242 Breweries Take Home Medals at 2015 Great American Beer Festival®

275 Professional Medals Awarded, 423 First-Time Participants
Compete

BOULDER, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The 2015 Great
American Beer Festival (GABF) competition awarded 275 medals to some
of the best commercial breweries in the United States, plus three GABF
Pro-Am medals to teams of amateur brewers paired with professional
brewers.

Presented by the Brewers
Association, GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the
world and a symbol of brewing excellence. In its 29th year, the 2015
competition surpassed all previous participation records, exceeding last
year’s record-setting competition.

View
the 2015 winners or download
a PDF list of the winners.

Overview: Great American Beer Festival Competition

Award-winning brewers received prestigious gold, silver and bronze
medals in 92 beer categories covering 145 different beer styles
(including all subcategories), establishing the best examples of each
style in the country. Winners were chosen from 6,647 competition entries
(20 percent more than in 2014) from 1,552 breweries hailing from 50
states plus Washington, D.C.

This year’s GABF competition saw its biggest panel of judges ever, with
242 beer experts from 15 countries, including the U.S., and 155
competition volunteers. The panel also evaluated 91 Pro-Am entries.

2015 Brewery and Brewer of the Year Awards

Very Small Brewing Company and Very Small Brewing Company Brewer of
the Year
Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group (BSG)
Rip
Current Brewery (San Marcos, Calif.)
Paul Sangster and Guy Shobe

Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored
by O-I
Port City Brewing Co. (Alexandria, Va.)
Port City
Brewing Co. Team

Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the
Year
Sponsored by MicroStar Logistics
Firestone
Walker Brewing Co. (Paso Robles, Calif.)
Firestone Walker Brewing
Co. Team

Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored
by Beer Institute
Pabst Brewing Co. (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Gregory
Deuhs

Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Sponsored
by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.
Melvin Brewing (Jackson,
Wyo.)
Kirk McHale and Jeremy Tofte

Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year
Sponsored by Brewers Supply
Group (BSG)
TAPS Fish House & Brewery (Corona, Calif.)
TAPS
Fish House & Brewery Team

Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Sponsored
by Country Malt Group
Titletown Brewing Co. (Green Bay, Wis.)
David
Oldenburg

Overall Competition Highlights

Reflecting craft brewing’s sustained excellence nationwide as the
industry grows, overall competition highlights include:

• 38 first-time entering breweries won awards.
• Top three states by ratio of medals to entries by state:
  • Maine: 21% with 14 entries and three medals
  • Rhode Island: 10% with 10 entries and one medal
  • North Dakota: 8% with 12 entries and one medal
  • Most medals won, with three medals each:
    • Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, Calif. (three medals:
      two gold, one bronze)
    • Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, Ind. (three medals: one gold,
      one silver, one bronze)
    • Port City Brewing Co.; Alexandria, Va. (three medals: two silver,
      one bronze)
    • Left Hand Brewing Co.; Longmont, Colo. (three medals: one gold,
      two bronze)
    • Category 8: Chili Pepper Beer
    • Category 16: Session India Pale Ale
    • Category 24B: Mixed Culture Brett Beer

    Style Categories

    Since 2002, the most-entered category has been American-Style India Pale
    Ale (IPA), which saw 336 entries in 2015.

    The top five entered categories were:

    1. American-Style India Pale Ale (336 entries)
    2. Imperial India Pale Ale (208 entries)
    3. Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer (179 entries)
    4. Session India Pale Ale (161 entries)
    5. American-Style Pale Ale (160 entries)

    The winners in the most-entered (that is, the most competitive)
    categories were:

    1. American-Style India Pale Ale (336 entries)
       Gold: BNS
       Brewing & Distilling Co., Revolver IPA (Santee, Calif.)
       Silver:
       Wicked Weed Brewing – Candler, Pernicious IPA (Candler, N.C.)
       Bronze:
       The Brew Kettle Taproom and Smokehouse, White Rajah (Strongsville,
       Ohio)
    2. Imperial India Pale Ale (208 entries)
       Gold: Fat Head’s
       Brewery, Hop Juju Imperial IPA (Middleburg Heights, Ohio)
       Silver:
       Laurelwood Public House and Brewery, Eazy Duz It IIPA (Portland, Ore.)
       Bronze:
       Breakwater Brewing Co., Teahupo’o (Oceanside, Calif.)
    3. Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer (179 entries)
       Gold:
       Nebraska Brewing Co., Melange A Trois (La Vista, Neb.)
       Silver:
       Sun King Brewing Co., Batch 666: Sympathy for the Devil (Indianapolis,
       Ind.)
       Bronze: Ska Brewing, Ska Face (Durango, Colo.)
    4. Session India Pale Ale (161 entries)
       Gold: Societe Brewing
       Co., The Coachman (San Diego, Calif.)
       Silver: Steel Toe Brewing,
       Size 4 (St. Louis Park, Minn.)
       Bronze: Noble Ale Works, Nose
       Candy (Anaheim, Calif.)
    5. American-Style Pale Ale (160 entries)
       Gold: Central Coast
       Brewing Co., Monterey St. Pale Ale (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
       Silver:
       Track 7 Brewing Co. – Natomas, Hoppy Palm (Sacramento, Calif.)
       Bronze:
       Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Featherweight Pale Ale (Golden, Colo.)

    2015 Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition
    Sponsored
    by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co., The Country Malt Group, Yakima
    Chief-Hopunion and White Labs

    Gold, silver and bronze medals were also awarded in the GABF Pro-Am
    competition, which pairs amateur brewers with professional brewers, who
    scale up the award-winning homebrew recipes. The medal winners,
    including the winning professional brewers and American
    Homebrewers Association (AHA) member homebrewers are:

    Gold: Muscat Love, Great South Bay Brewery, (Bay Shore, N.Y.)
    Brewmaster:
    Great South Bay Brewery Team and AHA member Brian Giebel

    Silver: Atahsaisa, Odd13 Brewing (Lafayette, Colo.)
    Brewmaster:
    Ryan Scott and Brandon Boldt and AHA member Mike Froehlich

    Bronze: Citra IPA, FATE Brewing Co. (Boulder, Colo.)
    Brewmaster:
    FATE Brewing Company Team and AHA member Ryan Lotter

    Summary: 2015 Great American Beer Festival Statistics

    • 750 breweries in the festival hall
    • 3,800 beers served at the festival
    • 60,000 attendees
    • 3,400 volunteers (festival and competition combined)
    • 1,552 breweries in the competition from 50 states plus Washington, D.C.
    • 242 medal-winning breweries
    • 6,647 beers judged (not including 91 Pro-Am competition entries), a 20
      percent increase over 2014
    • 92 style categories judged, plus the Pro-Am competition
    • 242 judges from 15 different countries
    • Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 72
      (excludes Pro-Am beers)
    • Category with highest number of entries: American-Style India Pale
      Ale: 336

    2015 Great American Beer Festival Official Sponsors

    Carhartt
    DRAFT Magazine
    MicroStar Logistics
    Red
    Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews
    CraftBeer.com

    Additional GABF sponsors are recognized on the festival website.

    About the Brewers Association

    The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association
    dedicated to small
    and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of
    brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than
    70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99
    percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including
    the World
    Beer Cup^®, Great
    American Beer Festival^®, Craft
    Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America^®, SAVOR℠:
    An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, AHA
    National Homebrewers Conference, National
    Homebrew Competition and American
    Craft Beer Week^®. The BA publishes The
    New Brewer magazine and its Brewers
    Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and
    relevant brewing literature for today’s craft brewers and homebrewers.

    Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft
    beer at CraftBeer.com and
    about homebrewing via the BA’s American
    Homebrewers Association. Follow us on Twitter.

    The Brewers Association is an equal opportunity employer and does not
    discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender,
    religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or
    marital/familial status. The BA complies with provisions of Executive
    Order 11246 and the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the
    Secretary of Labor.

    Contacts

    Brewers Association
    Barbara Fusco, 303-447-0816 ext. 152
    Sales
    & Marketing Director
    or
    The Rosen Group
    Abby Berman,
    646-695-7044
    Vice President