Colorado Breweries Take Home Top Honors at the 2025 GABF Competition

It was an absolute banner day for Colorado breweries during the 2025 Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony, as three Colorado breweries took home the highest honors in the Brewer and Brewery of the Year Categories and Colorado as a whole earned 36 medals throughout the competition.

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. continued their unbelievable streak of winning medals at 13 consecutive GABF competitions, this year winning a bronze medal for Trump Hands in the Session India Pale Ale category, which is the sixth GABF medal for that beer, a bronze for Deer Pallet in the International-Style Pale Ale, a Silver for Mindbender in the American-Style Strong Pale Ale, capped off with top honors as the 501–1,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year.

River North Brewery also had a massive day, winning a gold medal for Squirrels Just Want to Have Fun in the Coffee Beer Category, a gold for River North White in the Belgian-Style or French-Style Specialty Ale, and top honors as 1,001–2,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year. This was also River North Brewery’s fourth year in a row earning a medal at GABF.

“It’s an unblievable honor and so amazing to see River North White, one of the first beers we ever made at River North earn recognition after all these years. But it was also great to have one of our newest beers win for the first time as well,” said Matt Hess, founder of River North Brewery.

But perhaps the biggest winner of the day not just for the state of Colorado, but nationally as well, was Westbound & Down Brewing who has begun an impressive streak of their own of winning multiple medals at GABF for the fourth straight year. This accomplishment also follows several World Beer Cup wins as well. This year Westbound & Down tallied seven total medals including a silver medal for Scenic Route in the Session India Pale Ale category, a silver medal for Infinity Pils in the Hoppy Lager category, a gold medal for Westbound Italian Pils in the Italian-Style Pilsener, a gold for Parallel Pale in the American-Style Pale Ale category, a bronze for Westbound IPA in the American-Style Strong Pale Ale category, a gold for How the West Was One: Mosaic in the West Coast IPA category, the second most competitive category of the competition, and finally, top honors as 5,001–15,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year. Also of note, the Westbound team, which owns Aspen Brewing also earned a gold medal in the Mexican-Style Pale Lager category for Casa Bonita under the Aspen Brewing designation.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Westbound is on a mission to make the best beer in the country and bring pride and glory back to Colorado craft beer, and we did it today,” said Jake Gardner, Co-Owner and Director of Brewing Operations for Westbound & Down Brewing. ““It was a HUGE day for Colorado beer, and it was so great seeing three of us win brewery of the year honors.”

On the note of streaks, New Terrain and Left Hand Brewing both continued streaks of their own, now earning medals at GABF for the fourth year in a row.  

On a sadder but poetic note, Banded Oak Brewing, which recently closed its doors, earned a bronze medal for Manny’s Way Mexican Lager in the Contemporary American-style Lager Category.

Finally Colorado Cideries also took home six medals in the cider categories.

Colorado Breweries That Medaled at the 2025 Great American Beer Festival

Category 2: American Fruit Beer – 100 Entries 

Bronze: Black Razz Blonde, Joyride Brewing Co., Edgewater, CO

Category 3: Fruit Wheat Beer – 90 Entries

Gold: Key Lime Pie in the Sky, The Sandlot Brewery At Coors Field, Denver, CO

Category 9: Coffee Beer – 60 Entries

Gold: Squirrels Just Want to Have Fun, River North Brewery, Denver, CO

Category 13: Honey Beer – 53 Entries

Silver: Animals Strike Curious Poses, The Empourium Brewing Co., Denver, CO 

Category 16: Specialty Non-Alcohol Beer – 27 Entries

Silver: NA Tangerine Cream, Denver Beer Co. – Canworks, Denver, CO

Category 18: Session India Pale Ale – 71 Entries

Bronze: Trump Hands, Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO

Category 22: Experimental Beer – 73 Entries

Bronze: NaughTea, Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, CO

Category 23: Historical Beer – 40 Entries

Gold: 1554, New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO

Category 25: American-Belgo-Style Ale – 23 Entries

Bronze: Dear You, Ratio Beerworks, Denver, CO

Category 28: Brett Beer – 29 Entries

Bronze: Thinking of You, Long Table Brewhouse, Denver, CO

Category 31: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer – 88 Entries

Bronze: Moroccan Christmas, Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Co., Castle Rock, CO

Category 32: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout – 89 Entries

Gold: Vladislav, Diebolt Brewing, Denver, CO

Category 37: American-Style Light Lager – 142 Entries

Silver: Neon Lite, Cerebral Brewing – Aurora Arts, Aurora, CO

Category 40: Contemporary American-Style Lager – 59 Entries

Bronze: Manny’s Way Mexican Lager, Banded Oak Brewing Co., Denver, CO

Category 43: Mexican-Style Pale Lager – 148 Entries

Gold: Casa Bonita, Aspen Brewing Co., Aspen, CO

Category 49: Italian-Style Pilsener – 102 Entries

Gold: Westbound Italian Pils, Westbound & Down Brewing Co. – Westbound Mill, Lafayette, CO

Category 51: Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest – 186 Entries

Gold: Festbier, Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co., Glenwood Springs, CO

Category 52: Vienna-Style Lager – 90 Entries

Gold: Prost Vienna Lager, Prost Brewing Co. – Northglenn, Northglenn, CO

Category 56: German-Style Schwarzbier – 67 Entries

Gold: Prost Schwarzbier, Prost Brewing Co. – Northglenn, Northglenn, CO

Category 70: English Ale – 49 Entries

Gold: Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale, Oskar Blues, Longmont, CO

Category 76: Belgian-Style or French-Style Specialty Ale – 18 Entries

Gold: River North White, River North Brewery, Denver, CO

Category 77: Belgian-Style Witbier – 51 Entries

Bronze: Suntrip, New Terrain Brewing Co., Golden, CO

Category 90: Oatmeal Stout – 32 Entries

Gold: Backside Stout, Steamworks Brewing Co., Durango, CO

Category 93: Old Ale or Strong Ale or Barley Wine – 60 Entries

Gold: Breakfast in Brussels, Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, CO

Category 94: International-Style Pale Ale – 97 Entries

Bronze: Deer Pallet, Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO

Category 96: American-Style Pale Ale – 115 Entries

Gold: Parallel Pale, Westbound & Down Brewing Co. – Westbound Mill, Lafayette, CO

Category 98: American-Style Strong Pale Ale – 120 Entries 

Silver: Mindbender, Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO

Bronze: Westbound IPA, Westbound & Down Brewing Co. – Westbound Mill, Lafayette, CO

Category 105: West Coast IPA – 300 Entries

Gold: How the West Was One: Mosaic, Westbound & Down Brewing Co., Idaho Springs, CO

Category 106: American-Style India Pale Ale – 166 Entries

Silver: Time’s Arrow, Our Mutual Friend Brewing, Denver, CO

Category 500: Pro-Am Comp – 40 Entries

Gold: Christopher’s Bier, Fritz Family Brewers – Christopher Owens, Longmont, CO 

501–1,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year Sponsored by Hurst Boilers

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO

1,001–2,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year Sponsored by Hass

River North Brewery, Denver, CO River North Brew Team 

5,001–15,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year Sponsored by Country Malt Group

Westbound & Down Brewing Co. – Westbound Mill, Lafayette, CO Westbound & Down Brewing Team

Category 201: Tannic Cider – 21 Entries

Bronze: Kingston Black, Snow Capped Cider, Austin, CO

Category 204: Botanical or Spiced Cider – 25 Entries 

Silver: Plum & Lemongrass, Snow Capped Cider, Austin, CO 

Category 205: Experimental, Barrel-Aged or Specialty Cider – 27 Entries

Gold: Calville Blanc d’Hiver Ice Cider, Haykin Family Cider, Aurora, CO

Category 206: Single Varietal Cider – 16 Entries

Gold: Mountain Rose, Haykin Family Cider, Aurora, CO

Silver: Gravenstien, Snow Capped Cider, Austin, CO

Bronze: Niedzwetzkyana, Haykin Family Cider, Aurora, CO