The largest annual gathering of American brewers took place Oct. 9-11 as thousands poured into the Denver Convention Center for the 39th edition of the Great American Beer Festival, during which 250 judges, including this author, sampled a collective 8,315 beers and ciders from around the U.S. to award 347 medals to 273 breweries in 108 beer categories, six cider categories, plus a Pro-Am Competition and Collaboration Competition.
California breweries took home well over a fifth of those medals, with impressive performances from four Bay Area breweries in particular, each of which won two or more medals. Overall, Bay Area breweries accounted for 18 of the 79 California medals, and a few new names were among the awardees.
This year’s biggest winner was Oakland’s Ghost Town Brewing, which won five medals at the World Beer Cup earlier this year. In this competition, it won two silvers for Pena Smrti, a Czech-style pale lager, and Shatterlight, an Italian-style pilsner, and a bronze for Perverse Inverse, a New Zealand IPA.
Picking up two medals apiece were Barebottle Brewing, Cellarmaker Brewing and Morgan Territory Brewing. Barebottle won two gold medals for Hella Jalepeño in the chile beer category and Dank Dank Revolution in the juicy or hazy strong pale ale category. Morgan Territory won gold for its Raven’s Home Imperial Stout and a silver for HopTomic in the highly competitive imperial IPA category. Cellarmaker won two bronzes for Old Head Red in the American amber or red ale category and Pretty Pretty Pils in the American pilsner category.
Other Bay Area gold medalists included Berryessa Brewing for Free Kittens, a contemporary American-style lager; Richmond’s Armistice Brewing for Gravity Bomb, an international-style pale ale; and Pond Farm Brewing of San Rafael for its Dark Mast in the session beer or Belgian-style table beer category.
The brewery team at Hop Dogma Brewing in Half Moon Bay celebrates its silver medal win at the Great American Beer Festival alongside Bart Watson, president of the Brewers Association. Hop Dogma took home a silver for its New Zealand IPA, Muka Laka Hiki. (Courtesy Photo © Brewers Association)Russian River Brewing took home a silver medal for its experimental RnD West Coast Pils #7 (in the new category of Vera hop beer) as did Half Moon Bay’s Hop Dogma Brewing for Muka Laka Hiki, a New Zealand IPA. Also bringing home silver medals were Del Cielo Brewing in Martinez for its Órale, a Mexican-style pale lager, and Solano Brewing for its Mama Rosa, a chocolate beer.
Receiving bronze medals, Epidemic Ales of Concord won for its Lager at World’s End, an American-style lager, and San Ramon’s Canyon Lakes Golf Course & Brewery for its O.B. Brown, a historical beer. I was especially happy to see Canyon Lakes brewer Dave Scott win this award — he’s a one-man operation and brews an impressive array of beers. Even if you don’t love golf, the brewery is worth a visit.
But that’s not all — because hard ciders are also part of the competition. Northern California cidery Gowan’s Heirloom Cider earned four medals, including golds in the tannic cider category with its 1876 Heirloom, the botanical or spiced cider category for its Spiced Apple and in the most competitive fruited cider category for its Honey Citron cider. The cidery also won a silver in the tannic cider category for its Classic Dry. This led to Don and Sharon Gowan’s Philo cidery being named “Cidermaker of the Year.”
Overall, the average category had 71 beers entered, but the top five most popular categories shifted around slightly. They were Juicy or Hazy IPA, West Coast IPA (for which appropriately, California breweries received the top honors), Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest, German-Style Pilsner and Hoppy Lager. The latter two categories are new to the top five, reflecting the increasing popularity of lagers nationwide.
If you haven’t visited any of the award-winning California breweries, either in a while or ever, now is a great time to do so. If you can’t make it to the brewery, pick some California brews up at your local beer store. Drinking these breweries’ beer is the best way to thank them for all the great ales, lagers and ciders they’re making.
Contact Jay R. Brooks at [email protected].
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