2026 Virginia Craft Beer Summit & Gala
(Caiseal Brewing Company won last year’s first-every Brewery of the Year category.)
On August 10, the 2026 Virginia Craft Beer Summit & Gala is promised to be one of the most encompassing yet produced by the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild.
Numerous guest speakers and topical industry discussions will begin at 11 a.m. and continue through the afternoon.
Announcements and remarks by Guild leadership staffers Brett Vassey and Stacie Gordon as well as from Virginia State Delegate Holly Seibold and VCBG Chairman Bill Spence will be followed by several award categories: Virginia Craft Beer Legend Award, Virginia Craft Brewers Champion Award, Revolutionary Brews People’s Choice Challenge Award, 2026 Brewery of the Year award, 2026 Best in Show award, and some 20 Virginia Craft Beer Cup individual beer style categories.
A Pro-Am category makes its debut as well.
A major component of each year’s Virginia Craft Beer Cup is the quality judging pool that gives credibility to the award outcomes
Jenna Wines of the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild provided the following:
“The 2026 Virginia Craft Beer Cup assembled one of the most credentialed judging panels that a regional competition can field. The high quality and strong reputation of the competition drew National-ranked judges who traveled from as far away as North Carolina and Illinois to participate.
“Of the competition’s 36 judges, 34 (94.4%) held official BJCP rank—up from 91.4% the year prior—giving the competition a depth of judging expertise more commonly associated with national-caliber competitions.
“Among the BJCP-ranked judges, 33 (91.7%) held Certified rank or higher, while eight held National rank or higher. Two had earned Grand Master II rank or higher—a distinction held by only 58 judges nationwide—meaning the competition attracted 3.4% of the country’s highest-ranked BJCP judges. Those two Grand Masters, together with three National-ranked judges, evaluated the competition’s Best of Show beers.
“The panel’s depth extended beyond BJCP rank alone. Four judges were also Certified Cicerones, and four were professional brewers. Of the two unranked judges, one was awaiting official BJCP rank, had sensory training, had judged dozens of competitions, and had earned more GABF Pro-Am medals than anyone in the country. The other unranked judge was a Certified Cicerone, sensory-trained evaluator, and professional brewer.
“Beyond recognizing brewing excellence, the Virginia Craft Beer Cup also contributes to the development of the next generation of BJCP judges. Advancement through the BJCP ranking system requires both examination performance and documented judging experience, making sanctioned competitions like the Virginia Craft Beer Cup an important part of developing and advancing qualified beer judges.”
