GABF 2019: Thirsty For Gold
Here at The ABV Chicago Podcast, Global Corporation, and Profitarium Ⓡ, we enjoy a certain level of luxury that can often be hard to find at gigantic beer festivals. We demand only the finest liquids be poured into our diamond-encrusted custom taster glasses, yet we are often disappointed by a lack of distinguished beers. But at the Great American Beer Festival this year, that is not the case. With the Brewers Association releasing the (tentative) pour list for the first time in recent history, one can put together a pretty nice list of all the gold medal-winning beers pouring this year and make a luxurious day out of it.
The list compiled below represents all the GABF gold medal-winning beers from the last three years that are pouring at this year’s fest. The tentative pour list is exactly that, as there have been periodic changes made in the last few weeks, and all beer is subject to availability. Batch variations are also unavoidable, so it’s very possible that the beer pouring at this year’s fest and the beer that won the medal are in fact very different, despite sharing a name.
GABF styles and category designations vary by year, but I’ve mostly organized this list alphabetically by last year’s categories. (If you really want to dive headfirst down a rabbit hole, look at the new categories and the style guideline PDF on this page, and tell me the actual discernable difference between a Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale and a Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale.) And because many breweries send beer for the competition but never pour at the fest, there are many categories without gold medal beers on the floor – 43 categories in total are missing from this list.
And all tongue-in-cheek framing devices aside, taking a day (if you’re attending multiple days) or even an hour attempting to try as many gold medal-winning beers as possible is an excellent way to diversify your experience rather than settling in to only trying your go-to styles or breweries as you peruse the 800-plus booths. (Doing a speed-run of gold medal-winning beers in 2017 might’ve been my favorite day of drinking at GABF in five years of attendance.) Also, if you’re big nerds like us, it’s fascinating to see what the judges determine to be the pinnacle of that style while comparing it against your expectations or past experiences.
Check out our gold highlights and the full list below, and come back to this website for more anticipatory write-ups and our Road 2 GABF 2019 episode.
The Mr. T Experience: Beers Sporting The Most Gold
- If you like American-style Pilseners (especially when they’re spelled with that sexy extra “e”), don’t miss The Austin Beer Garden (Austin, TX) for their Rocket 100, which has won gold the last two years in a row.
- Likewise, GoodLife Brewing out of Bend, Oregon has their Sweet As Pacific, which is on a two-year streak in the American-style Wheat category. Or if you prefer your Wheat ales in the German style, AlpenGlow from FatHead’s in Ohio is a double gold winner as well.
- If your thing is a well-decorated and sessionable Coffee Milk Stout (and that’s certainly my thing), then be sure to visit Jackson, Wyoming’s Snake River Brewing for a taste of their Speargun, which has won gold the last two years.
- When you’re ready for something bigger, get a pour of The Russian from Aston, PA’s 2SP Brewing. It’s a chewy, bold, and roasty stout reminiscent of the forebearers of the style, and it has won gold twice in the last three years.
- The two-time winning Robust Porter, Tabula Rasa Toasted Porter from Second Chance Brewing of San Diego, is a complex and full-flavored treat that goes down like a cherrywood and coffee bean schwarzbier.
- With an absolute dominant 3-peat, Real Ale from Blanco, Texas will hope to add a fourth gold in a row this year in the Scotch Ale category for their Real Heavy. This is malty luxury at its finest.
The Gold Medal Club (2016-2018)
Aged Beer
- Freetail Brewing Co. (San Antonio, TX) | La Muerta | 2017
American-Belgo-Style Ale
- The Bruery (Placentia, CA) | Mischief | 2016
American-Style Amber Lager
- Texas Beer Co. (Taylor, TX) | Pecos Amber Lager | 2018
American-Style Brown Ale
- Figueroa Mountain Brewing (Buellton, CA) | Davy Brown Ale | 2018
American-Style Cream Ale
- 21st Amendment Brewery (San Leandro, CA) | El Sully | 2016
American-Style Lager or Malt Liquor
- Lone Tree Brewing Co. (Lone Tree, CO) | Mexican Lager | 2017
American-Style Pale Ale
- Central Coast Brewing Co. (San Luis Obispo, CA) | Monterey Street | 2017
American-Style Pilsener
- The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. (Austin, TX) | Rocket 100 | 2017 & 2018
American-Style Sour Ale
- Karl Strauss Brewing Co. – San Diego (San Diego, CA) | Queen of Tarts | 2016
- Shades Brewery (Park City, UT) | Kveik 1 | 2018
American-Style Stout
- 10 Barrel Brewing Co. (Bend, OR) | P2P | 2016
- Marble Brewery – Mav Lab (Albuquerque, NM) | Cholo Stout | 2017
American-Style Strong Pale Ale
- Melvin Brewing (Alpine, WY) | Hubert MPA | 2017
American-Style Wheat Beer
- GoodLife Brewing Co. (Bend, OR) | Sweet As Pacific Ale | 2017 & 2018
American-Style Wheat Beer with Yeast
- Sunriver Brewing (Sunriver, OR) | Fuzztail | 2017
- Lewis & Clark Brewing Co. (Helena, MT) | Miner’s Gold | 2018
Australian-Style Pale Ale
- Reuben’s Brews Taproom (Seattle, WA) | Triumvirate | 2017
Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale
- Beachwood Blendery (Long Beach, CA) | Funk Yeah | 2018
Belgian-Style Tripel
- Big Dog’s Brewing Co. (Las Vegas, NV) | Tripel Dog Dare | 2017
- Flix Brewhouse – Carmel (Carmel, IN) | Tripel Carmel-ite | 2018
Berliner-Style Weisse
- 10 Barrel Brewing Co. (Bend, OR) | Baywindow | 2018
Bock
- On Tour Brewing Co. (Chicago, IL) | Low Boy | 2017
- Gilded Goat Brewing Co. (Fort Collins, CO) | Guten Bock | 2018
Bohemian-Style Pilsener
- Bagby Beer Co. (Oceanside, CA) | Sweet Ride | 2016
- The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. (Austin, TX) | Velvet Revolution | 2017
Brown Porter
- Cigar City Brewing (Tampa, FL) | Maduro Brown Ale | 2018
Classic Saison
- Funkwerks (Fort Collins, CO) | Saison | 2017
Coffee Stout or Porter
- Snake River Brewing Co. (Jackson, WY) | Speargun | 2017 & 2018
Double Hoppy Red Ale
- Masthead Brewing Co. (Cleveland, OH) | Midwest Red IPA | 2018
English-Style India Pale Ale
- Alaro Craft Brewery (Sacramento, CA) | Castillo IPA | 2018
English-Style Mild Ale
- Brink Brewing Co. (Cincinnati, OH) | Hold the Reins | 2017
English-Style Summer Ale
- Eel River Brewing Co. (Fortuna, CA) | Organic California Blonde Ale | 2017
Extra Special Bitter
- Bent Paddle Brewing Co. (Duluth, MN) | 14° ESB | 2017
- MadTree Brewing 2.0 (Cincinnati, OH) | Happy Amber | 2018
Field Beer
- Maui Brewing Co. – Production (Kihei, HI) | Imperial Coconut Porter | 2016
Fresh Hop Beer
(This hasn’t been a category since 2016 due to the timing of the competition, but it is returning in 2019.)
- Melvin Brewing – Jackson (Jackson, WY) | Melvin IPA | 2016
Fruit Wheat Beer
- Sierra Blanca Brewing Co. (Moriarty, NM) | Cherry Wheat | 2017
Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer
- BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Brea (Brea, CA) | Razz-Jerry Tart | 2016
German-Style Altbier
- Grimm Brothers Brewhouse (Loveland, CO) | Little Red Cap | 2016
- Golden City Brewery (Golden, CO) | Legendary Red | 2018
German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock
- Crooked Lane Brewing Co. (Auburn, CA) | Wobblor | 2017
German-Style Koelsch
- Ornery Beer Co. (Woodbridge, VA) | Light of Cologne | 2016
- Chuckanut Brewery (Bellingham, WA) | Chuckanut Kolsch Style | 2017
German-Style Maerzen
- Hi-Wire Brewing – Big Top Production Facility (Asheville, NC) | Zirkusfest Oktoberfest Lager | 2016
- Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. (Fort Worth, TX) | Oktoberfest | 2018
German-Style Pilsener
- The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. (Austin, TX) | Industry | 2016
- Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. (Golden, CO) | Netflix and Pils | 2018
German-Style Wheat Ale
- Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon (North Olmsted, OH) | AlpenGlow | 2016 & 2017
Gluten-Free Beer
- High Hops Brewery (Windsor, CO) | Puckerberry | 2018
Gose
- Reuben’s Brews (Seattle, WA) | Gose | 2016
- Upland Brewing Co. (Bloomington, IN) | Two of Tarts | 2018
Honey Beer
- Great South Bay Brewery (Bay Shore, NY) | Jetty Cream Ale | 2016
Imperial India Pale Ale
- Ballast Point Brewing Co. (San Diego, CA) | Manta Ray | 2017
Imperial Red Ale
- Sunriver Brewing (Sunriver, OR) | Cinder Beast | 2017
- Claremont Craft Ales (Claremont, CA) | Happy Days | 2018
Imperial Stout
- 2SP Brewing Co. (Aston, PA) | The Russian | 2016 & 2017
Irish-Style Red Ale
- Tighthead Brewing Co. (Mundelein, IL) | Scarlet Fire | 2018
Kellerbier or Zwickelbier
- Red Rock Brewing Co. – Production (Salt Lake City, UT) | Zwickelbier | 2017
Light Lager
- Austin Beerworks (Austin, TX) | Super Awesome Lager | 2017
Munich-Style Helles
- Austin Beer Garden Brewing (Austin, TX) | Hell Yes | 2018
Oatmeal Stout
- Glenwood Canyon Brewing (Glenwood Springs, CO) | Shoshone Stout | 2018
Old Ale or Strong Ale
- Fifty West Brewing Co. (Cincinnati, OH) | 10&2 Barleywine | 2017
Ordinary or Special Bitter
- Left Hand Brewing Co. (Longmont, CO) | Sawtooth Ale | 2018
Pumpkin/Squash Beer or Pumpkin Spice Beer
- 4 Noses Brewing Co. (Broomfield, CO) | Pump Action Imperial Pumpkin Ale | 2016
- Saint Arnold Brewing Co. (Houston, TX) | Saint Arnold Pumpkinator | 2017
Robust Porter
- Second Chance Beer Co. (San Diego, CA) | Tabula Rasa Toasted Porter | 2016 & 2017
Rye Beer
- Breakside Brewery (Portland, OR) | Rye Curious? | 2016
- Breakwater Brewing Company (Oceanside, CA) | Rye Dawn | 2018
Scotch Ale
- Real Ale Brewing Co. (Blanco, TX) | Real Heavy | 2016, 2017, & 2018
Session Beer
- Pizza Port Ocean Beach (San Diego, CA) Guillaume | 2017
Session India Pale Ale
- Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. (Golden, CO) | Trump Hands | 2016
- Societe Brewing Co. (San Diego, CA) | The Coachman | 2018
South German-Style Hefeweizen
- Karl Strauss Brewing Co. – San Diego (San Diego, CA) | Windansea Wheat | 2016
- Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant – Navy Yard (Broomfield, CO) | Hefeweizen | 2017
Specialty Beer
- High Water Brewing (Stockton, CA) | Campfire Stout | 2017
- Denver Beer Co. (Denver, CO) | Graham Cracker Porter | 2018
Sweet Stout or Cream Stout
- Boxing Bear Brewing Co. (Albuquerque, NM) | Chocolate Milk Stout | 2016
Vienna-Style Lager
- Devils Backbone Brewing Co. – Outpost Production Facility (Lexington, VA) | Vienna Lager | 2016
- Taft’s Ale House (Cincinnati, OH) | Gustav | 2017
- SKA Brewing (Durango, CO) | Oktoberfest | 2018
Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout
- Against the Grain (Louisville, KY) | 70k Amburana | 2018
