Here Are the Great American Beer Festival’s Best Beers and Ciders of 2026
Great American Beer Festival ® Competition Winners Announced
Denver, Colo. • October 11, 2026— The Brewers Association (BA) announced the beers and ciders taking home medals at this year's Great American Beer Festival® (GABF) competition. New this year, the competition added categories including rice lager, hop water, and a one-time craft malt category, along with two new specialty beer subcategories and three new standalone gluten-free style categories.
A total of 243 breweries and cideries took home 336 medals in this year’s Great American Beer Festival competition. Over three days, 225 expert judges evaluated 7,267 beer and cider entries—including 54 Collaboration and 30 Pro-Am submissions—from breweries across 49 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
"The submissions from this year's competition continue to reflect just how far American brewing and cidermaking have come," said Chris Williams, competition director for the Brewers Association. "The addition of multiple new styles and unique concepts like the ‘Craft Malt Beer’ and ‘Hop Water’ categories gave producers fresh ground to explore. The overarching quality presented by so many of the contenders underlines how intensive the judging process is and how competitively these contenders rise to the occasion with entries that pushed each category forward. GABF remains one of the most competitive stages in craft beer, and these winners represent the very best our industry has to offer. Congratulations to this year's medalists."
The awards ceremony was held at Levitt Pavilion and live-streamed on The Brewing Network on Sunday, October 11, 2026, as part of the Great American Beer Festival.
GABF Competition Statistics
7,267 entries (beer, cider, hop water) judged
1,300 breweries & cideries in the competition from 49 states, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico
225 judges
200+ volunteers
Average number of beers entered in each category: 67
Category with the highest number of entries: Category: West Coast-Style India Pale Ale (277 entries)
336 total medals awarded
243 medal-winning breweries and cideries
125 first-time GABF competition entrants
12 first-time GABF competition winners
Five cider categories
New categories: Rice Lager, Hop Water, Craft Malt Category, Multi-Adjunct Beer (subcategory of Specialty Beer), Hybrid/Crossover Beer (subcategory of Specialty Beer), Gluten-Free divided into Classic Ale or Lager, Hoppy, Specialty
TOP 5 MOST-ENTERED BEER STYLE CATEGORY WINNERS
* Both categories tie for the fifth most-entered category, each with 161 entries.
Category 102: West Coast-Style India Pale Ale (277 entries) – Sponsored by Wyeast
GOLD: Before & After Science | Human People Beer | Seattle, WA
SILVER: Born Hoppy | TapRoom Beer Co. | San Diego, CA
BRONZE: Mosaic + Krush Cryo West Coast IPA | pFriem Family Brewers | Hood River, OR
Category 101: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (260 entries) – Sponsored by Wyeast
GOLD: Because Science | Bend Brewing Co. | Bend, OR
SILVER: Icy Fog | McMenamins Breweries | Portland, OR
BRONZE: The Goat |New York Beer Project - Beer Lodge | Orchard Park, NY
Category 56: German-Style Maerzen (184 entries)
GOLD: Altstadt Oktoberfest | Altstadt Brewery | Fredericksburg, TX
SILVER: Oktoberfest | Bingo Beer Co. | Richmond, VA
BRONZE: Oktoberfestfest | MainStage Brewing Co. | Boulder, CO
Category 100: American India Pale Ale (165 entries) – Sponsored by Stronger Can, Better Service
GOLD: Breakside IPA | Breakside Brewery & Taproom | Milwaukie, OR
SILVER: Built for Speed | Grains of Wrath Brewing | Camas, WA
BRONZE: Green Battles | Pinthouse Pizza – North | Austin, TX
Category 50*: German-Style Pilsener (161 entries)
GOLD: Altstadt Pils | Altstadt Brewery | Fredericksburg, TX
SILVER: Templin Family Fass Bier | Templin Family Brewing | Salt Lake City, UT
BRONZE: Pazifik Coast Highway | Beachwood Brewing | Huntington Beach, CA
Category 54*: Dortmunder or German-Style Festbier (161 entries)
GOLD: Festbier | Wren House Brewing Co. | Phoenix, AZ
SILVER: 8th Anniversary Lager | Fat Head's Brewery | Middleburg Heights, OH
BRONZE: Counter Weight Fest Bier | Counter Weight Brewing Co. | Cheshire, CT
MOST-ENTERED Cider CATEGORY WINNERS
Category 203: Fruited Cider (58 entries)
GOLD: Gowan's Heirloom Cider | Honey Citron | Philo, CA
SILVER: 2 Towns Ciderhouse |Golden Lime Cosmic Crisp | Corvallis, OR
BRONZE: 2 Towns Ciderhouse | Huckleberry Cosmic Crisp | Corvallis, OR
BREWERY OF THE YEAR
0-250 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
Mieza Blendery | Alexandria, VA
>250–500 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
UPP Liquids | Bend, OR
>500–1,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. | Golden, CO
>1,000–2,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
Craft Coast | Oceanside, CA
>2,000–5,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
Morgan Territory Brewing | Tracy, CA
>5,000–15,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
Fieldwork Brewing Company | Berkeley, CA
>15,000–100,000 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
Breakside Brewery & Taproom | Milwaukie, OR
>100,000+ Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year
Goose Island Beer Co. | Chicago, IL
Cidermaker of the Year
Snow Capped Cider | Austin, CO
Editor’s note: Photos for media use are available on the GABF website. Members of the media are encouraged to contact brewerspr@backbone.media with any questions.
The 2026 Great American Beer Festival was made possible in part by the generous support of its presenting sponsors: Amoretti, Antigo Zeon, Country Malt Group, John I. Haas, and Prairie Malt; its category sponsors, and through a partnership with the American Cider Association.
About the Great American Beer Festival
The Great American Beer Festival® (GABF), hosted annually by the Brewers Association since 1982, is the longest-running, premier beer festival in the United States. GABF offers consumers thousands of beverage samples from producers around the country, and countless opportunities for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage discovery along the way. The Great American Beer Festival Competition, is the nation’s largest professional brewing competition where beers and ciders are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals, and is the nation’s largest professional brewing competition where beers and ciders are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals recognized around the world as symbols of brewing excellence.
About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade organization representing more than 9,300 small and independent American brewers. The BA champions the independent craft brewer seal—a trusted symbol that helps consumers identify beer brewed by small and independent producers.
The BA organizes some of the industry’s most influential events, including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference® & BrewExpo America®, and American Craft Beer Week®. It also publishes The New Brewer® and through Brewers Publications®, remains the country’s leading publisher of brewing literature. Beer lovers can explore the world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and follow the BA on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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.
Images:
Photos and broll from the weekend are available here.
For further information please contact Jessie Vandenhouten via Brewerspr@backbone.media.
Third-party news items are published as received for informational purposes. Publication does not imply endorsement by the Guild. Please use the contact details within the post for any enquiries.
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