2026 GABF Winners Announced! Here are the Washington and Oregon Winners

Once again, the breweries of the Pacific Northwest scored big

The Great American Beer Festival just concluded in Denver. Beyond a beer fest, it is one of the largest and most-prestigious beer judging competitions in the world. Winners were announced on October 10th. Consistently, between 1,500 and 2,300 breweries submit as many as 8,000 beers for evaluation by the panel of expert, certified beer judges. Earning recognition here is a big deal. (Above: Breakside Brewery accepts its Brewery of the Year award.)

Below, I share the Washington and Oregon winners at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival Awards. No Idaho breweries earned medals. You can see the complete list of all of the winners here.

Highlights

• Seattle’s Human People Beer won a gold medal in the most hotly contested category: West Coast IPA. They earned top honors in a category that saw 277 entries.
• Breakside Brewery and Grains of Wrath Brewing brought home two of the three medals in the American IPA category, further solidifying their status as two of the best IPA breweries in the nation. Seriously, I’m talking about awards, not just my opinion. Objectively, two of the best IPA breweries in the nation.
• All three of the medals in the Fresh Hop Beer category were awarded to Pacific Northwest Breweries. Not surprising; this is where the hops are grown and our brewers have an advantage, and they use it well. Deschutes Brewery, Sunriver Brewing, and Vice Beer.
• PNW still rocks the hops. Look at the results below and you’ll notice that our PNW breweries scored well in many of the hop-forward categories.
• On the strength of its medal haul (six medals), Breakside earned Brewery of the Year honors for breweries of its size: 15,000 – 100,000 barrels per year.
• On the strength of its medal haul (four medals), Upp Liquids of Bend earned Brewery of the Year honors for breweries of its size: 250 – 500 barrels per year.
• Oregon’s Breweries brought home 34 medals and Washington’s brought home 17. In years past, those numbers were closer together.

2026 GABF Stats and Info

GABF Competition Statistics

• 7,267 entries (beer, cider, hop water) judged
• 1,300 breweries & cideries in the competition from 49 states, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico
• 225 judges
• 200+ volunteers
• Average number of beers entered in each category: 67
• Category with the highest number of entries: Category: West Coast-Style India Pale Ale (277 entries)
• 125 first-time GABF competition entrants
• 12 first-time GABF competition winners

TOP 5 MOST-ENTERED BEER STYLE CATEGORY WINNERS

* Both categories tie for the fifth most-entered category, each with 161 entries.

Catgory 102: West Coast-Style India Pale Ale (277 entries)
GOLD: Before & After Science | Human People Beer | Seattle, WA
SILVER: Born Hoppy | TapRoom Beer Co. | San Diego, CA
BRONZE: Mosaic + Krush Cryo West Coast IPA | pFriem Family Brewers | Hood River, OR

Category 101: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (260 entries)
GOLD: Because Science | Bend Brewing Co. | Bend, OR
SILVER: Icy Fog | McMenamins Breweries | Portland, OR
BRONZE: The Goat |New York Beer Project – Beer Lodge | Orchard Park, NY

Category 56: German-Style Maerzen (184 entries)
GOLD: Altstadt Oktoberfest | Altstadt Brewery | Fredericksburg, TX
SILVER: Oktoberfest | Bingo Beer Co. | Richmond, VA
BRONZE: Oktoberfestfest | MainStage Brewing Co. | Boulder, CO

Category 100: American India Pale Ale (165 entries)
GOLD: Breakside IPA | Breakside Brewery & Taproom | Milwaukie, OR
SILVER: Built for Speed | Grains of Wrath Brewing | Camas, WA
BRONZE: Green Battles | Pinthouse Pizza – North | Austin, TX

Category 50*: German-Style Pilsener (161 entries)
GOLD: Altstadt Pils | Altstadt Brewery | Fredericksburg, TX
SILVER: Templin Family Fass Bier | Templin Family Brewing | Salt Lake City, UT
BRONZE: Pazifik Coast Highway | Beachwood Brewing | Huntington Beach, CA

Category 54*: Dortmunder or German-Style Festbier (161 entries)
GOLD: Festbier | Wren House Brewing Co. | Phoenix, AZ
SILVER: 8th Anniversary Lager | Fat Head’s Brewery | Middleburg Heights, OH
BRONZE: Counter Weight Fest Bier | Counter Weight Brewing Co. | Cheshire, CT

PNW Multi-Medal Categories

PNW breweries (Washington and Oregon) won more than one medal in 11 categories. I counted only WA and OR, since no Idaho breweries appear in the results.

Medal sweeps and near sweeps

• Fresh Hop Beer: Gold went to Deschutes (OR), silver to Vice Beer (WA), and bronze to Sunriver (OR), so PNW breweries took all three medals.
• The most-entered category was West Coast-Style IPA with 277 entries. PNW breweries won the Gold (Human People Beer) and the Bronze (pFriem Family Brewers).
• The third-most entered category was American India Pale Ale with 165 entries. Breakside Brewery won Gold and Grains of Wrath won Silver.

Washington and Oregon both medaled

• Hoppy Lager: Grains of Wrath (WA) took gold and Breakside (OR) took bronze.
• American-Style Strong Pale Ale: Trap Door (WA) took silver and Bend Brewing (OR) took bronze.
• American IPA: Breakside (OR) took gold and Grains of Wrath (WA) took silver.
• West Coast-Style IPA: Human People (WA) took gold and pFriem (OR) took bronze.

Oregon only (two medals)

• Mixed Culture Brett Beer: ColdFire (silver) and Alesong (bronze).
• American Amber Lager: Falling Sky (gold) and Grand Fir (bronze).
• Berliner-Style Weisse: Oregon City (gold) and UPP Liquids (silver).
• International-Style Pale Ale: Breakside won gold and silver.
• Juicy or Hazy IPA: Bend Brewing (gold) and McMenamins (silver).
• Fruited Cider: 2 Towns Ciderhouse won silver and bronze.

Washington and Oregon Winners

Washington 2026 GABF Medal Winners

Oregon 2026 GABF Medal Winners

Congrats to all the PNW winners and to all of the winners from sea to shining sea!

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