& Colorado Brewers Earn 38 Medals @ GABF

34 Colorado brewers won 38 medals in 33 style categories at this year’s Great American Beer Festival competition in Denver. Its’ the world’s largest commercial beer contest, run for the past 30 years by Boulder-based Brewers Association.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

After honoring thousands of brewers through decades of GABF competitions, the BA's Charlie Papazian finally gets his own gold medal, in a surprise presentation by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

GABF - The Festival - has been going strong for 35 years, and one nagging thing was finally put to rest when Governor (and former brewer) John Hickenlooper fist-bumped and awarded the BA’s Charlie Papazian his own well-earned gold medal after three and a half decades of shepherding the GABF to where it is today. Lucky for us, he’s kept it here in Colorado all these years. Thanks Charlie!

This year, more beer entries than ever - 7227 beers in 96 total style categories - poured in for judging. Four Colorado brewers - Bootstrap, Cannonball Creek, Coors and Steamworks - earned two medals each. Check out the results below, and study the photos carefully so that when you vista the 34 award winners for yourself, you’ll know who to congratulate for making such great beer!

For a complete list of the winners from around the country, check out the GABF website.

Gold

American-Style Pale Ale

Stick's Pale Ale

Bootstrap Brewing Co.

Niwot, CO

Belgian-Style Blonde Ale or Pale Ale

Solid Gold

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co.

Golden, CO

Chili Beer

Rocky Mtn Saison

Forteener Brewing Co.

Denver, CO

Classic Saison

Achtertuin Seizoen Farmhouse Ale

The Post Brewing Co.

Lafayette, CO

English-Style Brown Ale

Tri-Town Brown

Echo Brewing Cask and Barrel

Erie, CO

German-Style Altbier

Little Red Cap

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse

Loveland, CO

German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock

Warning Sign

Rockyard American Grill & Brewing Co.

Castle Rock, CO

Golden or Blonde Ale

Kirby

Echo Brewing Co.

Frederick, CO

Historical Beer

Valhalla

El Rancho Brewing

Evergreen, CO

Other Belgian-Style Ale

Blond

Copper Kettle Brewing Co.

Denver, CO

Pumpkin Spice Beer

Pump Action Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Four Noses Brewing Co.

Broomfield, CO

Session India Pale Ale

Trump Hands

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co.

Golden, CO

Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer

Drama Queen

Denver Beer Co. - Canworks

Denver, CO

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Bootstrap Brewing in Niwot won two medals at the fest - Gold for Stick's Pale Ale & Bronze for Wreak Havoc.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

2 Gold medals for Cannonball Creek Brewing!

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

The Post Brewing Co. in Lafayette wins Gold for their Achtertuin Seizoen Farmhouse Ale, a Classic Saison.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Echo Brewing in Frederick, and Echo Brewing Cask and Barrel in Erie, took the stage twice for Gold. One for Tri-Town Brown, and the other for Kirby.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland takes Gold for their Little Red Cap, a German-Style Altbier.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Jim Stinson and the crew at Rockyard American Grill and Brewing Co. win Gold for the collaborative brew, Warning Sign - a high-octane Eisbock.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

New brewery El Rancho, in Evergreen, takes home Gold for Valhalla.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Denver brewery Copper Kettle strikes Gold with their Blond.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

It's Gold for the crew at Denver Beer Co. - Canworks, for their Barrel Aged Drama Queen.

Silver

American-Style Brown Ale

Upslope Brown Ale

Upslope Brewing Co. - Flatiron Park

Boulder, CO

American-Style Lager or Ice Lager or Malt Liquor

Coors Banquet

Coors Brewing Co.

Golden, CO

American-Style Light Lager or German-Style Light Lager

Lightner Creek Lager

Carver Brewing Co.

Durango, CO

Belgian-Style Tripel

PDA

Black Bottle Brewery

Fort Collins, CO

Brett Beer

Dreamy Thing

Cerebral Brewing

Denver, CO

English-Style Summer Ale

Ridgway Blonde

Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery

Ridgway, CO

European-Style Dark Lager/Munich-Style Dunkel

Piney Ridge Dunkel

Front Range Brewing Co.

Lafayette, CO

Volume 1",Export Stout

Fade to Black

Left Hand Brewing Co.

Longmont, CO

Fruit Wheat Beer

Mango Wheat

Blue Moon Brewing Co.

Denver, CO

German-Style Schwarzbier

Alternate Present

Fiction Beer Co.

Denver, CO

German-Style Wheat Ale

Slam Dunkel

Steamworks Brewing Co.

Durango, CO

Herb and Spice Beer

Ginger American Ale

Broken Compass Brewing

Breckenridge, CO

Irish-Style Red Ale

St. James Irish Red Ale

Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co.

Glenwood Springs, CO

Munich-Style Helles

Helles

Dry Dock Brewing Co. - South Dock

Aurora, CO

Oatmeal Stout

Backside Stout

Steamworks Brewing Co.

Durango, CO

South German-Style Hefeweizen

Weissbier

Prost Brewing

Denver, CO

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Upslope Brewing of Flatiron Park, Boulder, happily takes Silver for the namesake Brown Ale.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Mega-brewer Coors adds to its medal collection with a Silver for Coors Banquet and a Bronze for Coors Light.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

The crew at Black Bottle win Silver for their Belgian-Style Tripel - PDA.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Tom Hennessy of Colorado Boy takes Silver for his Ridgway Blonde.

Front Range Brewing of Lafayette looks "pleased in their plaid", happy to have walked away with a Silver for their Piney Ridge Dunkel.

Lefthand proudly takes stage with a large contingent, accepting Sliver for Fade to Black, Volume 1, an Export Stout.

Non-fiction at the GABF was good for Fiction Beer Co., in Frederick, providing the brewery a very tangible Silver for Alternate Present, a German-Style Schwarzbier.