Colorado Breweries Win Big at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival

Colorado was well represented at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival. The state won dozens of medals, including the Brewery of the Year award, and has seven first-time winners.

“Colorado continues to show why we call ourselves the Craft Beer State,” Shawnee Adelson, executive director of the Colorado Brewers Guild, said in a statement. “Congratulations to all the medalists! »

In total, Colorado breweries and cideries won 41 medals: 16 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze. But as impressive as that sounds, it’s not the biggest news of the event. With the move outdoors, with all the changes in logistics and atmosphere that this entailed, the novelty of the festival itself eclipsed that of the individual achievements.

A festival renewed for 44 years brings the good, the bad and the different

The festival itself could be summed up as “so many changes”. Being outside was the biggest and most obvious thing, but the festival saw a number of other notable changes from years past. You didn’t have to go far to hear people talking about the changes, from the good to the bad to just plain different.

The Good: The venue offered attendees an experience in Denver’s beautiful October weather. The hillside site offered many wonderful views of the surrounding city. The breweries doing the service (instead of the servers) made it much easier to ask questions. And the larger pour sizes made it feel less like taking 100 shots of beer and more like a real beer festival.

Smaller things, like letting people in a little earlier each day, started the day off well. People may like to highlight the festival’s heyday — when there were about four times as many breweries in attendance — but those days also included hour-plus lines just to arrive late, only to hear an earlier, definitive last call. The new format is superior in this regard.

Quick fixes: From day one, restroom logistics were a major frustration. Placing all the portable toilets in one area, on the other side of the room from where most people were taking samples, created a long wait. The U-shaped layout didn’t help, because many people on the front lines didn’t pay enough attention to know when there were vacancies. Having more options (both in volume and spacing, with a few extra seats around the venue) would have helped a lot. On the second day, more were added, and that seemed to solve most of the frustration.

Water stations were also curiously absent throughout the festival. Having extra tent space, as well as seating, could help people relax and recharge, especially given the warmer, sunnier weather.

A major challenge: These are all low-hanging fruit improvements for next year. If the location remains the same, there remains another difficult but serious challenge to overcome: accessibility. All day long, we could see the frustration of people with reduced mobility. The venue is located on a grassy hillside, so this is not an easy thing to fix.

That said, there are ways. One suggestion: Empower the old army of volunteers the festival relied on to pour beers, and have volunteers man an ADA tent down the hill, where the surface is flat. Volunteers can provide a delivery service to people with mobility issues, bringing them 2-4 ounce samples from breweries of their choice.

The different: Transportation was a big concern before the festival. Most people we spoke to during or after the festival didn’t find the trip too difficult to understand. Many simply parked in the neighborhood at the top of the hill. Unlike previous festivals, parking was free. Others took one of the many shuttles from local breweries, hotels and the festival itself. Carpools were also common and bike racks were crowded every day.

The awards were also a big change from previous festivals. Open to all participants, they have evolved from an industry-only auditorium event to an event involving the entire festival. A few more speakers towards the top of the hill and in the Paired area would have completed this experience.

Grade: B-. Smoothing out easy logistical issues (like toilets and water) would easily bump this number to a B+. However, figuring out how to make this hillside venue truly accessible to attendees with limited mobility is the obligatory hurdle to clear before the festival gets an A.

GABF Colorado Award Winners

Moving on to the awards, several big-ticket items stood out among the Colorado winners.

Cannonball Creek crushed it again
Cannonball not only won three medals – extending its GABF medal streak to 14 consecutive years – but for the second year in a row, it won Brewery of the Year in the 501-1,000 barrel category. She has now won six times at the festival for her Featherweight Pale Ale and four times for her Trump Hands Session IPA.

This wasn’t the only competition Cannonball hosted this weekend. Alpha King – a competition hosted by Yakima Chief Hops and 3 Floyd’s – has moved to downtown Westbound & Down. With more than 160 West Coast-style IPAs entered, Cannonball was just one of four breweries to rank. His Badankadank IPA won the coveted “Jesse’s Pick,” an award dedicated to a former member of the Yakima Chief team who embodied a more energetic rock n’ roll attitude.

Colorado wins gold in new category
Each year, during the competition, the GABF attempts to present emerging trends and products. This often results in categories with specific requirements: using a single, new public hop variety. This year it was the craft malt category where each beer had to use more than 50% craft malt in its entry. Dostal Alley Brewpub & Casino in Central City won this category for its Jacob Mack Mild Ale.

Castle Rock Mexican Lager
Castle Rock’s Wild Blue Yonder Brewing won gold in the Mexican-style Pale Lager category, while nearby 105 West took home silver. It’s rare for two breweries from the same state to win gold and silver in the same category, let alone two different breweries from the same city. Perhaps a collaboration lager is in the works in the near future.

Here’s the full list of awards, including an impressive showing for Colorado cideries, with Snow Capped Cider winning Cider Maker of the Year.

Gold medals

• Bent Barley Brewing Company – Dry Irish Stout (Porter or Stout)
• Bierstadt Lagerhaus and Wayfinder Beer – Infinite Hotel (Collaboration)
• Bull & Bush Brewery – Pineapple 3 Way (Belgian style fruit beer)
• Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. – Mindbender (American Style Street Pale Ale)
• Dostal Alley Brewpub & Casino – Jacob Mack Mild Ale (Craft Malt Beer – new category)
• The Empourium Brewing Company – Honey Panda (specialty beer)
• Haykin Family Cider – Newtown Ice Cider (experimental, barrel-aged or specialty cider)
• Los Dos Potrillos Cervecería – Agua Fresca (American fruit beer)
• Sandlot Brewery at Coors Field – Calamansi Wheat (fruit wheat beer)
• Snowy cider – Kingston Black 26 (tannic cider)
• Snowy cider – The Russets (cider without/low in tannins)
• Sweet Heart Brands – Spiced Apple (Botanical or Spiced Cider)
• Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project – Aging with You (barley wine or wheat wine)
• The Well in Wellington – Altbier (classic gluten-free beer or lager)
• Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Co. – Sereno Moreno (Mexican Style Pale Lager)
• Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Co. and Geoff Humphrey Castle Rock – The Burden of Being Wonderful (Pro-Am)

Silver medals

• 105 West Brewing Co. – Mexican Lager
• Avery Brewing Co. – White Rascal (Belgian Witbier)
• Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. – Featherweight (American Pale Ale)
• Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co. – Endless Groove (New Zealand Style Pale Ale)
• Haykin Family Cider – LUCY Ice Cider (experimental, barrel-aged or specialty cider)
• Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. – Kolsch (German Style Koelsch)
• New Belgian brewing company – Trippel (Belgian-style Tripel)
• New Image Brewing Company and Offset Bier Co. – Neon Ladies (Collaboration)
• Old 121 Brewhouse – Colt 121 (Other strong beer)
• Second Dawn Brewing Company – Wolf of the Woods (Italian Pilsner)
• Snowy Cider – Harrison Reserve (no/low tannin cider)
• Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project – Coconut GO (Field Beer)

Bronze medals

• Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. – Trump Hands (Session India Pale Ale)
• Holidaily Brewing Company – Fat Randy’s IPA (gluten-free hoppy beer)
• Holidaily Brewing Company – Favorite Blonde Ale (Gluten-Free Classic Beer or Lager)
• Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. – El Poblano Borracho (chili beer)
• Locavore Beer Works – Devil’s Friend (German Schwarzbier)
• MainStage Brewing Co. – Oktoberfestfest (German Maerzen)
• Pattern Break Brewing Co. – Negroni Ale (experimental beer)
• Prost Brewing Company – Prost Helles (Munich-style Helles)
• River North Brewery – Quandary (strong Belgian-style specialty beer)
• Ska Brewing – WestSKAlle (Belgian style abbey beer)
• Snowy cider – Pink Pearl (cider without/low in tannins)
• Snowy Cider – Spiced (botanical or spiced cider)
• Tommyknocker Brewery & Pub – Jack Whacker Hazy Wheat (American wheat beer)

Upcoming Beer Festivals in Colorado

If you love rooting for your favorite Colorado brewer or are just looking for new award-winning beers to try, keep an eye out for more winners this winter. These competitions are not associated with public festivals, but they are evaluated by experienced judges.

The Denver International Beer Competition returns in November. The beers will be judged on November 7 and 8 and the awards will be announced shortly after. The third annual Colorado Brewers Cup will also return in late January, with awards announced on January 22.