ciders from 65 different cider makers, “which is amazing for the first year doing this,” remarked Brewers Association Competition Director Chris Williams. In total, the Brewers Association doled out 326 awards.
Williams says the top three highest-entered categories remained the same—Juicy Hazy, West Coast, and American-style IPA. “We all know you love your IPA,” remarked Williams. “But this year, interestingly, we saw new lagers come in [to the awards].” For instance, the number four most-entered category was Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest, with 210 entries.
Other highly entered categories included German-Style Pilsener, with 175 entries. “A big category, but surprisingly not one of the top five this year,” said Williams. And Fruited American Sour Ale with 165 entries. The Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout category, with 131 entries, was “pretty competitive, too,” says Williams. For a new category this year, Italian-Style Pilsener, eighty-three entries were “not bad for a first year,” according to Williams.
As the cheers died down and Williams got set to start announcing all this year’s winners, he added in a final flourish, “It’s hard to overlook how utterly amazing this event is and the community it fosters. When at GABF, you’re part of the community and the family, and you’re always a part of the fun.”
A Quick Glance at the Winners of the 2024 Great American Beer Festival Awards
Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie | Hop Culture
Here are the winners in the top five most-entered categories.
You can find the entire list of 2024 winners here.
Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (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
West Coast-Style India Pale Ale (292 entries)
GOLD: Codebreaker | Trademark Brewing | Long Beach, CA
SILVER: Pacific Portal | Alma Mader Brewing Co. | Kansas City, MO
BRONZE: IPA For Aliens | Masthead Brewing Co. | Cleveland, OH
American-Style India Pale Ale (217 entries)
GOLD: Competition | Highland Park Brewery | Los Angeles, CA
SILVER: One Way | Old Caz Beer | Rohnert Park, CA
BRONZE: Lexical Gap | Pollyanna Brewing Co. | Lemont, IL
Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest (210 entries)
GOLD: Festbier | Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company | Glenwood Springs, CO
SILVER: Festbier | Northwoods Brewing Co. | Northwoods, NH
BRONZE: The Cushman | Morgan Territory Brewing | Tracy, CA
German-Style Maerzen (195 entries)
GOLD: Pleasantbräu Oktoberfest | Soul Brewing Company | Pleasantville, NY
SILVER: Marchtoberfest | Galveston Island Brewing | Galveston, TX
BRONZE: Oktoberfest | Left Hand Brewing Company | Longmont, CO
About The Author
Grace Lee-Weitz
Currently Drinking:
Fort Point Beer Co. KSA
Grace is the Senior Content Editor for Hop Culture and Untappd. She also organizes and produces the largest weeklong women, femme-identifying, and non-binary folx in craft beer festival in the country, Beers With(out) Beards, and the first-ever festival celebrating the colorful, vibrant voices in the queer community in craft beer, Queer Beer. An avid craft beer nerd Grace always found a way to work with beer. After graduating with a journalism degree from Northwestern University, she attended culinary school before working in restaurant management. She moonlighted as a brand ambassador at 3 Sheeps Brewing Co. on the weekends before moving into the beer industry full-time as an account coordinator at 5 Rabbit Cerveceria. Grace holds her Masters degree in the Food Studies program at NYU.
