Every year, the Great American Beer Festival holds a prestigious competition to select the best beers and breweries in the country.
Approximately 1,752 breweries participated in this year's festival, which was hosted by the Brewers Association and took place from October 6 to 8 in Denver, Colorado.
On Saturday afternoon, a jury of more than 265 beer industry professionals from 12 countries announced the winners. Without knowing the brand names, they tasted each brewery's selected beers according to specific flavor parameters (which you can read more about in this 68-page set of guidelines).
The breweries are broken into seven different size categories, ranging from "small brewpub" to "large brewing company." The top one in each group was awarded the title of "Champion Brewery."
Here are the winners.
Correction — October 9: An earlier version of this story reported Karl Strauss Brewing Company as the Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year and Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon as the Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year. The GABF jury updated the winners based on its size guidelines, later realizing that Karl Strauss is a mid-size brewing company, not a brewpub.
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Small Brewpub — ZwanzigZ Brewing
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Location: Columbus, Indiana
Winning beers: Frankenwald Eisbock and The Ticket Chocolate Beer
Mid-Size Brewpub — Boxing Bear Brewing Co.
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Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Winning beers: AlpenGlow and Black Muddy River
Large Brewpub — The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co.
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Location: Austin, Texas
Winning beer: Industry
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