In addition to being the country’s largest annual craft-beer fest, Denver’s Great American Beer Festival is also the site of the world’s largest annual professional brewing competition. Each year, thousands of brewing companies submit their ales and lagers to be evaluated in distinct style categories by certified beer judges and industry aficionados, hoping to bring home medals that represent the grandest form of bragging rights.
As the name implies, the event is always great, however, this year’s GABF was particularly special. Due to the pandemic, the festival did not take place in 2020 or 2021. So, not only was this the first time beer fans and industry personnel could gather again, it was also the first time a physical awards ceremony could be held to announce the winners of the competition component. That spectacle took place this morning at the Colorado Convention Center and was broadcast online via The Brewing Network.
Medals were awarded in 98 different style categories plus the 2022 Collaboration and Pro-Am Competitions. This year, San Diego County brewers amassed a total of 15 medals. Three of them were gold, eight were silver and four were bronze.
The prestigious title of Brewery of the Year (for brewing companies producing 2,001 to 5,000 barrels per year) went to North Park Beer Co., which collected a gold, silver and two bronzes, all for highly-contested hoppy-beer categories (English India Pale Ale or New Zealand India Pale Ale, Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale, American India Pale Ale, Imperial India Pale Ale), a remarkable feat. NPBC was also the only brewery to win medals in multiple style categories. Other gold-medal winners included Santee’s BNS Brewing & Distilling Co. and Carlsbad’s Rouleur Brewing.
A number of awards were earned by local beers that have medaled at previous editions of GABF and its international sister-competition, the World Beer Cup. Those included Pizza Port’s perennial award-winning Guillame (Session Beer or Belgian-style Table Beer), Kilowatt Brewing’s Maple Smoked Maibock (Specialty Beer), The Coachman from Societe Brewing (Session India Pale Ale) and Cimmerian Portal from Stone Brewing’s Liberty Station brewery-restaurant (American Black Ale or American Stout).
A quartet of breweries took a collective bronze medal in the Collaboration Competition for an imperial stout called Guns Out For Grain Out, which was brewed at Pizza Port’s Ocean Beach brewpub in collaboration with Chula Vista Brewery, Karl Strauss Brewing and Nickel Beer Co.
GABF celebrated its 40-year anniversary this year. The 2022 competition included a total of 9,904 entries. In previous years, the medals garnered by San Diego County breweries has totaled 18 (2021), 13 (2020), 18 (2019), 16 (2018), 14 (2017) and 18 (2016).
The following is a full list of this year’s winning local beers…
GOLD MEDALS
- Belgian-style Ale or French-style Ale: Domestique Blonde Ale, Rouleur Brewing (Carlsbad)
- English India Pale Ale or New Zealand India Pale Ale: NZ-FU!, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
- Strong Red Ale: My Bloody Nightmare, BNS Brewing & Distilling (Santee)
SILVER MEDALS
- American Black Ale or American Stout: Stone Cimmerian Portal, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station (Point Loma)
- English Mild or Bitter: Brewer’s Best, Gravity Heights (Sorrento Mesa)
- English-style Brown Ale: Three Beagles, Bagby Beer Co. (Oceanside)
- Imperial India Pale Ale: Hop Diggity, Mother Earth Brew Co. *
- Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale: X-Raying Citra, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
- Non-alcohol Beer: Lemon Radler, Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
- Session Beer or Belgian-style Table Beer: Guillame, Pizza Port (Ocean Beach)
- Session India Pale Ale: The Coachman, Societe Brewing (Kearny Mesa)
- Specialty Beer: Maple Smoked Maibock, Kilowatt Brewing (Kearny Mesa)
BRONZE MEDALS
- 2022 Collaboration Competition: Guns Out For Grains Out; Pizza Port Ocean Beach, Chula Vista Brewery, Karl Strauss Brewing & Nickel Beer Co.
- American India Pale Ale: Hop-Fu!, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
- Fruited Wood- and Barrel-aged Sour Beer: Peach Afternoon, The Lost Abbey (San Marcos)
- Imperial India Pale Ale: Double-Fu!, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
* Mother Earth Brew Co. was founded in Vista and operates a brewhouse there, however, the award-winning beer was produced at the company’s production facility in Nampa, Idaho