GABF
2020 GABF Awards Results | Who Won Big at This Year’s Competition
October 16, 2020 | Tristan Chan
Much like the rest of 2020, this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF) has been anything but the norm. Without a week filled with rare beer releases, mini-festivals drawing hype … Read More
Breweries with the Most GABF Medals and More Competition Trends
October 15, 2020 | Tristan Chan
Tomorrow night marks the 34th iteration of the competition portion of the Great American Beer Festival. And while this GABF week looks and feels unlike any other, tomorrow night’s awards … Read More
Jameson Caskmates Continues to Partner With U.S. Breweries
October 13, 2020 | Mathew Powers
The conversation that begat Jameson Caskmates transpired at a pub in Ireland’s County Cork in 2014, eventually evolving and growing into a program that included numerous U.S. Craft Breweries and ultimately a partnership with the Great American Beer Festival (2018 & 2019). Although GABF is virtual this year due to the relentless pandemic, Jameson remains focused as ever on its Caskmates and craft-beer partnerships.
Roundup | GABF Passport Offers Exclusive Beer Release Opportunities
October 9, 2020 | Tristan Chan
As 2020 continues to shift all of our favorite events to digital platforms, this year’s Great American Beer Festival has introduced a digital brewery passport in an effort to give … Read More
GABF Passport | Illinois Breweries
September 21, 2020 | Mathew Powers
It’s tempting to bemoan the fact that the industry remains in a lengthy pandemic-induced pivot. However, it’s time to start focusing on what is instead of what isn’t happening. For this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF), beer drinkers will have a chance to purchase a GABF Passport that gives them access to a host of good deals (an idea similar to Chicago and Illinois Craft Beer Weeks held in previous years). One can purchase the $20 GABF Passport and start enjoying brewery deals October 1 through October 18. As well, the passport gives beer drinkers an opportunity to attend (view) the star-studded Virtual GABF Festival (October 16-17) (which includes the awards ceremony).
Falling Rock Alternative Festival of Great Beer Aims to Fill Void of GABF
September 18, 2020 | Tristan Chan
For the past 22 years, on the Monday before the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), one of the country’s most iconic beer bars has helped usher in the event with a celebratory kick-off tapping at 5 p.m.
However this year, on September 21, when Falling Rock Tap House’s GABF countdown timer would normally have ticked down to all zeros, there will be little pomp and circumstance as the festival transitions to a virtual format in response to the pandemic.
Great American Beer Festival Pivoting to Virtual Event in 2020
May 21, 2020 | Tristan Chan
The writing has been on the wall for some time, but this morning the Brewers Association officially confirmed that this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF) will not take place … Read More
Brickway Brewery & Distillery | Jalapeño Pineapple Pils GABF Gold
November 26, 2019 | Lori Kitzing
Being a fan of spicy food, I’ve tried to like chili beers. Some are too mild, some blast out my taste buds; I rarely finish a full pint before tapping out. But when I heard that the GABF Gold Medal Winner for Chili Beer was a quick drive away in Omaha, Nebraska, I knew I had to try it.
When you take your first sip of Brickway Brewery & Distillery’s Jalapeno Pineapple Pils, you will set down your glass and say, “Oh, I get it. That’s what a chili beer is supposed to taste like.”
Preview of GABF Gold Begyle BBA Imperial Pajamas | Nov 15 Release
November 14, 2019 | Mathew Powers
The GABF Gold Medal awarded to Begyle Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Pajamas validated what many already knew: in a town abound in exceptional bourbon-barrel-aged beer, Begyle’s has risen to become one of the best. The 2019 release on Friday, November 15, will be the first for the Community Supported Brewery (CSB) since winning the medal. They graciously hosted PorchDrinking a couple of days early, offering to provide us with a few tastes and plenty of discussion about its barreling program.
Market Garden Brewery | Prosperity Wheat
November 4, 2019 | David Nilsen
Market Garden Brewery in the historic Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, has made a name for itself on the success of an unlikely flagship beer for a modern craft brewery. Prosperity Wheat is a Bavarian-style Hefeweizen, and it won the gold medal for the style at the Great American Beer Festival last month.
Comrade Brewing Company | Superpower IPA Wins Big at GABF
October 16, 2019 | Scott Grossman
Denver’s Comrade Brewing Company showed its true superpower at this year’s Great American Beer Festival: winning medals. Comrade took home golds for SuperPower IPA and More Dodge Less RAM and was also named Small Brewing Company of the Year.
Superpower IPA beat out 130 other entries to win the American-Style Strong Pale Ale category to prove why it has been a taproom staple since Comrade opened five years ago. Read More
One Colorado Brewery Continues to Medal at Every GABF Since Opening
October 10, 2019 | Tristan Chan
When we speak about the 1990’s Chicago Bulls, John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins from the mid 60’s through 70’s, the 1950’s Yankees with Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra, or more contemporary examples like Geno Auriemma’s UConn Women’s Basketball teams from the mid 90’s to today, and from 2001 to today, the New England Patriots, we’re talking about iconic programs that have achieved greatness for such a sustained period of time and consistency, that they transcend normal recognition. They become spoken about in rarified air, as dynasties.
2019 Great American Beer Festival | Brink Brewing’s Incredible Success
October 10, 2019 | David Nilsen
Brink Brewing in the College Hill neighborhood of northern Cincinnati just opened in 2017, but they already have seven medals and awards from the Great American Beer Festival. In fact, they’ve never failed to medal in the three GABFs since their founding. Last week they brought home gold medals for their Hold the Reins English Mild and Moozie Milk Stout, as well as top honors for Very Small Brewing Company of the Year, which is awarded to a brewery producing fewer than 1,000 barrels of beer annually.
Exploring the Versatility of Caskmates Collaborations at GABF
October 9, 2019 | Mathew Powers
For the second year, Jameson Whiskey sponsored and participated in the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Twenty-two brewing partners used Jameson Irish Whiskey barrels to age beer and then pour the finished product for fans in the energetic, music-filled Caskmates Barrel Aged Beer Garden. For this Irish (craft beer loving) American writer, it was my (pleasurable) task to drink as many of the 45-plus creations and provide my feedback.
2019 Great American Beer Fest | Non-Alcoholic Beers Enter the Scene
October 9, 2019 | Casey Street
Non-alcoholic beers were an emerging category of beer at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival with several breweries participating in both the festival and the competition. While they played a small part in the overall event, their addition to the competition this year may be a harbinger of things to come if this trends continue in the right direction.
2019 Great American Beer Festival | Obscure & Historical Beer Styles
October 8, 2019 | David Nilsen
Pastry stouts, hazy IPAs and rare sours tend to command most of the buzz at the Great American Beer Festival; the lines at brewery booths pouring those beers last week in Denver certainly attested to that. However, I chose a different tasting route for my festival experience. As I wandered the festival floor, I didn’t so much choose “the road less traveled” as much as an overgrown path forgotten by time: I wanted to taste as many obscure, historical beer styles as I could.
GABF offers a wonderful educational opportunity for anyone who wants to taste styles largely lost to history. Want to know what a gruit tastes like? Want to compare multiple export stouts or Dortmunder lagers beside each other? You’ll never have a better chance to do it than at GABF.
Read More
Best Beer Names from the 2019 Great American Beer Festival
October 8, 2019 | Casey Street 1
Another Great American Beer Festival, another 4,000 beers in the books. Somehow breweries have yet to run out of beer puns for their beer names, so we searched high and low throughout the 2019 GABF to find the wittiest titles or otherwise amazing names. Though some were award winners and others were poured on the festival floor, all are hilarious.
Here are the best beer puns and names from GABF 2019.
Colorado Breweries Shine Bright at 2019 GABF Awards Ceremony
October 7, 2019 | Karen Mills
This has been another great year for the home state of the Great American Beer Festival. Colorado breweries took home a whopping 40 medals and two brewery/brewer of the year awards at this year’s GABF. Of the 40 medals, 13 of them were gold medals, 21 silver and six bronze. Without further ado, let’s deep dive into this some of this year’s winners.
Chicago takes hazy gold once again at GABF, 9 other medals
October 5, 2019 | Mike Zoller
Chicago is once again home to Great American Beer Festival’s gold medal-winning Hazy IPA after Old Irving Brewing Co. took home top honors for Beezer. Last year, the first year with the Hazy IPA category, Alarmist won the inaugural gold for Le Jus. (And, in 2017, Hailstorm won for its Prairie Madness IPA which was the most-entered category by breweries that year.)
2019 GABF Awards Results | Who Won Big at This Year’s Competition
October 5, 2019 | Tristan Chan
The 2019 Great American Beer Festival has crowned their newest batch of champions and standouts. This year, the competition portion of GABF saw 9,497 entries from 2,295 breweries across … Read More
recent comments