The Brewers Association (BA) hosted the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) for the 37th year in a row in Denver last Thursday through Saturday. And once again, it was bigger than ever. Over 800 breweries poured more than 4,000 beers with approximately 62,000 people attending over the course of the three days. As those in the industry know, this event is far from an intimate industry gathering. And more than any year in the past, the enormous convention center setting took on an atmosphere of part circus, part beer-geek Disneyland and part over-sized carnival. Even the pretzel necklaces took it a new level; instead of wearing a string of pretzels around their neck, many participants had a large BAG of pretzels clipped to their necklace. Yet another sign that this event is all about being bigger, and not necessarily better. But the good news is, people still keep coming.
At the GABF awards ceremony on Saturday, the BA handed out a total of 306 medals to 280 breweries in a total of 102 beer categories. Not surprising given the continued growth in breweries across the country, the competition had a record breaking 8,496 entries representing a total of 2,404 breweries. Only one state, Mississippi, did not have at least one brewery represented. One glaring indication of the quickly evolving industry was the fact that the most-entered category this year was a category that didn’t even exist last year; Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale style.
View the 2018 winners or download a PDF list of the winners.
Other notable awards were:
Brewery and Brewer of the Year Awards
Packaging Breweries
Very Small Brewing Company of the Year – Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group
<1,000 barrels produced in 2017
Brink Brewing Co. – Cincinnati, OH; Brewmaster: Kelly Montgomery
Small Brewing Company of the Year – Sponsored by ABS Commercial
1,000 – 14,999 barrels produced in 2017
Lewis & Clark Brewing Co. – Helena, MT; Brewmaster: Lewis & Clark Brewing and Packaging Crew
Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year – Sponsored by MicroStar Logistics
15,000 – 6,000,000 barrels produced in 2017
pFriem Family Brewers – Hood River, OR; Brewmaster: pFriem Family Brewers
Brewpubs
Small Brewpub of the Year – Sponsored by Briess Malt & Ingredients
<750 barrels produced in 2017
Ocean Beach Brewery – San Diego, CA; Brewmaster: Jim Millea & Scott Watkins
Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year – Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group
750 – 1,500 barrels produced in 2017
Root Down Brewing Co. – Phoenixville, PA; Brewmaster: Root Down Brew Team
Large Brewpub of the Year – Sponsored by The Country Malt Group
Over 1,500 barrels produced in 2017
The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. – Austin, TX; Brewmaster: Amos Swifty Kim
Large Breweries or Multiple Location Breweries
Brewery Group of the Year – Sponsored by Live Oak Bank
Over 6,000,000 barrels produced in 2017 or multi-location breweries wishing to compete as a group
FiftyFifty Brewing Co. – Truckee, CA; Brewmaster: FiftyFifty BrewCrew