Drink: Great American Beer Festival medals went to eight Bay Area breweries this year.
I’m just back from the 2019 Great American Beer Festival, the nation’s largest and most competitive craft brew event, which is held in Denver each year. Over the course of three days, my fellow judges and I sampled nearly 10,000 beers representing breweries across the nation. And when the dust had settled, California had once again snagged more medals — 68, including 20 gold medals — than any other state.
Among the Bay Area winners: 21st Amendment in San Francisco and San Leandro won a silver medal for its Emperor Norton’s Sweet Stout. Alameda’s Almanac Beer Co. won silver for Farmer’s Reserve No. 5 in the mixed-culture brett beer category. Richmond’s East Brother Beer Co. took silver for its Bo Pils, a Bohemian-style Pilsner. And San Jose’s Santa Clara Valley Brewing Co. brought back a bronze for its Dry Creek Blonde Ale, which was entered in the German-style koelsch lineup.
San Rafael’s new Pond Farm Brewing Co., which opened in April, won a bronze medal for Devil’s Gulch in what has become the most competitive category of all, juicy or hazy India pale ale, beating out more than 340 competitors.
Other Bay Area medal winners included San Francisco’s Barebottle Brewing, which won a gold for its Torcido international-style Pilsner, and Bartlett Hall with a bronze for Powell Street Porter. Santa Rosa’s Third Street Aleworks nabbed a silver medal for its Annadel Pale Ale.
The festival was first held in 1982, hosted by the then-fledgling American Homebrewers Association as part of its fourth annual National Homebrew and Microbrewery Conference in Boulder, Colorado. Some 24 breweries poured 47 beers — Anchor Steam Beer and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale among them.
In short order, the festival began concentrating on commercial breweries. For the last 14 years, the Brewers Association has been the event’s official host. And this year’s event was more massive than ever, with more than 4,000 beers from 800 breweries available for festivalgoers to sample.
The judges — 322 of them — had their work cut out for them. During three full days of judging, we sampled 9,680 beers from 2,295 breweries, entered in 107 regular categories, plus a Pro-am Competition for homebrewers making a beer with a commercial brewery, and the newer Collaboration Competition.
In recent years, the Brewers Association has had to limit the number of beers each brewery can enter, otherwise it would take us weeks to decide on the winners. The heightened competition means fewer breweries take home multiple medals — and it’s heightened the experience for festivalgoers and judges alike.
Northern California’s double-medal winners include Salinas and Monterey’s Alvarado Street Brewery, which picked up two medals, a gold for its Double Cone Imperial IPA and a bronze for Citraveza, a continental American-style Pilsner.
Out in Tracy, Morgan Territory took home two medals as well, a gold for Old Diablo barley wine and a silver for Dark Reckoning, a Baltic-style porter. And Davis’ Sudwerk snagged a gold for its Marzen and a bronze for The People’s Pilsner.
Of course, we’re beer-blessed in California. For as long as I can remember, California has won more medals at the festival than any other state. (Of course, we have more breweries, but I’d argue we also have more really great ones, too.) Colorado took home 40 medals, Texas nabbed 16 and six other states took home 10 or more.
Check out the full list of results at www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com.