Washington’s breweries earned 28 medals at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival (GABF). One of Washington’s cider makers also earned a medal. The winners were announced on Saturday, October 12th at the awards ceremony in Denver. The Great American Beer Festival is the largest beer-judging competition in the country. It is also one of the most prestigious. I list all of the WA winners below. You can see the complete list of winners, from all states, here. (Pictured above, Cloudburst Brewing celebrates a win.)
Washington Highlights:
- First timers! Seven Washington breweries won GABF medals for the first time.
- PILSENER! Washington breweries won two of the three medals in the American Pilsener category (Project 9 Brewing and Cloudburst Brewing). Victor-23 Craft Brewery earned a medal in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category. In other words, WA brewers cleaned up in the pilsner categories this year.
- Single Hill Brewing earned a silver medal in the most hotly contested category: Juicy/Hazy IPA. (See below).
- MULTI-MEDAL WINNERS! Project 9 Brewing, Victory 23 Brewery, Grains of Wrath Brewing, and Structures Brewing earned multiple medals.
- GO FOR THE GUSTO! Once again, Georgetown Brewing’s Gusto Crema won a medal in the Coffee Beer category. Gusto Crema wins every competition it enters; it’s just that good.
2024 GABF Stats and Highlights
- 8,836 beers judged
- 1,869 breweries & cideries in the competition from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico
- 285 judges
- 250+ volunteers
- Average number of beers entered in each category: 85
- Category with the highest number of entries: Category 102 – Juicy/Hazy IPA (349 entries)
- 326 total medals awarded
- 273 medal-winning breweries
- 280 first-time GABF competition entrants
- 25 first-time GABF competition winners
Most-Entered Categories
It’s challenging to capture the judges’ attention when there are 350 beers on the table, so to speak. Earning a medal in one of the most-entered categories is impressive. Here are the 2024 GABF top five most-entered categories.
Category 102 | Juicy/Hazy IPA (349 entries)
GOLD: Professional Human Being | Ambitious Ales | Long Beach, CA
SILVER: Groundswell | Single Hill Brewing Co. | Yakima, WA
BRONZE: Crash of Rhinos | Movement Brewing Co. | Rancho Cordova, CA
Category 100: West Coast IPA (292 entries)
GOLD: Codebreaker | Trademark Brewing | Long Beach, CA
SILVER: Pacific Portal | Alma Mader Brewing | Kansas City, MO
BRONZE: IPA for Aliens | Masthead Brewing Co. | Cleveland, OH
Category 101: American-Style IPA (217 entries)
GOLD: Competition | Highland Park Brewery – Chinatown | Los Angeles, CA
SILVER: One Way | Old Caz Beer | Rohnert Park, CA
BRONZE: Lexical Gap | Pollyanna Brewing Co. | Lemont, IL
Category 50: Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest (210 entries)
GOLD: Festbier | Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co. | Glenwood Springs, CO
SILVER: Festbier | Northwoods Brewing Co. | Northwood, NH
BRONZE: The Cushman | Morgan Territory Brewing | Tracy, CA
Category 52: German-Style Maerzen (195)
GOLD: Pleasantbräu Oktoberfest | Soul Brewing Co. | Pleasantville, NY
SILVER: Marchtoberfest | Galveston Island Brewing | Galveston, TX
BRONZE: Oktoberfest | Left Hand Brewing Co. | Longmont, CO
Washington Medal Winners
Washington’s First-Time Winners
Congrats to the following seven WA breweries for scoring their first wins at GABF!
- Logan Brewing
- Project 9 Brewing
- Victor 23 Brewing (two medals)
- Seapine Brewing
- Talking Cedar Brewing
- Brick West Brewing
- Salish Sea Brewing
Washington Gold Medals
Brewery, Beer, Style
- Fremont Brewing, NA, Dark Amber to Dark Non-Alcohol Beer
- Project 9 Brewing Co, Distinguished Fellow, English Mild or Bitter
- Trap Door Brewing, Fresher Than Fresh, Fresh Hop Beer
- Seapine Brewing Co, Light Lager, International Light Lager
- Elysian Brewing Co, Great Pumpkin, Pumpkin Beer
- Wander Brewing, Correspondent, Stout
- Special Collaborations Medal! No Boat Brewing (collaboration with Obelisk Beer Co of Astoria, OR). Twenty-Fold Sword IPA.
Washington Silver Medals
Brewery, Beer, Style
- RAM Restaurant and Brewery, Buttface Amber, American Amber/Red Ale
- Stoup Brewing – Capitol Hill, Stoup American Stout, American Black Ale or American Stout
- Project 9 Brewing Co., Buccaneer’s Gold, American Pilsener
- Aslan Brewing Co., Disco Lemonade, German Sour Ale
- Victor-23 Craft Brewery, Co-Conspirator, German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock
- Logan Brewing Co., Easy Mode, Golden or Blonde Ale
- Single Hill Brewing Co., Groundswell, Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale
- Fair Isle Brewing, Knitting Circle S5 Batch C, Mixed-Culture Brett Beer
Washington Bronze Medals
Brewery, Beer, Style
- Cloudburst Brewing, Happy Little Clouds, American Pilsener
- Victor-23 Craft Brewery, Parachute Pivo, Bohemian-Style Pilsener
- Georgetown Brewing Co., Gusto Crema Coffee Ale, Coffee Beer
- Talking Cedar Brewing, Chehalis After Dark, German Dark Lager
- Kulshan Brewing Co – K2, Gose, German Sour Ale
- Brick West Brewing Co., Brick West Kolsch, German-Style Koelsch
- Grains of Wrath, Rancho Cowabunga, Hoppy Lager
- Structures Brewing, Czech Dark Lager, International Dark Lager
- Structures Brewing, Old Gold, Munich-Style Helles
- Grains of Wrath, Wastelandia, New Zealand India Pale Ale
- Salish Sea Brewing Co., Dark Chocolate Love, Robust Porter
- Alpenfire Cider, Glow – Airlie Redflesh SV, Single Varietal Cider