Area breweries win Great American Beer Festival medals

DENVER — Eight breweries from the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado took home medals Sunday — including three gold medals — from the Great American Beer Festival competition, held Sunday at Denver’s Levitt Pavilion.

They were among 27 Colorado-based breweries that won a total of 34 awards. Eight Colorado breweries won their first GABF medals, including newly opened Pattern Break Brewing Co. in Boulder.

This year’s competition drew 7,267 entries from 1,300 breweries and cidermakers across the United States, evaluated by 225 judges across six days of judging in 105 beer-style categories. Produced by the Boulder-headquartered Brewers Association, GABF is the nation’s largest professional beer competition.

Gold-medal winners included Loveland-based Verboten Brewing for its “Grow Old With You” in the Barley Wine or Wheat Wine category, Loveland-based Sweet Heart Brands for its “Spiced Apple” in the Botanical or Spiced Cider competition, and The Well in Wellington for its “Altbier” in the Classic Gluten-Free Ale or Lager category.

Silver-medal winners included Verboten for “Coconut GO” in the Field Beer category, Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing Co. for its “Trippel” in the Belgian-Style Tripel category, Boulder-based Avery Brewing Co. for its “White Rascal” in the Belgian-Style Witbier competition, and Lafayette-based Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. for its “Kolsch” in the German-Style Kolsch category.

Pattern Break brought home a bronze medal in its debut at the competition for its “Negroni Ale” in the Experimental Beer category. Other bronze-medal winners included Liquid Mechanics for “El Poblano Borracho” in the Chili Beer competition and Boulder-based MainStage Brewing Co. for its “Oktoberfestfest” in the German-Style Maerzen category.

“Grow Old With You” and “El Poblano Borracho” had won the same award in the same category in 2024, and the medals for The Well in Wellington and MainStage were their first at the GABF.

Colorado is ranked fifth in the nation for the highest number of craft breweries (423) and had a $2.5 billion economic impact in 2025, according to the Brewers Association.

“It’s no small feat to win a medal at the Great American Beer Festival, and every Colorado brewery that took the stage should be extremely proud,” Shawnee Adelson, executive director of the Colorado Brewers Guild, said in a prepared statement. “With medals at 14 consecutive festivals, Cannonball Creek has one of the longest active winning streaks in the competition.” Golden-based Cannonball Creek was named brewery of the year for the second year in a row, medaling at its 14th consecutive GABF. Over that span, the brewery has won 24 medals with 13 different beers.

Three area breweries were among those whose beers advanced to the final judging round in the competition’s most competitive categories but did not medal: Liquid Mechanics for “Endless Drive No. 4,” Verboten for “German Techno Polka Party” and Westbound & Down Brewing Co., which has a location in Lafayette, for “How the West Was One.”

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