Great American Beer Festival 2026 Wraps Up in Denver, with 336 Medals Awarded

The 2026 Great American Beer Festival brought together breweries and cideries and industry experts for a celebration of American craft brewing. It highlighted the creativity – and evolving styles – shaping the industry. The event combined a competitive judging process with a showcase of established favorites and emerging beverage trends including several new categories that gave producers fresh opportunities to stand out. The festival concluded with an awards ceremony in Denver recognizing the craftsmanship and innovation driving the country’s beer and cider scene.

In a press release, the organizers of the Great American Beer Festival (Brewers Association) revealed that this year, a total of 243 breweries and cideries took home 336 medals.

A staggering 7,267 entries had been made, with 225 expert judges evaluating them.

“The submissions from this year’s competition continue to reflect just how far American brewing and cidermaking have come,” said Chris Williams, competition director for the Brewers Association. “The addition of multiple new styles and unique concepts like the ‘Craft Malt Beer’ and ‘Hop Water’ categories gave producers fresh ground to explore. The overarching quality presented by so many of the contenders underlines how intensive the judging process is and how competitively these contenders rise to the occasion with entries that pushed each category forward. GABF remains one of the most competitive stages in craft beer, and these winners represent the very best our industry has to offer. Congratulations to this year’s medalists.”

The awards ceremony was held at Levitt Pavilion and live-streamed on The Brewing Network on Sunday, October 11, 2026, as part of the Great American Beer Festival.

GABF Competition Statistics

• 7,267 entries (beer, cider, hop water) judges
• 1,300 breweries & cideries in the competition from 49 states, plus Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico
• 225 judges
• 200+ volunteers
• Average number of beers entered in each category: 67
• Category with the highest number of entries: Category 102: West Coast-Style India Pale Ale (277 entries)
• 336 total medals awarded
• 243 medal-winning breweries and cideries
• 125 first-time GABF competition entrants
• 12 first-time GABF competition winners
• Five cider categories
• New categories: Rice Lager, Hop Water, Craft Malt Category, Multi-Adjunct Beer (subcategory of Specialty Beer), Hybrid/Crossover Beer (subcategory of Specialty Beer), Gluten-Free divided into Classic Ale or Lager, Hoppy, Specialty

Top 5 Most-Entered Beer Style Category Winners

* Both categories tie for the fifth most-entered category, each with 161 entries.

Category 102: West Coast-Style India Pale Ale (277 entries) – Sponsored by Wyeast

GOLD: Before & After Science | Human People Beer | Seattle, WA

SILVER: Born Hoppy | TapRoom Beer Co. | San Diego, CA

BRONZE: Mosaic + Krush Cryo West Coast IPA | pFriem Family Brewers | Hood River, OR

Category 101: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (260 entries) – Sponsored by Wyeast

GOLD: Because Science | Bend Brewing Co. | Bend, OR

SILVER: Icy Fog | McMenamins Breweries | Portland, OR

BRONZE: The Goat |New York Beer Project – Beer Lodge | Orchard Park, NY

Category 56: German-Style Maerzen (184 entries)

GOLD: Altstadt Oktoberfest | Altstadt Brewery | Fredericksburg, TX

SILVER: Oktoberfest | Bingo Beer Co. | Richmond, VA

BRONZE: Oktoberfestfest | MainStage Brewing Co. | Boulder, CO

Category 100: American India Pale Ale (165 entries) – Sponsored by Stronger Can, Better Service

GOLD: Breakside IPA | Breakside Brewery & Taproom | Milwaukie, OR

SILVER: Built for Speed | Grains of Wrath Brewing | Camas, WA

BRONZE: Green Battles | Pinthouse Pizza – North | Austin, TX

Category 50*: German-Style Pilsener (161 entries)

GOLD: Altstadt Pils | Altstadt Brewery | Fredericksburg, TX

SILVER: Templin Family Fass Bier | Templin Family Brewing | Salt Lake City, U

BRONZE: Pazifik Coast Highway | Beachwood Brewing | Huntington Beach, CA

Category 54*: Dortmunder or German-Style Festbier (161 entries)

GOLD: Festbier | Wren House Brewing Co. | Phoenix, AZ

SILVER: 8th Anniversary Lager | Fat Head’s Brewery | Middleburg Heights, OH

BRONZE: Counter Weight Fest Bier | Counter Weight Brewing Co. | Cheshire, CT 

Most-entered Cider Category Winners

Category 203: Fruited Cider (58 entries)

GOLD: Gowan’s Heirloom Cider | Honey Citron | Philo, CA

SILVER: 2 Towns Ciderhouse |Golden Lime Cosmic Crisp | Corvallis, OR

BRONZE: 2 Towns Ciderhouse | Huckleberry Cosmic Crisp | Corvallis, OR

Brewery of the Year

0-250 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

Mieza Blendery | Alexandria, VA

>250–500 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

UPP Liquids | Bend, OR

>500–1,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. | Golden, CO

>1,000–2,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

Craft Coast | Oceanside, CA

>2,000–5,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

Morgan Territory Brewing | Tracy, CA

>5,000–15,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

Fieldwork Brewing Company | Berkeley, CA

>15,000–100,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

Breakside Brewery & Taproom | Milwaukie, OR

>100,000+ Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year

Goose Island Beer Co. | Chicago, IL

Cidermaker of the Year

Snow Capped Cider | Austin, CO

The 2026 Great American Beer Festival was made possible in part by the generous support of its presenting sponsors: Amoretti, Antigo Zeon, Country Malt Group, John I. Haas, and Prairie Malt; its category sponsors, and through a partnership with the American Cider Association.

View the 2026 winners [PDF]:

About the Great American Beer Festival

The Great American Beer Festival® (GABF), hosted annually by the Brewers Association since 1982, is the longest-running, premier beer festival in the United States. GABF offers consumers thousands of beverage samples from producers around the country, and countless opportunities for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage discovery along the way. The Great American Beer Festival Competition, is the nation’s largest professional brewing competition where beers and ciders are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals, and is the nation’s largest professional brewing competition where beers and ciders are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals recognized around the world as symbols of brewing excellence.