pFriem Family Brewers, Alesong Brewing & Blending, and 10 Barrel Brewing stole the show at the 32nd annual 2018 Great American Beer Festival(GABF) today, September 22nd, 2018. Produced by the Brewers Association (BA), there were 306 medals awarded to 280 breweries this year in Denver, and I was there for a firsthand report on both the festivities and the awards ceremony. Oregon brewers won 22 medals this year; that's an improvement on last year's 19 medals, and even on the 21 in 2016! Even more impressive, two Oregon breweries triple tied for the most medals won by any brewery this year. Both 10 Barrel Brewing and Alesong Brewing & Blending took home 3 medals each, along with Montana's Lewis & Clark Brewing Co..

GABF is arguably the most prestigious beer competition in the world. It is certainly the most competitive beer competition in America with 102 beer categories judged that cover 167 different beer styles (including all subcategories), establishing the best examples of each style in the country and earning a symbol of brewing excellence.

Most notable this year was the addition of new style categories for the so-called New England-style IPA, which the Brewers Association has recognized as the Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale style category, with separate awards for Pale Ales, IPA, and Double IPA versions. It was also crazy that the Hazy IPA category became the most-entered category, overtaking the American-style IPA this year with 311 entries into the category. Many were looking at the breweries and beers known for the style to win awards, such as Oregon's Great Notion Brewing, Colorado's Weldwerks, and Nevada's Revision Brewing, not to mention all the east coast examples. It was not surprising to me, though, that almost no nationally known breweries or brands won these awards, which just shows that the hype does not make something the best beer in the country, as well as the fast that there is so much quality spread out over the country that goes largely unrecognized.The big stories from Oregon this year were Alesong Brewing & Blending's 3 medals, pFriem Family Brewers' 2 medals, and the sad fact that award winning stalwarts Breakside Brewery and Barley Browns were both completely shut out in the medal competition.pFriem Family Brewers has been a beer geek favorite and industry darling since practically day one, but has previously not had stellar results at the GABF, with just one Silver Medal (though that's nothing to sneeze at) before this year, when the brewery claimed a Gold for Druif, the excellent lambic-style sour ale with wine grapes, and a second medal for the phenomenal Pilsner. Not only that, but pFriem was named Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year.Alesong Brewing & Blending tied for the most medals won by any brewery this year, as we previously mentioned. Perhaps even cooler, Alesong won two medals in the same category, and two were wine grape beers. Alesong's Terroir Pinot Gris beer won a Silver in the Brett Beer category, while the brewery's Touch of Brett Mandarina won a Bronze. Another grape wild ale, Terroir Pinot Noir, won a Silver in the Experimental Beer category. Along with pFriem's win for Druif, does this mean Oregon is the king of wild wine-grape hybrid beers?10 Barrel Brewing out of Bend has been cleaning up at awards for a long time, so it's no surprise the company won three medals. More impressive is that the brewery reportedly was allowed just three entries, and they returned with three medals!Bend really had a great showing with the consistently buzz-worthy medal winners Sunriver Brewing winning two medals, Worthy Brewing taking home a Silver for Strata IPA, and Goodlife Brewing winning a second gold in a row for Sweet As Pale Ale. Coupled with 10 Barrel's success, these wins made for a really impressive showing for Central Oregon.

Oregon's 2018 Great American Beer Festival Awards:

Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the YearpFriem Family Brewers Hood River, ORpFriem Family Brewers TeamCategory 1: American-Style Wheat Beer – 54 Entries1. Gold: Sweet As Pacific Ale, GoodLife Brewing Co., Bend, ORCategory 2: American-Style Wheat Beer with Yeast – 37 Entries2. Silver: Fuzztail, Sunriver Brewing, Sunriver, OR3. Bronze: Hefeweizen, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Portland, ORCategory 4: Fruit Wheat Beer – 103 Entries4. Gold: Passionate Envy, 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Bend, ORCategory 13: Specialty Beer – 55 Entries5. Silver: Double Stack, Great Notion Brewing, Portland, ORCategory 16: Session Beer – 50 Entries6. Bronze: Stonefly Session Ale, Three Creeks Production, Sisters, ORCategory 19: Experimental Beer – 112 Entries7. Silver: Terroir Pinot Noir, Alesong Brewing & Blending, Eugene, ORCategory 21: Gluten-Free Beer – 38 Entries8. Bronze: Dark Ale, Ground Breaker Brewing, Portland, ORCategory 25: Brett Beer – 61 Entries9. Silver: Terroir Pinot Gris, Alesong Brewing & Blending, Eugene, OR10. Bronze: Touch of Brett Mandarina, Alesong Brewing & Blending, Eugene, ORCategory 26: Mixed-Culture Brett Beer – 77 Entries11. Gold: Druif, pFriem Family Brewers, Hood River, OR12. Bronze: Coming to Fruition: Cherry, Oregon City Brewing Co., Oregon City, ORCategory 41: German-Style Pilsener – 159 Entries13. Silver: Pilsner, pFriem Family Brewers, Hood River, ORCategory 44: Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest – 67 Entries14. Silver: Freiheit Oktoberfest Wiesn, Wayfinder Beer, Portland, ORCategory 55: Classic English-Style Pale Ale – 33 Entries15. Gold: Pale Ale, Omission Brewing Co., Portland, OR16. Silver: MacTarnahan’s Amber Ale, Portland Brewing – Portland, ORCategory 56: English-Style India Pale Ale – 50 Entries17. Silver: Silverspot IPA, Pelican Brewing Co., Pacific City, ORCategory 57: Australian-Style Pale Ale – 46 Entries18. Silver: Strata IPA, Worthy Brewing Co., Bend, ORCategory 68: Imperial Red Ale – 45 Entries19. Bronze: Cinder Beast, Sunriver Brewing, Sunriver, ORCategory 77: Berliner-Style Weisse – 115 Entries20. Gold: Baywindow, 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Bend, ORCategory 93: Robust Porter – 91 Entries21. Gold: Lomporter, Lompoc Brewing – The 5th Quadrant, Portland, ORCategory 96: American-Style Stout – 43 Entries22. Silver: P2P, 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Bend, OR

GABF COMPETITION STATISTICS

• 32^nd edition of the GABF competition
• 8,496 entries plus 101 Pro-Am and 49 Collaboration entries
• 2,404 breweries in the competition from 49 states plus Washington, D.C. (no Mississippi)
• 293 judges from 13 countries
• Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 83
• Category with the highest number of entries: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (391 entries)
• 280 medal-winning breweries (including Pro-Am and Collaboration)
• 306 total medals awarded plus three (3) each for Pro-Am and Collaboration
• 537 first-time GABF entrants
• 31 first-time GABF winners

GABF STATISTICS

• 37^th anniversary of the festival
• Over 800 breweries in expanded festival hall
• 4,000+ beers served at the festival
• 62,000 attendees
• 4,086 volunteers (festival and competition combined)
• 584,000 square feet of festival hall

View the 2018 winners or download a PDF list of the winners.