Oregon was awarded 35 medals at the 2025 World Beer Cup, but only 33 of them went to Oregon based breweries and cideries. Confused? In a strange mix-up, World Beer Cup credited Vancouver, Washington-based Victor 23 Brewing as a Portland, OR based brewery and their 2 medals are listed in the state-wide count for Oregon in all official listings. In reality Oregon breweries won 26 medals, and Oregon Cideries won an additional 9 medals during the first-ever year which cider has been included in the prestigious competition.

The World Beer Cup is considered the most prestigious international beer competition and referred to as “The Olympics of Beer Competitions,” winners were announced on May 1st, 2025 at the closing of the Craft Brewers Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Washington/Oregon Mix-up:

Victor 23 Brewing of Vancouver, Washington won 2 medals at the World Beer Cup, but was incorrectly listed as being from Portland, Oregon and thus their awards are counted in Oregon’s total medal count on the official WBC website. V23’s medals included a bronze for “Coconspirator” in the German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock category, and a gold for “Birkebeinerpils” in the incredibly competitive International-Style Pilsener category.

We asked V23’s acclaimed brewmaster Tom Torresdal about it and this is what he had to say: “That’s a bit of a head scratcher for me. Got to figure out why that happened. Only thing I can think is owner lives in Oregon, and I paid for entries with a credit card based from Oregon.”

Regardless of the reason, Victor 23 Brewing is just a short drive from Portland, Oregon and obviously well worth a visit. Congrats to Tom and the team!

Oregon Cider dominates:

2025 was the first year that cideries were allowed to enter the World Beer Cup and just as they did at last year’s GABF, Oregon cideries crushed it. Out of a total possible 15 awards in 5 cider style categories, Oregon cideries won 9 of them, including a total sweep of gold, silver, and bronze in the Tannic Cider category.

Deschutes Brewery won 3 medals at the 2025 World Beer Cup

Oregon’s Biggest Winners:

Breakside Brewery led for Oregon beer with 6 medals including 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze.
pFriem Family Brewers also did great with 3 medals including 2 gold and 1 silver medal.
Deschutes Brewery had a great year with 1 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medal between their Portland and Bend breweries.
ColdFire Brewing did well with 1 silver and 1 bronze medal.
2 Towns Ciderhouse won 6 medals out of 15 possible cider medals. That includes a haul of 3 gold medals, 1 silver, and 2 bronze.
Portland Cider. Co. claimed 1 gold and 1 silver medal to help cement Oregon as having the best cider.

About WBC:

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.

2025 World Beer Cup Statistics:

8,375 entries

1,761 producers

49 countries

117 categories (115 beer, 5 cider)

265 judges from 37 countries

350+ volunteers

Oregon Cider Medals:

Tannic Cider

🥇Gold: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, 2023 Cidre Bouche

🥈Silver: Portland Cider Co. English Pub

🥉Bronze: Bauman’s Cider, Kingston Black

No/Low-Tannin Cider

🥇Gold: Portland Cider Co., Original Gold

🥈Silver: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Cosmic Crisp

🥉Bronze: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, 14th Anniversarsary

Fruited Cider

🥇Gold: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Raspberry Cosmic Crisp

Experimental, Barrel-Aged or Specialty Cider

🥇Gold: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, 2019 Pommeau

🥉Bronze: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Imperial Bad Apple - Westward Whiskey Barrel Cider

Sunriver Brewing accepts their Gold medal for Fuzztail

Oregon Beer Medals:

American Wheat Beer

🥇Gold: Sunriver Brewing, Fuzztail

Chili Beer

🥈Silver: Breakside Brewery, Breakside All Yellow

Honey Beer

🥇Gold: Deschutes Brewery PDX Pub, Hachamitsu Mai

Session Beer or Belgian-style Table Beer

🥉Bronze: Coldfire Brewing, Saison Lily

American-Belgo-Style Ale

🥇Gold: Breakside Brewery, Spring Day

Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer

🥉Bronze: Deschutes Brewery PDX Pub, Sensationator

American Light Lager

🥇Gold: Von Ebert Brewing, Clubhaus Lager

Hoppy Lager

🥇Gold: pFriem Family Brewers, Cold IPA

International Dark Lager

🥈Silver: Wayfinder Beer. Secret Secret

Deschutes Brewery’s Bend and Portland breweries took home big wins

Munich-Style Helles

🥈Silver: Deschutes Brewery, Kirkland Signature Helles Lager

American-style Lager

🥈Silver: Wild Ride Brewing, Cole’s Light Lager

Contemporary American-Style Lager

🥉Bronze: Bend Brewing Co., Built to Chill

Australian-Style Pale Ale

🥇Gold: Breakside Brewery, Hello My Alien

International Pale Ale

🥈Silver: pFriem Family Brewers, Pale

Extra Special Bitter

🥉Bronze: Hopworks Brewery, Velvet Organic ESB

Oregon City Brewing accepts their bronze medal for ‘Cactus Makes Perfect’

Berliner-Style Weisse

🥉Bronze: Oregon City Brewing Co., Cactus Makes Perfect

Belgian-Style Dubbel

🥈Silver: Monkless Belgian Ales Dubbel or Nothing

English Ale

🥉Bronze: Old Town Brewing, Shanghai’d IPA

Oatmeal Stout

🥈Silver: StormBreaker Brewing. Opacus Stout

American-Style Pale Ale

🥈Silver: Breakside Brewery, Woodlawn Pale Ale

Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale

🥇Gold: pFriem Family Brewers, Hazy IPA

American-Style Black Ale or American-Style Stout

🥇Gold: Breakside Brewery, Cheat Codes

🥈Silver: Coldfire Brewing, American Stout

Breakside Brewery won 6 medals at the 2025 World Beer Cup

American-Style IPA

🥉Bronze: Breakside Brewery Breakside IPA

World Beer Cup Awards Philosophy

The World Beer Cup recognizes brewing excellence in more than 100 categories but does not automatically award the top three entries in a particular category. When judges determine that a category contains three excellent examples of the style, they present gold, silver, and bronze awards for the first, second, and third place beers, respectively.

“Evaluating beer happens on many levels,” says Williams. “On a professional level, beer evaluation is a form of peer review. The results are public, so consumers can learn what beers meet a high level of quality and what beers exemplify certain styles as interpreted by the judges.”

Judges may grant an award in any one or more of the three award places without granting awards in all three places. For example, judges may recognize a beer as a silver or bronze award winner yet not grant a gold award.