The prestigious World Beer Cup 2023 awards ceremony was held May 10th in Nashville, Tennessee in conjunction with the Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America®. In the 2023 WBC 2,376 breweries from 51 countries, entered 10,213 beers in 103 categories. The entries were double-blind evaluated by 272 judges from 26 countries.

Known as “the Olympics of beer,” the World Beer Cup is by some considered the most prestigious beer competition in the world, often trading places with the Great American Beer Festival for most competitive and highest profile. Both competitions are organized by U.S. based Brewers Association, but what sets World Beer Cup apart is that unlike the GABF it is open to breweries from around the world. WBC was developed in 1996 to celebrate the art and science of brewing, this global competition continues to create greater consumer awareness about different beer styles and flavor profiles while promoting international brewing excellence.

“When industry professionals acknowledge the excellence in products from around the market, the beer drinker can be sure that those brands are the finest available,” says Chris Williams, World Beer Cup competition director.

WORLD BEER CUP STATS:

1. 14th competition (skipped 2020; annualized starting 2022) 

2. Entries: 10,213

3. Breweries: 2,376

4. International breweries: 22.9% (546 international)

5. Countries: 51 

6. First-time brewery entries: 522

7. Judges: 272

8. International judges: 105

9. Judge countries: 26

10. First-time judges: 44

11. Judging sessions and days: 9 days, 18 sessions

12. Beer Style Categories: 103

13. Beer Styles: 176 (includes all subcategories) 

14. Avg number of beers in each category: 99

 

Most entered style categories:

1. Category 102, American-Style India Pale Ale: 412 entries

2. Category 103, Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale: 374 entries

3. Category 40, German-Style Pilsener: 233 entries

4. Category 35, International Light Lager: 220 entries

5. Category 30, Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout: 202 entries

 

Countries with the most entries:

1. United States: 8,135

2. Canada: 444

3. Japan: 223

4. Germany: 189

5. Australia: 152

307 Medals were awarded, with the United States taking 267, and the remaining 40 medals split between other 13 countries, primarily Canada with 14 medals, followed by Germany and Japan with 5 apiece.

California, with close to 1000 craft breweries, tends to dominate beer awards, and the World Beer Cup was no exception. California topped the table with 50 medals, followed by Colorado (25) and Oregon (22).

Top ten states by medal count:

50 California
25 Colorado
22 Oregon
18 Texas
13 North Carolina
13 Washington
10 Virginia
8 Forida
8 Illinois
8 Ohio

OREGON MEDAL WINNERS

Oregon breweries had a very solid year at the now annual World Beer Cup, bringing home 22 medals in total with 10 Barrel’s 4 medals leading the way, Sunriver Brewing (3 medals), Bend Brewing (2 medals) and Grains Of Wrath's Portland location (2 medals).

The biggest story out of the Oregon winners was the incredible performance by Bend-area breweries which greatly outperformed the rest of the state. If you could Deschutes Brewery’s win for the Portland brewery entered beer, and Redmond’s Wild Ride Brewing, a full half of Oregon’s medals came from the Bend area. 10 Barrel Brewing tied with Fat Head’s Brewing and Green Cheek Brewing for the most medals received by any brewery this year.

🥇GOLD Falling Up - Grains of Wrath Brewing (Portland) - American-Style Black Ale or American-Style Stout

🥇GOLD Block & Tackle Imperial Stout - Chetco Brewing Co. - American-Style Imperial Stout

🥈SILVER Night Howler Imperial Stout - Baerlic Brewing Co. - American-Style Imperial Stout

🥈SILVER Applied Science - Sunriver Brewing Co. - American-Style India Pale Ale

🥉BRONZE Cole's Lager - Wild Ride Brewing - American-Style Lager

🥉BRONZE Papermaker Pale Ale - Grains of Wrath Brewing (Portland) - American-Style Pale Ale

🥇GOLD Something Dank This Way Comes - Sunriver Brewing Co. - American-Style Strong Pale Ale

🥈SILVER Breakside IPA - Breakside Brewery & Taproom - American-Style Strong Pale Ale

🥇GOLD Cucumber Crush - 10 Barrel Brewing Co. - Bend Pub - Field Beer

🥉BRONZE Lucubrator Dopplebock - Occidental Brewing Co. - German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock

🥇GOLD Pils - Von Ebert Brewing (Pearl) - German-Style Pilsener

🥈SILVER Baywindow - 10 Barrel Brewing Co. - German-Style Sour Ale

🥇GOLD BeeLoved - 10 Barrel Brewing Co. (Bend Pub) - Honey Beer

🥇GOLD Japanese Lager - pFriem Family Brewers - International Lager

🥉BRONZE Queens & Sons Soft IPA - Kings & Daughters Brewery - Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale

🥉BRONZE Ol' Beauty - Oregon City Brewing Co. - Old Ale or Strong Ale

🥇GOLD Superswell - Pelican Brewing Co. (Tillamook) - Other Strong Beer

🥇GOLD Wild Gravity - Bend Brewing Co. - Session India Pale Ale

🥇GOLD Gindulgence 10 Barrel Brewing Co. - Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse

🥉BRONZE Sensationator - Deschutes Brewery & Public House (Portland) - Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer

🥈SILVER Old Normal - Bend Brewing Co. - Brown Porter

🥈SILVER Mocha Cow - Sunriver Brewing Co. - Coffee Stout or Porter

WASHINGTON MEDAL WINNERS

Washington breweries won 13 medals at the 2023 WBC including some major highly competitive lager categories. Arguably the most notable, was Fair Isle Brewing winning both GOLD and SILVER in the Brett and Mixed Culture category. But as far as difficulty level goes, it would be hard to beat Chainline Brewing’s GOLD for Polaris Pilsner in the white hot category of Bohemian-style Pilsner.

🥉BRONZE Happy Little Clouds - Cloudburst Brewing - American-Style Pilsener

🥉BRONZE Three Ryes Men - Reuben's Brews - Barley Wine-Style Ale

🥇GOLD Polaris Pilsner- Chainline Brewing Co. - Bohemian-Style Pilsener

🥇GOLD Ghostfish 8th Anniversary Beer - Ghostfish Brewing Co. - Gluten-Free Beer

🥇GOLD Festbier - Brick West Brewing Co. - Dortmunder/Export or German-Style Oktoberfest

🥉BRONZE Icicle Premium Pilsner - Icicle Brewing Co. - International Pilsener

🥇GOLD Alpenhaze - Icicle Brewing Co. - Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale

🥇GOLD Knitting Circle S3 Batch C - Fair Isle Brewing - Mixed-Culture Brett Beer

🥉BRONZE Tove - Fair Isle Brewing - Mixed-Culture Brett Beer

🥉BRONZE Chuckanut Helles - Chuckanut Brewery - Munich-Style Helles

🥈SILVER Deluxe - Silver City Brewery - Other Strong Beer

🥇GOLD First To Fall - The Good Society Brewery & Public House - Session Beer or Belgian-Style Table Beer

🥉BRONZE Faithful and True - Sovereign Brewing - Specialty Saison

The 307 total medals were won by a whopping 271 different breweries, showing how competitive if not impossible it is to win multiple medals.

4 10 Barrel Brewing Co.
4 Fat Head's Brewery
4 Green Cheek Beer Co.
3 Sunriver Brewing Co.
3 Verboten Brewing & Barrel Project
2 Appalachian Mountain Brewery
2 Bend Brewing Co.
2 Confluence Brewing Co.
2 Eppig Brewing
2 Faction Brewing
2 Fair Isle Brewing
2 FiftyFifty Brewing Co.
2 Grains of Wrath Brewing - Portland
2 Icicle Brewing Co.
2 Incendiary Brewing Co.
2 Joyride Brewing Co.
2 Lamplighter Brewing Co.
2 Lewis & Clark Brewing Co.
2 MadeWest Brewing Co.
2 New Realm Brewing Co.
2 Pizza Port
2 Port City Brewing Co.
2 Resolute Brewing Co.
2 River North Brewery
2 Saddle Mountain Brewing Co.
2 Saint Arnold Brewing Co.
2 Schneider Weisse / G. Schneider & Sohn
2 Sun King Brewery
2 Templin Family Brewing