Each fall, national trade organization, the Brewers Association, puts on the country’s largest beer fest in its home base of Denver, Colorado. Dubbed the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the multi-day event has been taking place since 1982, and while it has seen great growth over much of the past four decades, there has been a drop in attendance in recent years. Because of that, this year the event was reduced from three days to two and moved from its longtime host venue, the Colorado Convention Center, to an outdoor venue in Denver’s Ruby Hill neighborhood called Levitt Pavilion. That’s a lot of changes for such a longstanding, tradition-driven event, but one aspect of GABF that hasn’t changed is its professional brewing competition component.
Medals garnered at GABF remain the most coveted awards for American brewers. Whether members of expansive production teams at macro-sized beer companies or armies-of-one brewing nano-sized batches at small neighborhood breweries, anyone can find themself taking the (nationally televised) stage to accept a gold, silver or bronze acknowledgment of their exceptional craftsmanship. It’s a key reason so many industry professionals not only flock to Denver to staff the event and attend the awards ceremony, but also show up many days in advance to assist in the extensive judging process. GABF is a big deal, and even though it has an international sister competition called the World Beer Cup (AKA: “The Olympic of Beers”), for U.S. brewers, no brand of bragging rights eclipses those earned in Denver.
The 2026 edition of GABF included 7,267 entries (including ciders) in 100-plus style categories from 1,300 U.S. breweries and cideries. Those entries were judged by 225 certified judges and experienced veterans from the brewing industry (including professionals from San Diego County beer companies). This year, there were six style categories which garnered 150 entries or more.
San Diego County breweries have a long history of success at GABF. Local brewing companies earned 12 medals in each of the past two years’ competitions, totals that were bolstered to 18 and 14 in 2025 and 2024, respectively, thanks to medal-winning efforts from local breweries’ out-of-county satellite facilities and out-of-town operations with brewing outlets in San Diego. Going further back, local businesses won 18 medals in 2023, 15 in 2022, 18 in 2021, 13 in 2020, 18 in 2019, 16 in 2018, 14 in 2017, 18 in 2016 and 20 in 2015.
Winners from the 2026 GABF competition were announced this morning, and this year San Diego County breweries amassed 13 total medals – seven golds, five silvers and one bronze. That total ramps up to 16 counting a gold and two bronzes won by Orange County-based Green Cheek Beer Co., which operates a brewpub in Oceanside. This year’s total included the most gold medals won by locals since 2021. Moreover, it saw San Marcos-based Craft Coast Brewing win Brewery of the Year (for businesses brewing 1,001-2,000 barrels of beer per year) behind a pair of gold medals for its English-style Brown Ale, Beería, and International Dark Lager, Oscura.
Craft Coast, East Village Brewing and Ketch Brewing all earned two golds, with the latter also bringing home a bronze, making it the biggest winner of the year by medal count. Stone Brewing also took multiple medals with a gold and a silver in categories it has performed well in over multiple years, American or Export Stout and American Brown Ale.
Of the single-medal winners, The Lost Abbey Brewing took gold in the Other Strong Beer category, while TapRoom Beer Co. came in second in the most highly contested category of the competition, West Coast-style India Pale Ale. Brewpubs Puesto Cervecería and Pizza Port Solana Beach garnered a silver and bronze, respectively. North Park Beer Co. (NPBC) also nabbed a silver in the Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale category for its 10-year anniversary triple hazy IPA, but that wasn’t the only achievement for the company this year.
NPBC also scored a major win in an annual competition that takes place in Denver just ahead of GABF. Dubbed the Alpha King Challenge, the contest examines IPAs from brewing companies across the nation to find the boldest, most balanced hoppy beer of them all. NPBC took top honors this year for Freshie Fresh, a West Coast IPA fortified with the equivalent of seven pounds per-barrel of Mosaic, Mosaic Hyperboost, Mosaic Cryo and Mosaic Cryo Fresh hops. It was the first time in NPBC’s decade of entering the competition that the company placed in the top 25 of all Alpha King Challenge entries.
The following is a full list of beers from San Diego County breweries that medaled at this year’s GABF competition…
Gold Medals (8)
American or Export Stout: Stone Cimmerian Portal, Stone Brewing (Point Loma)
Coffee Beer: Stay Calm, East Village Brewing (East Village)
Coffee Stout or Porter: Beatnik, East Village Brewing (East Village)
English-style Brown Ale: Beería, Craft Coast Brewing (San Marcos)
Golden or Blonde Ale: Brig Blonde, Ketch Brewing (Kearny Mesa)
International Dark Lager: Oscura, Craft Coast Brewing (San Marcos)
Other Strong Beer: Inferno, The Lost Abbey Brewing (Vista)
Specialty India Pale Ale: Doom Sludge, Green Cheek Beer Co. (Costa Mesa) *
Silver Medals (5)
American Brown Ale: Stone Lifeblood, Stone Brewing (Point Loma)
International Dark Lager: Puesto Negra, Puesto Cervecería (Mission Valley)
Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale: NPBC10 Hazy Triple IPA, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
Sweet Stout or Cream Stout: OATS, Pizza Port Brewing (Solana Beach)
West Coast-style India Pale Ale: Born Hoppy, TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park)
Bronze Medals (3)
Imperial India Pale Ale: Chance Favors the Prepared Mind, Green Cheek Beer Co. (Orange) *
Italian-style Pilsener: Zombi Shark Fight, Green Cheek Beer Co. (Costa Mesa) *
New Zealand-style Pale Ale: Day Cruise, Ketch Brewing (Kearny Mesa)
Alpha King Challenge
1st Place: Freshie Fresh, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
* Beer brewed by company based outside the county which operates a location in San Diego County
All of the winning beers and brewing companies from the 2026 Great American Beer Festival can be found online