Craft Beer

I love quality craft beer!

2023

Author

Cliff Weaver

Published

April 16, 2023

Introduction: Why Did I Do This?

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Why? Easy to answer - I love craft beer and I have before many of you enjoyed your first beer. Decades ago I can say that I traveled to every craft brewery in the US - at least everyone that I could find! It was fun to try the beers (typically over-indulging by trying a pint of each one). I would enjoy some good food - most of the time. Like many, I collected pint glasses and did so for many years. Once I ran out of wall space, the nearly 1,000 pint glasses were given away. I did save a few that held particular memories.

I have been a beer judge, brewed many barrels of beer at home and as a guest brewer, and I have traveled to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) many times. I maintain 3 kegs in my home all the time. (I do not share beer with my Golden Retriever, Wheat.)

Professionally, my life has involved data, most recently as a data scientist. As such, I love data and order. When I studied to become a certified beer judge (Beer Judge Certification Program, Inc. (BJCP), I loved learning the history, definitions and categorization of many beer styles. Foolishly, I thought everyone would follow these beer style and categorization recommendations. Like so many times in my life, I was wrong. When I reviewed results of the 2022 GABF results, I saw styles of beer categorized in ways I did not recognize. At the time, I thought nothing of it. I assumed that my memory had began to fade and my recall was mistaken. But then I started to look a bit deeper and found even at GABF beer naming recommendations were often ignored.

This set in motion a project I thought would take days that turned into months. Reconciling the entire history GABF results became an obsession. I then harmonized not only GABF recommendations but also beer categorization recommendations from the Brewers Association and Beer Advocate.

After normalizing the data, I explore GABF results using BJCP 2021 guidelines. This calibrates the data so comparisons are more consistent and accurate. You can find lots of data analysis on beer competitions on the web, but I believe this work is original and unparalleled. I could find no other resources that have taken 40 years of GABF competitions and categorized everything per BJCP 2021 guidelines. This leads to better and more consistent analytical results when comparing beer preferences over time.

Enjoy!

Beer 101

Fermenting grains used to create beer, it was a process that was done in the home (or cave). This begs the question - when did mankind start brewing? Well, we don’t really know. Historians currently believe that the first fermented beverages were around 12,000 years ago - close to when humans began developing crops. But we have hard evidence of brewing about 6,000 years ago in the form of a Sumerian tablet and a 3,900 year old poem that contains the oldest known recipe.

A few millenia later. . . .Prohibition

The U.S. flirted with the idea of being dry but it just drove brewing back into the home. In 1919 it became illegal to make, buy, or sell intoxicating beverages. However, had it not been for Prohibition we might not have malt syrups and there may not be wide scale extract brewing. Since the large breweries could not make beer, they simply started turning out these malt extracts and selling them for baking. The American home brewer was excited to do some baking. In 1926, 438 million pounds of malt extract were produced and the next year it was up to 450 million. In a single year during Prohibition, hop sales for this home baking exceeded 13 million pounds. By 1929, the Prohibition Bureau estimated that approximately 700 million gallons of beer was made at home. Then in 1933 a funny thing happened. Prohibition was done away with, the 160 breweries (down from 2,300 in 1880 and 1,400 in 1914) in the country could once again start churning out beer.

Due to an oversight in the way the law was written, while making wine at home was legal, brewing a batch of beer at home remained forbidden. This didn’t stop people completely, of course. As more and more groups of people broke the law to brew at home the US government got around to correcting its oversight - 45 years later. Jimmy Carter signed HR 1337 into law which made it explicitly legal to homebrew beer. When that law was passed, there were only ~50 breweries in the USA. Today, there are ~7k permitted breweries. With that in mind, when the GABF festival started, breweries like Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing Company, and Coors Brewing Company controlled even more of the market share than they do today. The newcomers at that time were Boston Beer Company (i.e. Sam Adams) and Alaskan Brewing Co., founded in 1984 and 1986 respectively. That history plays a significant role in our analysis because the newer breweries of today are years behind these older breweries with regard to winning awards. (You will learn more about this when Pabst is explored later in this document.)

The 1978 law only applied at the federal level. The states were allowed to make their own laws regarding homebrewing. Since 1978, the beer industry has boomed. To support the home brewer more maltsters, hop growers, yeast labs and shops have popped up across the country. The home brewing movement has provided the growing craft brew industry with many of its brewers and customers. Finally in 2013 Alabama and Mississippi have voted to legalize home brewing, meaning that for the first time since 1919 it was legal to brew in your home in every State of the country.

To equitably compare beer competitions, you must first know about 2 key organizations:

Great American Beer Fest (GABF)
Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP)

GABF - What is it?

Established in 1982, GABF is the largest ticketed beer festival in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world. GABF was founded by brewer Charlie Papazian. The first festival was held in conjunction with the American Homebrewers Association’s annual conference in Boulder, Colorado in June 1982, featuring 24 participating breweries and 47 beers. In a private event held the week prior, judges evaluated the beers in the associated competition, and awarded medals in over 100 beer style categories. In 2019, the panel consisted of 322 judges from 18 countries, who evaluated over 9,400 beers from 800 breweries. The in-person festival was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, with a virtual event held instead, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned in 2022.

The GABF is held every year in Denver, Colorado. A wide diversity of American beers side by side with leading beers from all over the world is offered in the festival. Dozens of beer masters and beers judges from the US and abroad test the quality of the beers according to categories and grade it. The three leading beers will get medals: gold, silver, and bronze.

What is the Beer Judge Certification Program?

The Beer Judge Certification Program, Inc. (BJCP) is a world-wide certifying organization for judges of beer and related fermented products. Founded in 1985, it has a presence in over 60 countries and have more than 7500 active judges in the program. Judges are certified through an examination covering technical aspects of brewing, world beer styles, the purpose of the BJCP, and judging procedures, and by demonstrating practical judging skills. Judges are ranked based on their examination scores and accumulation of practical judging experience.

Most pertinent to this analysis is the BJCP guidelines. These guidelines are just that - guidelines, not commandments. Competitions may create their own award categories that are distinct from the style categories in these guidelines. There is no requirement that competitions use style categories as award categories! Individual styles can be grouped in any manner to create desired award categories in competition; for instance, to evenly distribute the number of entries in each award category.

BJCP realizes that many of the defined styles can have alternate names, or are called different things in other (or even the same) parts of the world. In the past, BJCP used multiple names in style titles to avoid showing preference, but this too often led people to incorrectly use all those names simultaneously. So, BJCP selected one unambiguous name for each style.

The BJCP Style Guidelines use some specific terms with specialized meaning: Category, Subcategory and Style. When thinking of beer, mead and cider styles, the subcategory is the most important label - subcategory means essentially the same thing as style and identifies the major characteristic of one type of beer, mead or cider. The larger categories are arbitrary groupings of beers, meads or ciders, usually with similar character but some subcategories are not necessarily related to others within the same category. The purpose of the structure within the BJCP Style Guidelines is to group styles of beer, mead and cider for competition purposes; do not attempt to derive additional meaning from these groupings.

Guidelines are meant to describe general characteristics of the most common examples, and serve as an aid for judging; they are not meant to be rigorously-applied specifications that are used to punish slightly unusual examples. They are suggestions, not hard limits. Allow for some flexibility in judging so that well-crafted examples can be rewarded. The guidelines are written in detail to facilitate the process of the structured evaluation of beer as practiced in home brewing competitions; don’t use each individual statement in style descriptions as a reason to disqualify a beer.

BJCP tenets are:

BJCP Style Guidelines are guidelines not specifications.
Style Guidelines are written primarily for homebrew competitions - style descriptions are written primarily to aid in judging.
Styles change over time
Not every commercial beer fits BJCP styles
BJCP has not defined every possible beer style
Commercial examples change over time
Ingredients change over time
Most styles are fairly broad
BJCP Guidelines are extensible

Style History

In 2015, many styles were added, some styles were divided into multiple categories, and some simply renamed. Styles are organized into categories following a philosophy that groups styles with similar judging characteristics rather than a common heritage or family name. Do not assume that the same primary characteristic (e.g., color, strength, balance, dominant flavor, country of origin) was used to determine each category grouping - the reasoning was more nuanced.

The 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines are a minor revision to the 2015 edition, itself a major update of the 2008 edition. The goals of the 2015 edition were to better address world beer styles as found in their local markets, keep pace with emerging craft beer market trends, describe historical beers now finding a following, better describe the sensory characteristics of modern brewing ingredients, take advantage of new research and references, and help competition organizers better manage the complexity of their events. These goals have not changed in the 2021 edition.

Beer Styles - A Problem

Under the current 2021 Guidelines, GABF recommends 33 Categories of beer.

 [1] "Standard American Beer"        "International Lager"          
 [3] "Czech Lager"                   "Pale Malty European Lager"    
 [5] "Pale Bitter European Beer"     "Amber Malty European Lager"   
 [7] "Amber Bitter European Beer"    "Dark European Lager"          
 [9] "Strong European Beer"          "German Wheat Beer"            
[11] "British Bitter"                "Pale Commonwealth Beer"       
[13] "Brown British Beer"            "Scottish Ale"                 
[15] "Irish Beer"                    "Dark British Beer"            
[17] "Strong British Ale"            "Pale American Ale"            
[19] "Amber and Brown American Beer" "American Porter and Stout"    
[21] "IPA"                           "Strong American Ale"          
[23] "European Sour Ale"             "Belgian Ale"                  
[25] "Strong Belgian Ale"            "Historical Beer"              
[27] "American Wild Ale"             "Fruit Beer"                   
[29] "Spiced Beer"                   "Alternative Fermentables Beer"
[31] "Smoked Beer"                   "Wood Beer"                    
[33] "Specialty Beer"

These categories are the divided into recommended styles of beer:

  [1] "American Light Lager"           "American Lager"                
  [3] "Cream Ale"                      "American Wheat Beer"           
  [5] "International Pale Lager"       "International Amber Lager"     
  [7] "International Dark Lager"       "Czech Lager"                   
  [9] "Czech Premium Pale Lager"       "Czech Amber Lager"             
 [11] "Czech Dark Lager"               "Munich Helles"                 
 [13] "Festbier"                       "Helles Bock"                   
 [15] "German Leichtbier"              "Kolsch"                        
 [17] "German Helles Exportbier"       "German Pils"                   
 [19] "Marzen"                         "Rauchbier"                     
 [21] "Dunkles Bock"                   "Vienna Lager"                  
 [23] "Altbier"                        "Munich Dunkel"                 
 [25] "Schwarzbier"                    "Doppelbock"                    
 [27] "Eisbock"                        "Baltic Porter"                 
 [29] "Weissbier"                      "Dunkles Weissbier"             
 [31] "Weizenbock"                     "Ordinary Bitter"               
 [33] "Best Bitter"                    "Strong Bitter"                 
 [35] "British Golden Ale"             "Australian Sparkling Ale"      
 [37] "English IPA"                    "Dark Mild"                     
 [39] "British Brown Ale"              "English Porter"                
 [41] "Scottish Light"                 "Scottish Heavy"                
 [43] "Scottish Export"                "Irish Red Ale"                 
 [45] "Irish Stout"                    "Irish Extra Stout"             
 [47] "Sweet Stout"                    "Oatmeal Stout"                 
 [49] "Tropical Stout"                 "Foreign Extra Stout"           
 [51] "British Strong Ale"             "Old Ale"                       
 [53] "Wee Heavy"                      "English Barleywine"            
 [55] "Blonde Ale"                     "American Pale Ale"             
 [57] "American Amber Ale"             "California Common"             
 [59] "American Brown Ale"             "American Porter"               
 [61] "American Stout"                 "Imperial Stout"                
 [63] "American IPA"                   "Specialty IPA"                 
 [65] "Hazy IPA"                       "Double IPA"                    
 [67] "Strong American Ale"            "American Barleywine"           
 [69] "Wheatwine"                      "Berliner Weisse"               
 [71] "Flanders Red Ale"               "Oud Bruin"                     
 [73] "Lambic"                         "Gueuze"                        
 [75] "Fruit Lambic"                   "Gose"                          
 [77] "Witbier"                        "Belgian Pale Ale"              
 [79] "Biere de Garde"                 "Belgian Blonde Ale"            
 [81] "Saison"                         "Belgian Golden Strong Ale"     
 [83] "Monastic Ale"                   "Belgian Single"                
 [85] "Belgian Dubbel"                 "Belgian Tripel"                
 [87] "Belgian Dark Strong Ale"        "Kellerbier"                    
 [89] "Kentucky Common"                "Lichtenhainer"                 
 [91] "London Brown Ale"               "Piwo Grodziskie"               
 [93] "Pre-Prohibition Lager"          "Pre-Prohibition Porter"        
 [95] "Roggenbier"                     "Sahti"                         
 [97] "Brett Beer"                     "Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer"  
 [99] "Wild Specialty Beer"            "Straight Sour Beer"            
[101] "Fruit Beer"                     "Fruit and Spice Beer"          
[103] "Specialty Fruit Beer"           "Grape Ale"                     
[105] "Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer" "Autumn Seasonal Beer"          
[107] "Winter Seasonal Beer"           "Specialty Spice Beer"          
[109] "Alternative Grain Beer"         "Alternative Sugar Beer"        
[111] "Classic Style Smoked Beer"      "Specialty Smoked Beer"         
[113] "Wood-Aged Beer"                 "Specialty Wood-Aged Beer"      
[115] "Commercial Specialty Beer"      "Mixed-Style Beer"              
[117] "Experimental Beer"

Given these standards, you would think they would be followed by the judges in competitions. Not the case! Like all data, the data from GABF Competitions is dirty and problematic. Reviewing all the competitions to date, 538 distinct styles are used. Here is a sample:

 [1] "American Amber Lager"                                        
 [2] "American Amber/Red Ale"                                      
 [3] "American Black Ale or American Stout"                        
 [4] "American Cream Ale"                                          
 [5] "American Fruit Beer"                                         
 [6] "American Pilsener"                                           
 [7] "American Sour Ale"                                           
 [8] "American Wheat Beer"                                         
 [9] "American-Belgo-Style Ale"                                    
[10] "American-Style Brown Ale"                                    
[11] "American-Style India Pale AleCategory Sponsor: Micro Matic"  
[12] "American-Style Lager"                                        
[13] "American-Style Pale AleCategory Sponsor: Grandstand"         
[14] "American-Style Strong Pale Ale"                              
[15] "Australasian, Latin American or Tropical Light Lager"        
[16] "Belgian Fruit Beer"                                          
[17] "Belgian-Style Abbey Ale"                                     
[18] "Belgian-Style Ale or French-Style Ale"                       
[19] "Belgian-Style Sour Ale"                                      
[20] "Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale"                          
[21] "Belgian-Style Witbier"                                       
[22] "Bock"                                                        
[23] "Bohemian-Style PilsenerCategory Sponsor: Wyeast Laboratories"
[24] "Brett BeerCategory Sponsor: Wyeast Laboratories"             
[25] "Brown Porter"                                                
[26] "Chili Beer"                                                  
[27] "Chocolate Beer"                                              
[28] "Classic Saison"                                              
[29] "Coffee Beer"                                                 
[30] "Coffee Stout or PorterCategory Sponsor: Chart Industries"

The Beer Categorization and Style Problem

The primary problem with GABF Competition results are that only a Category is recorded. There is no distinction between a Category or a Style of beer (or Sub-Style). Therefore, the information provided requires interpretation to derive the appropriate Category and Style. This effort is not perfect. Assumptions had to be made. The competition results provided limited information on the type of beer judged. There is no distinction between Category or Style. For example, an entry of American Black Ale or American Stout was modified with a Category of American Porter and Stout and a style of American Stout. There is no way to go back in time to determine if the beer in question (in this case it was called
Hooked On Onyx) was truly a stout or not. I had to guess.

Want to peek inside some of the code that does all this work? Not really, huh? Some might want to see.

Category_Raw == "Chili Beer" ~ "Spiced Beer",
Category_Raw == "Chocolate Beer" ~ "Spiced Beer",
Category_Raw == "Classic Saison" ~ "Strong Belgian Ale",
Category_Raw == "Coffee Beer" ~ "Spiced Beer",
Category_Raw == "Contemporary American-Style Lager" ~ "Standard American Beer",
Category_Raw == "Contemporary Gose" ~ "European Sour Ale",
Category_Raw == "Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest" ~ "Pale Bitter European Beer",
Category_Raw == "English Ale" ~ "British Bitter",
Category_Raw == "English India Pale Ale or New Zealand India Pale Ale" ~ "Pale Commonwealth Beer",
Category_Raw == "Experimental India Pale Ale" ~ "Specialty Beer", 
Category_Raw == "Experimental Wood-Aged Beer" ~ "Wood Beer",
Category_Raw == "Extra Special Bitter" ~ "British Bitter",
Category_Raw == "Field Beer" ~ "Spiced Beer",
Category_Raw == "Fresh Hop Beer" ~ "Specialty Beer",
Category_Raw == "Fruit Wheat Beer" ~ "Fruit Beer",
Category_Raw == "Fruited American Sour Ale" ~ "American Wild Ale",
Category_Raw == "German Dark Lager" ~ "Dark European Lager",
Category_Raw == "German-Style Dark Lager" ~ "Dark European Lager",
Category_Raw == "German Sour Ale" ~ "European Sour Ale",
Category_Raw == "German Wheat Ale" ~ "German Wheat Beer",

This was an exhausting effort (1,00s of category and style transformations), but all the previous GABF Competition results have been normalized to the current beer categories and beer styles defined in the 2021 GABF Standards.

In the end, I assert this review of beer is more accurate than any before it. Assigning standards to the beer categories and styles make the analysis and results more accurate, trustworthy and repeatable.

GABF Results	Category Count	Style Count
Compare Festival Categorization to GABF 2021 Recommedations
Raw	520	Not Available
Modified to Fit Standards	33	117

Alternative Beer Categorization

While BJCP Guidelines are undoubtedly the leading source for beer categorizing and style descriptions, it is not the only source. BJCP Guidelines are useful for professional brewers and craft brewing enthusiasts. For the ones more interested in drinking the beer than knowing the beer, broader definitions/guidelines are available. Beer Advocate and Brewers Association are two examples.

Both organizations greatly simply the identification of beer styles. BJCP supports 34 categories of beer compared to 10 and 16 categories from the Brewers Associations and Beer Advocate, respectfully.


Amber and Brown American Beer	North American Origin Lager Styles	Pale Lagers
American Porter and Stout	North American Origin Ale Styles	Pale Ales
Standard American Beer	All Origin Hybrid Mixed Lagers or Ales	Stouts
Fruit Beer	Belgian and French Origin Ale Styles	Hybrid Beers
Historical Beer	British Origin Ale Styles	Specialty Beers
American Wild Ale	European Origin Lager Styles	Wild-Sour Beers
Specialty Beer	German Origin Ale Styles	Wheat Beers
Belgian Ale	Mead	Brown Beers
Strong Belgian Ale	Irish Origin Ale Styles	India Pale Ales
IPA	Other Origin Lager Styles	Strong Ales
Strong American Ale		Bocks
European Sour Ale		Porters
Amber Malty European Lager		Dark Ales
Pale Bitter European Beer		Brown Ales
Spiced Beer		Dark Lagers
British Bitter		Mead
Pale Commonwealth Beer
Brown British Beer
Wood Beer
Dark European Lager
German Wheat Beer
Amber Bitter European Beer
Strong European Beer
Pale American Ale
Mead
International Lager
Irish Beer
Pale Malty European Lager
Dark British Beer
Strong British Ale
Scottish Ale
Smoked Beer
Czech Lager
Alternative Fermentables Beer
34	10	16

Beer Tree Maps

To understand how different the different guidelines are, tree maps are useful to show this information graphically in a manneer that is easily interpreted. To get started on this path to understanding, let’s evaluate the raw GABF results in terms of the beer styles represented in the last 40 years.

In the image below, it is clear there have been many styles of beer (remember, most of these were not named using BJCP guidelines so it it a bit misleading). The larger the rectangle, the more entries for that specific style have been recorded. Bock, Robust Porter, Imperial Stout and others have been entered many times compared to may other styles of beer.

Now compare the beer categories of the 3 organizations. The simplicity of the Beer Advocate and Brewers Associations recommendations is simple compared to the more comprehensive BJCP 2021 Guideline Recommendations.

Beer Competitions

Now that we understand beer and GABF Competitions, let’s start seeing some competition results!

First, let’s see who entered and was awards GABF Medals in the first few years of the competition.

Beer Name	Brewery	City	State	Category	Medals Won
Great American Beer Festival
The early years. There was only one category of beer - Consumer Preference Poll.
Beer Name	Brewery	City	State	Category	🥇	🥈	🥉
1983
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale	Sierra Nevada Brewing	Chico	CA	Consumer Preference Poll	1	0	0
Sierra Nevada Porter	Sierra Nevada Brewing	Chico	CA	Consumer Preference Poll	0	1	0
Anchor Porter	Anchor Brewing	San Francisco	CA	Consumer Preference Poll	0	0	1
1984
Russian Imperial Stout	Yakima Brewing	Sunnyside	WA	Consumer Preference Poll	1	0	0
Grants Scottish Ale	Yakima Brewing	Sunnyside	WA	Consumer Preference Poll	0	1	0
New Amsterdam Amber	Old New York Brewing	New York	NY	Consumer Preference Poll	0	0	1
1985
Samuel Adams Boston Lager	Boston Beer	Boston	MA	Consumer Preference Poll	1	0	0
Hibernia Dunkel Weizen	Hibernia Brewing	Eau Claire	WI	Consumer Preference Poll	0	1	0
Snake River Amber Lager	Snake River Brewing	Jackson	WY	Consumer Preference Poll	0	0	1
1986
Samuel Adams Boston Lager	Boston Beer	Boston	MA	Consumer Preference Poll	1	0	0
Festival Ale	Boulder Brewing	Boulder	CO	Consumer Preference Poll	0	1	0
Dock Street Amber Ale	Dock Street Brewing	Philadelphia	PA	Consumer Preference Poll	0	0	1
1987
Samuel Adams Festival Lager	Boston Beer	Boston	MA	Consumer Preference Poll	1	0	0
Chinook Alaskan Amber Beer	Alaskan Brewing and Bottling	Juneau	AK	Consumer Preference Poll	0	0	1
1988
Chinook Alaskan Amber	Alaskan Brewing and Bottling	Juneau	AK	Consumer Preference Poll	1	0	0
1989
Samuel Adams Boston Lager	Boston Beer	Boston	MA	Consumer Preference Poll	1	0	0

Complete GABF Competition Results

The entire history of GABF Results is presented below into 2 tables. The first table format is one I prefer but the overhead of the medal icons creates a technical challenge that I had to avoid by capturing the last 5 years of results in the first table.

All GABF Awards Winners of the Past 5 Years

Medal

Beer Name

Brewery

City

State

Year

Older GABF Awards Winners

Medal

Beer Name

Brewery

City

State

Year

Other Winners

I do not know the reasoning for providing special attention to a few breweries, but since they are part of the GABF records, they are included below to ensure I provide all the data. (Afterall don’t most breweries deliver well-crafted brews?)

I am pleased Stoudts was recognized in 1991. It was a brewery I visited many times. Founded in 1987, long before craft beer was a term or even a known thing, Stoudts Brewing Company produced authentic German-style ales and lagers, distributing to 20 different states at its height. Carol Stoudt, the founder of the brand, has been a long-standing pioneer in the brewing industry. She became the first female head brewer since prohibition and has served as an inspiration both for women in the industry and anyone passionate about great beer.

Unfortunately, Stoudts Brewing Company, one of Pennsylvania’s first craft breweries, closed its doors after more than a 30-year run in 2020. Happily, just two years later, the Stoudts is back, having partnered with Evil Genius Beer Company. Evil Genius will reproduce some of Stoudts best beers!

BeerName	Brewery	City	State	Category
Other GABF Special Recognition Winners
Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year - 1999
Boiler Room Dark Lager	Colorado Belle	Laughlin	NV	American Dark Lager
Honorable Mention - 1999
Michelob Amber Bock	Specialty Brewing Group of Anheuser-Busch	Saint Louis	MO	American Dark Lager
Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year - 1999
BrewÛ 22	Mill Creek Brewpub	Walla Walla	WA	American Lager / Ale or Cream Ale
Honorable Mention - 1995
Naughty Monkey Brown Ale	Seabright Brewery	Santa Cruz	CA	American Brown Ale
Stoudt's Honey Double Mai-Bock	Stoudt's Brewing	Adamstown	PA	Bock
Pullman Pale Ale	Riverside Brewing	Riverside	CA	Classic English Style Pale Ale
Red Mountain Red Ale	Vulcan Brewing	Birmingham	AL	English-Style Brown Ale
Pullman's Porter	McNeill's Brewery	Brattleboro	VT	Robust Porter
Kinnikinick Old Scout Stout	Twenty Tank Brewery	San Francisco	CA	Specialty Stouts
Net Gamelink Hubscotch Ale	Schooner Brewery	Dallas	TX	Strong Ale
Bourbon County Stout	Goose Island Beer	Chicago	IL	Strong Ale
Honorable Mention - 1994
Hubsch Pilsner	Sudwerk Privatbrauerei Hubsch	Davis	CA	European Pilsner
Juju Ginger Ale	Left Hand/Tabernash Brewing	Longmont	CO	Herb, Spice
Honorable Mention - 1991
Killer Whale Stout	Stoudt's Brewing	Adamstown	PA	Stouts
The Category column has not been modified to reflect 2021 standards for beer catergory or style.

Beer Categories Expand

The number of unique styles entered into GABF competitions has grown significantly. But, does this make sense? Sure it does. Beer has been around thousands of years but ingredients, brewing methods and cultural changes all impact beer tastes. After all, enjoying beer is a social event!

Recent Interest in Varietal Beer Styles

Over the years as the number of beer styles increased, Specialty Beers and IPAs became more prevalent.

Specialty Beer: This is explicitly a catch-all category for any beer that does not fit into an existing style category. No beer is ever out of style in this category, unless it fits elsewhere. The category is intended for any type of beer. This category can also be used as an incubator for any minor world beer style (other than Belgians) for which there is currently no BJCP category. If sufficient interest exists, some of these minor styles might be promoted to full styles in the future.

IPA: The IPA category is for modern American IPAs and their derivatives. This does not imply that English IPAs aren’t proper IPAs or that there isn’t a relationship between them. This is simply a method of grouping similar styles for competition purposes. English IPAs are grouped with other English-derived beers, and the stronger Double IPA is grouped with stronger American beers. The term IPA is intentionally not spelled out as India Pale Ale since none of these beers historically went to India, and many aren’t pale. However, the term IPA has come to be a balance-defined style in modern craft beer.

Medal Counts

Medal Counts by Brewery

Let’s discover which breweries have been awarded the most medals over the years. There are a few surprises - at least I think so!

The GABF is older than most of the breweries that participated in 2022. The competition in 2022 was completely different, more crowded, than it was in the beginning. When looking at total awards, this is not accounted for.

2022 Medals

Before seeing which breweries have been awarded the most medals in 2022, here is the first surprise from the 2022 competition.

West Virginia recieved its first GABF Medal in 2022!

Medal	Beer Name	Brewery	City	Category	Style
West Virginia Wins 1st GABF Award!
Silver	Porter	Big Timber Brewing	Elkins	American Porter and Stout	American Porter

Congratulations Big Timber Brewing! While I have been to Elkins, WV several times, it was before Big Timber opened. I look forward to stoppong by in the future.

Below are the rest of the results from the 2022 GABF Competition

	Medals Won
Great American Beer Festival 2022
Breweries winning multiple medals. (2 in NC!) 238 of 294 breweries were awarded exactly 1 medal.
	🥇	🥈	🥉	Total
North Park Beer	1	1	2	4
Ghost Town Brewing	2	1	0	3
Wild Fields Brewhouse	3	0	0	3
10 Barrel Brewing Co Bend Pub	1	0	1	2
Bearded Tang Brewing	0	2	0	2
Blind Tiger Brewery Restaurant	2	0	0	2
Chicago Brewing Co NV	1	0	1	2
Deschutes Brewery Portland Brewery Public House	1	1	0	2
Double Clutch Brewing	0	2	0	2
Faction Brewing	1	0	1	2
Forgotten Star Brewing	1	1	0	2
Highland Park Brewery Chinatown	1	0	1	2
Left Hand Brewing	0	1	1	2
Morgan Territory Brewing	0	0	2	2
Odd Breed Wild Ales	0	0	2	2
Olde Hickory Brewery	0	0	2	2
Our Mutual Friend Brewing	1	1	0	2
Pecan Street Brewing	1	0	1	2
Precarious Beer Project Precarious Beer Hall	1	1	0	2
Protagonist Beer Southend Brewery	1	1	0	2
Red Rock Brewing Production	0	1	1	2
Riip Beer	0	1	1	2
The Austin Beer Garden Brewing	1	1	0	2
The Big Friendly	1	1	0	2
Third Window Brewing	1	0	1	2
Topa Topa Brewing Co HQ	1	1	0	2

Here is another surprise. North Park Beer won 4 medals in 2022! I did not think a brewery ever won more than 3 medals in any given year at the GABF Competition.

		Medals Won
Great American Beer Festival 2022
North Park Beer Company
		🥇	🥈	🥉
DoubleFu	Mixed-Style Beer			1
HopFu	American IPA			1
NZFu	English IPA	1
XRaying Citra	Mixed-Style Beer		1

Mega Winning Breweries

Has any other brewery won 4 or more medals in 1 year? The answer is YES - another surprise! It has happened 97 times! There are 9 instances where breweries have won more than 6 medals. Incredible!

Year	Brewery	Grand Total
MEGA Award Winning Breweries
2006	Miller Brewing	9
2004	Pabst Brewing	9
2011	Sun King Brewing	8
2008	MillerCoors	8
2010	Rock Bottom Breweries	7
2010	Pizza Port Carlsbad	7
2009	Pizza Port Carlsbad	7
2007	Miller Brewing	7
2005	Sandlot Brewery at Coors Field	7

Way to go Pizza Port Carlsbad! I have been there a few times and the beer, food, and people are terrific. I have also visited many Rock Bottom Breweries. I started first enjoying their beer when I lived in Arizona. They offer surprisingly good beer given it is a chain brewery. One has opened near me. I have yet to try it - but I will!

Here are the details of these MEGA-Winning breweries.

			Medals Won
Great American Beer Festival MEGA Winners
Breweries winning MANY medals.
			🥇	🥈	🥉
2006 - Miller Brewing
	Red Dog	Cream Ale	1
	Henry Weinhard Private Reserve	Cream Ale			1
	Miller High Life	American Lager		1
	Milwaukees Best Light	American Light Lager		1
	Southpaw Light	American Light Lager			1
	Mickeys Malt Liquor	Mixed-Style Beer	1
	Icehouse	Mixed-Style Beer		1
	HG 800	Mixed-Style Beer			1
	Fred Millers Classic Chocolate Lager	Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer			1
Total	—	—	2	3	4
2004 - Pabst Brewing
	Special Export	American Lager		1
	Old Milwaukee	American Lager	1
	Schlitz	American Lager			1
	Rainier Light	American Light Lager	1
	Old Milwaukee Light	American Light Lager		1
	Pabst Blue Ribbon	American Lager			1
	Schlitz Malt Liquor	Mixed-Style Beer		1
	St Ides Malt Liquor	Mixed-Style Beer			1
	Old Milwaukee NA	Experimental Beer	1
Total	—	—	3	3	3
2011 - Sun King Brewing
	Popcorn Pilsner	German Pils		1
	Johan the Barleywine	American Barleywine			1
	Buffalo Slumber	Belgian Golden Strong Ale	1
	Ring of Dingle	Irish Stout	1
	Java Mac	Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer	1
	Wee Muckle	Scottish Light	1
	Wee Pogue	Wood-Aged Beer		1
	BBJ Bourbon Barrel Johan	Specialty Wood-Aged Beer		1
Total	—	—	4	3	1
2008 - MillerCoors
	Coors Light	American Light Lager	1
	Keystone Light	American Light Lager			1
	Hamms	Cream Ale		1
	Henry Weinhards Blue Boar Pale Ale	Cream Ale			1
	Henry Weinhards Classic Dark	International Dark Lager			1
	Henry Weinhards Hefeweizen	American Wheat Beer	1
	Henry Weinhards Private Reserve	American Lager			1
	OE 800	German Pils			1
Total	—	—	2	1	5
2010 - Rock Bottom Breweries
	Bastogne Blonde Ale	Biere de Garde		1
	Old Elk Brown Ale	British Brown Ale	1
	Sticke Alt	Altbier			1
	Ragtop Red	Irish Red Ale			1
	Naked Oatmeal Stout	Oatmeal Stout		1
	Moonlight Porter	American Porter		1
	Highland Courage	Scottish Light	1
Total	—	—	2	3	2
2010 - Pizza Port Carlsbad
	Revelations	Belgian Golden Strong Ale	1
	Port Truck Stout	Irish Stout			1
	Coffee Monster	Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer		1
	Good Grief Brown	British Brown Ale		1
	Beech Street Bitter	English IPA	1
	Night Rider Imperial Stout	Imperial Stout		1
	Reeds Wee Heavy	Scottish Light	1
Total	—	—	3	3	1
2009 - Pizza Port Carlsbad
	Great American Brown	American Brown Ale			1
	Revelations	Belgian Golden Strong Ale	1
	Good Grief Brown	British Brown Ale			1
	Beech Street Bitter	English IPA	1
	547 Haight The Toronado San Franciscos 20th Anniversary Imperial Red Ale	Mixed-Style Beer		1
	Reeds Wee Heavy	Scottish Light	1
	Cow Stout	Sweet Stout	1
Total	—	—	4	1	2
2007 - Miller Brewing
	Henry Weinhards Classic Dark	International Dark Lager		1
	Hamms	American Lager	1
	Miller Genuine Draft	American Lager		1
	Icehouse	Mixed-Style Beer	1
	Mickeys Ice	Mixed-Style Beer		1
	Mickeys Malt Liquor	Mixed-Style Beer			1
	Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager	Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer			1
Total	—	—	2	3	2
2005 - Sandlot Brewery at Coors Field
	Barmen Pilsner	Mixed-Style Beer	1
	Melvis Easlys Special Lager	Mixed-Style Beer		1
	Goat Rancher	Dunkles Bock		1
	Most Beer Judges Are Bone Heads	German Pils		1
	Pinch Hit Pilsner	German Pils	1
	Second Hand Smoke	Classic Style Smoked Beer		1
	Wild Pitch Hefeweizen	Weissbier			1
Total	—	—	2	4	1
Grand Totals	—	—	24	24	21

Last 10 Years - Top 20 Breweries Most Total Medals

We all know beer has changed in the last several years. Many new breweries have opened while some have closed. The winners of the past face much more competition today than 20-30 years ago. Let’s see if this is true.

Below, the top 20 most awarded breweries are displayed. First examine the last 10 years and compare that list to the most awarded breweries since the beginning of the GABF Competition.

Note a few breweries remain notable. Pabst, Pizza Port, and Sun King continue to collect awards.

Medals Awarded
Great American Beer Festival - Past 10 Years
Most Medals Won
🥇	🥈	🥉	Total
Cannonball Creek Brewing
6	5	4	15
Left Hand Brewing
5	5	3	13
Beachwood BBQ Brewing
5	3	4	12
Port City Brewing
3	5	4	12
10 Barrel Brewing
5	1	5	11
Firestone Walker Brewing
7	1	3	11
Real Ale Brewing
5	4	2	11
Saint Arnold Brewing
2	3	6	11
Pabst Brewing
3	5	2	10
Pizza Port Ocean Beach
2	4	4	10
Allagash Brewing
4	4	1	9
Black Tooth Brewing
1	5	3	9
Breakside Brewery
3	2	4	9
Fat Heads Brewery
3	2	4	9
Fat Heads Brewery Saloon
6	2	1	9
Morgan Territory Brewing
2	2	5	9
Silver City Brewery
4	4	1	9
Sun King Brewing
3	4	2	9
Brink Brewing
6	2	0	8
Devils Backbone Brewing Co Basecamp
2	2	4	8
I love Devils Backbone Brewing!

Pabst is the only highly recognized big brewery of the last 10 years. It is good to see the craft breweries demonstrate their excellence rather than the major breweries with their mass produced and sometimes boring brews. (Please not this does not demean these large breweries. Making beer that is so consistent over time and regions is a very challenging art to perfect.)

All Time Top 10 Breweries Total Medals Awarded

Medals Won			Total	Medal Distribution 1983-2022
Great American Beer Festival
All time top 10 most awarded breweries. Only a few craft breweries represented.
🥇	🥈	🥉	Total	Medal Distribution 1983-2022
Pabst Brewing
32	28	13	73
AnheuserBusch Inc
25	24	23	72
Miller Brewing
19	27	18	64
Firestone Walker Brewing
23	16	9	48
Boston Beer
23	8	13	44
Coors Brewing
13	17	13	43
Pizza Port Carlsbad
14	16	11	41
Alaskan Brewing and Bottling
14	11	11	36
Snake River Brewing
15	12	8	35
Pelican Pub Brewery
13	10	10	33
Recognize: Kaustav Sen for `gt` plotting code

All Time Medal Winners - Top 10 Gold Awards

Above breweries were displayed by the total number of medals awarded over time. What is we perform the same analysis but examine the number of gold medals awarded.

Medals Won			Total	Medal Distribution 1983-2022
Great American Beer Festival
All time top 10 most GOLD awarded breweries. Only a few craft breweries represented.
🥇	🥈	🥉	Total	Medal Distribution 1983-2022
Pabst Brewing
32	28	13	73
AnheuserBusch Inc
25	24	23	72
Firestone Walker Brewing
23	16	9	48
Boston Beer
23	8	13	44
Miller Brewing
19	27	18	64
Snake River Brewing
15	12	8	35
Sierra Nevada Brewing
15	11	7	33
Marin Brewing
15	7	9	31
New Belgium Brewing
15	5	11	31
Pizza Port Carlsbad
14	16	11	41
Recognize: Kaustav Sen for `gt` plotting code

Below is a different view of the same information in the last 2 plots above. This time without the distribution graphs. Below, the total number of awards and the number of Gold Medals are available in one view. It is simple to see Anheuser Busch has won more Gold Medals but Pabst has been awarded more total medals.

Pabst Brewing

Let’s explore Pabst a bit. Since 1844, Pabst creates and build iconic brands with deep ties to America’s heritage. Take some time to explore 175 years of brewing history.

For more than 150 years, Pabst Brewing Company has been a household name in the beer industry of the United States. Despite its impressive longevity, the company is currently in a difficult financial situation. Pabst has a contract with Miller Brewing Company that was set to expire in 2020, and Miller attempted to terminate it. In response, Pabst filed a $400 million lawsuit against MillerCoors. Although the jury was unable to reach a decision, the two sides agreed to a settlement, allowing Pabst to continue its joint operations. The primary issue in the case is the fact that Pabst has not been able to compete effectively with MillerCoors advertising budgets. The company has continued to advertise despite Miller’s budget constraints. Pabst appears to have been overwhelmed by the competition in the beer market. It’s unclear what the future holds for the once-beloved brand. While the settlement with MillerCoors has allowed Pabst to remain solvent for the time being, it is clear that the company must improve its marketing tactics in order to remain relevant in the long run.

Medal	Beer Name	Category	Style
Pabst Brewing Co.
Who would have thought this brewery would still be doing so well?
2017
Silver	Pabst Blue Ribbon PBR	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2016
Silver	Old Style Lager	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Gold	Pabst Blue Ribbon PBR	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2015
Gold	Rainier Lager	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Silver	Olympia	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
2014
Gold	Primo	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Silver	Old Style	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
2013
Silver	Old Style	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Bronze	Rainier	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Bronze	Special Export	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2012
Gold	Pabst Blue Ribbon	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Old Style	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2011
Gold	Old Milwaukee Light	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Bronze	Pabst Blue Ribbon Light	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Rainier	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Bronze	Old Style	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2010
Silver	Old Milwaukee	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Rainier	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Bronze	Old Style	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2008
Silver	Old Milwaukee Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Gold	Lone Star	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Gold	Olympia	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Blatz	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2007
Gold	Lone Star	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Silver	Old Style	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Gold	Old Milwaukee Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Silver	Pabst Blue Ribbon Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
2006
Silver	Lone Star	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Gold	Pabst Blue Ribbon	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Bronze	Blatz	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Old Milwaukee Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
2005
Bronze	Special Export	Standard American Beer	Cream Ale
Gold	Stag	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Rainier	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Old Milwaukee Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Gold	Pabst Blue Ribbon	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Olympia	Standard American Beer	American Lager
2004
Silver	Special Export	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Old Milwaukee	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Bronze	Schlitz	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Rainier Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Silver	Old Milwaukee Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Bronze	Pabst Blue Ribbon	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Schlitz Malt Liquor	Specialty Beer	Mixed-Style Beer
Bronze	St Ides Malt Liquor	Specialty Beer	Mixed-Style Beer
Gold	Old Milwaukee NA	Specialty Beer	Experimental Beer
2003
Bronze	Old Style	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Old Milwaukee	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Rainier	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Old Style Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Bronze	Old Milwaukee Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
2000
Silver	Pabst NA	Specialty Beer	Experimental Beer
1998
Silver	Pabst Genuine Draft Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Gold	Pabst NA	Specialty Beer	Experimental Beer
1997
Gold	Olde English Malt Liquor	Specialty Beer	Mixed-Style Beer
Gold	Pabst NA	Specialty Beer	Experimental Beer
1996
Silver	Pabst Blue Ribbon	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Pabst Genuine Draft Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
1995
Gold	Pabst Genuine Draft Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Gold	Olde English 800	Alternative Fermentables Beer	Alternative Grain Beer
Gold	Olympia Dry	Standard American Beer	American Lager
1994
Silver	Olympia Dry	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Pabst Genuine Draft Light	Standard American Beer	American Light Lager
Gold	Olde English 800	Alternative Fermentables Beer	Alternative Grain Beer
1993
Gold	Olympia Dry	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Bronze	Pabst NonAlcoholic	Specialty Beer	Mixed-Style Beer
1992
Silver	Olympia Dry	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Hamms	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Olde English 800 Malt Liquor	Alternative Fermentables Beer	Alternative Grain Beer
1991
Gold	Pearl Lager Beer	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Gold	Old English 800	Alternative Fermentables Beer	Alternative Grain Beer
1990
Silver	Pabst Blue Ribbon	Standard American Beer	American Lager
Silver	Olde English 800	Alternative Fermentables Beer	Alternative Grain Beer

Fewest Wins - One Time Winners

Below are the oldest one-hit-wonders awarded only one GABF Medal to date. Top (or is it bottom) 10 breweries displayed.

Beer Name	Brewery	City	State	Category	Style
Brewers with One GABF Medal to Date
This does not mean they don't brew great beer.
1984
New Amsterdam Amber	Old New York Brewing	New York	NY	Amber and Brown American Beer	American Amber Ale
1986
Festival Ale	Boulder Brewing	Boulder	CO	Pale Malty European Lager	Festbier
1987
St Stans Dark Alt	Stanislaus Area Association	Modesto	CA	Amber Bitter European Beer	Altbier
Chesbay Double Bock	Chesapeake Bay Brewing	Raleigh	NC	Amber Malty European Lager	Dunkles Bock
Golden Bear Dark Malt	Thousand Oaks Brewing	Berkeley	CA	Amber and Brown American Beer	American Amber Ale
Yuengling Porter	D G Yuengling Son Inc	Tampa	FL	American Porter and Stout	American Porter
Vienna Style Lager	Vienna Brewing	Milwaukee	WI	Amber Bitter European Beer	Vienna Lager
Du Bru Ale	Saxton Brewery	Chico	CA	Standard American Beer	American Wheat Beer
1988
Darryls Original Premium Lager Beer	Gilbert Robinson Inc	Kansas City	MO	Historical Beer	Pre-Prohibition Lager
Ambier	Ambier Brewing	Milwaukee	WI	Amber Malty European Lager	Marzen

I have enjoyed the Dunkle brewed by Chesapeake Brewing Company. It is SO unfortunate this brewery closed many years ago to make room for a cultural museum. The museum attracts few visitors - the brewery always enjoyed a kind and happy crowd!

Competitions - Analyze by States

So far the GABF Competition has been viewed from the brewery point of view. Let’s shift and examine how beer competition data looks when viewed by US/State geography.

To bridge into this topic, let’s first look at the top award winning breweries and add the State information to see where these breweries are located. Note the large breweries have brew operations in many states. I this case, the corporate location is used.

Yes this looks like the same plot used earlier, just a bit prettier and with the added state labels. Forgive my reduncdancy!

Pabst drives CA to the top of the charts followed by MO as a result of Anheuser Busch. California leads the pack. In addition to Pabst, Firestone Walker, Pizza Port, and Sierra Nevada are also in California.

State and National Beer Facts

So, how many breweries are there in the United States?

Over 9,000 breweries. SO glad I do not collect pint glasses any more!

Let’s examine some other State-specific beer facts! In addition to seeing the number of breweries for each state, the beer consumption in gallons/adult is also provided!

X	State	Brewery Count¹	Gallons Consumed per Adult¹
State Craft Brewing Data
Data Current as of 2021
1	Alabama	52	0.7
2	Alaska	53	9.9
3	Arizona	121	1.2
4	Arkansas	46	0.7
5	California	931	3.7
6	Colorado	428	6.8
7	Connecticut	119	3.7
8	Delaware	35	12.3
9	Florida	374	2.5
10	Georgia	155	2.2
11	Hawaii	27	5.4
12	Idaho	83	2.3
13	Illinois	299	1.4
14	Indiana	203	1.6
15	Iowa	108	1.9
16	Kansas	66	0.6
17	Kentucky	82	1.2
18	Louisiana	44	2.3
19	Maine	143	10.5
20	Maryland	125	2.0
21	Massachusetts	194	3.0
22	Michigan	408	3.5
23	Minnesota	226	4.6
24	Mississippi	18	0.3
25	Missouri	157	2.4
26	Montana	105	7.7
27	Nebraska	63	1.2
28	Nevada	51	1.0
29	New Hampshire	98	3.3
30	New Jersey	141	1.0
31	New Mexico	100	3.0
32	New York	485	2.7
33	North Carolina	364	3.8
34	North Dakota	23	1.4
35	Ohio	365	4.6
36	Oklahoma	76	1.0
37	Oregon	310	8.6
38	Pennsylvania	486	10.3
39	Rhode Island	37	3.3
40	South Carolina	129	1.0
41	South Dakota	42	1.1
42	Tennessee	141	1.2
43	Texas	406	1.7
44	Utah	40	2.2
45	Vermont	74	24.2
46	Virginia	314	2.0
47	Washington	437	3.1
48	West Virginia	29	0.6
49	Wisconsin	230	5.9
50	Wyoming	45	4.8
¹ Data collected from Brewers Association

I don’t know about you, but I need to spend more time in Vermont - over 24 gallons of beer for everyone! Conversely, you might want to skip Mississippi, Kansas, West Virginia and Alabama. There’s not enough beer drinking there for me!

Lastly, below is an overview of the state of beer in the US. The data is provided by the Brewers Association. The market segments in the table are defined below too.

Market Segments	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2020/21 Change
U.S. Brewery Count
Courtesy of Brewers Association
Craft	4,803	5,713	6,661	7,618	8,419	8,905	9,118	4.4%
Regional Craft Breweries	178	186	202	230	240	220	223	1.4%
Microbreweries	2,684	3,319	3,956	4,518	1,917	1,898	1,886	-0.6%
Taprooms					3,091	3,471	3,708	6.2%
Brewpubs	1,941	2,208	2,503	2,870	3,171	3,302	3,307	0.2%
Large/Non-Craft	44	67	106	104	111	120	129	7.5%
Total U.S. Breweries	4,847	5,780	6,767	7,722	8,530	9,025	9,247	2.5%

Brewer’s Association Market Definitions

Craft Beer Industry Market Segments

Craft The Brewers Association defines a craft brewer as a small and independent brewer. Small: Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to a brewer according to rules of alternating proprietorships. Independent: Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.

The following are some concepts related to craft beer and craft brewers:

Craft brewers are small brewers
The hallmark of craft beer and craft brewers is innovation. Craft brewers interpret historic styles with unique twists and develop new styles that have no precedent
Craft beer is generally made with traditional ingredients like malted barley; interesting and sometimes non-traditional ingredients are often added for distinctiveness
Craft brewers tend to be very involved in their communities through philanthropy, product donations, volunteerism and sponsorship of events
Craft brewers have distinctive, individualistic approaches to connecting with their customers
Craft brewers maintain integrity by what they brew and their general independence, free from a substantial interest by a non-craft brewer
The majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a craft brewer

Microbrewery A brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer per year and sells 75 percent or more of its beer off-site. Microbreweries sell to the public by one or more of the following methods: the traditional three-tier system (brewer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer); the two-tier system (brewer acting as wholesaler to retailer to consumer); and directly to the consumer through carry-outs and/or on-site taproom or restaurant sales.

Brewpub A restaurant-brewery that sells 25 percent or more of its beer on-site and operates significant food services. The beer is brewed primarily for sale in the restaurant and bar, and is often dispensed directly from the brewery’s storage tanks. Where allowed by law, brewpubs often sell beer to-go and/or distribute to off-site accounts.

Taproom Brewery A professional brewery that sells 25 percent or more of its beer on-site and does not operate significant food services. The beer is brewed primarily for sale in the taproom, and is often dispensed directly from the brewery’s storage tanks. Where allowed by law, taproom breweries often sell beer to-go and/or distribute to off-site accounts.

Regional Brewery A brewery with an annual beer production of between 15,000 and 6,000,000 barrels.

Contract Brewing Company A business that hires another brewery to produce its beer. It can also be a brewery that hires another brewery to produce additional beer. The contract brewing company handles marketing, sales, and distribution of its beer, while generally leaving the brewing and packaging to its producer-brewery (which is also sometimes referred to as a contract brewery).

Medal Analysis

There are many ways to display this information. I have selected a few below that I hope provide you insights that may even offer a few surprises.

Given the population of California, it is not too surprising that they have the most breweries providing them greater opportunities to win recognition. CA, CO, OR, TX, and WA have the most breweries and have won the most medals.

Here’s a different view of the same data.

We already learned there were 9,247 craft breweries in 2021. At the 2021 GABF Competition, 266 breweries won. Also, a total of 9,860 competition entries were submitted from 2,192 breweries (425 were new breweries). (Data found here.) Roughly, this translates to approximately 24% of craft breweries in the US participated in the GABF in 2021! Pretty impressive.

State	Breweries Entered	Breweries¹	Percentage
Brewery Participation in 2021
CA	56	931	6.0%
CO	20	428	4.7%
OR	15	310	4.8%
TX	10	406	2.5%
WA	21	437	4.8%
¹ Source: https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics-and-data/state-craft-beer-stats/

It is not surprising that California was won the most GABF awards given it population. The higher the population, the larger the market for breweries. This leads to more changes for an award during competitions.

We have also learned that the state with the most breweries have won the most awards in GABF Competitions. However, is this really fair? Many of these states have large populations. Let’s evaluate the data by including state populations to normalize the competition results.

Medal Wins Normalized by State Population

Below there are lots of interesting beer facts!

Per capita, Wyoming has won the most awards!
Kansas, when it wins, it is awarded more gold and silver medals on average followed by Iowa, Maine, South Carolina, and Wyoming!
Tennessee appears to win more bronze awards on average compared to the other states.

State Name	Total Medals	Population per 100,000	Average Medal Awarded¹
State Awards Revisted
Awards Adjusted for State Population (Population Data from 2015)
Wyoming	27	5.77	2.15
Colorado	261	57.74	2.06
Oregon	149	42.37	2.01
Montana	36	10.84	2.06
New Mexico	42	21.18	1.98
Washington	127	77.05	2.06
California	532	395.38	1.98
Nevada	33	31.05	1.97
North Carolina	103	104.39	1.96
Virginia	83	86.31	1.99
Indiana	63	67.86	1.92
Minnesota	51	57.06	2.02
Maine	12	13.62	2.25
Iowa	26	31.90	2.27
Ohio	87	117.99	2.06
Idaho	12	18.39	1.83
Utah	21	32.72	1.86
Illinois	80	128.13	1.81
Wisconsin	35	58.94	1.97
Missouri	33	61.55	2.00
Michigan	53	100.77	1.83
Texas	126	291.46	2.09
Kansas	12	29.38	2.42
Pennsylvania	53	130.03	1.91
Arizona	29	71.52	2.03
Connecticut	13	36.06	1.92
South Carolina	18	51.18	2.22
Massachusetts	21	70.30	1.90
Florida	56	215.38	2.07
Tennessee	16	69.11	1.69
Georgia	22	107.12	1.82
New Jersey	18	92.89	1.89
New York	35	202.01	1.91
¹ Gold = 3, Silver = 2, Bronze = 1. This is how the average Medal Awarded was calculated.

Colorado is a great state for beer, but I would not expect it to be distinguished as a clear leader among the states (it’s #2 above). I suspect there is skew in the number of awards won by state because the festival is always held in Denver. Breweries located closer to Denver are more likely to participate.

A different way to look at the award winning states compared to the state populations is illustrated below..

Note in the left map how California is red but when normalized by the state’s large population, the color changes dramatically. The reverse logic applied to Alaska.

If you prefer animated maps, enjoy the visualizations below.

Lastly, if you are curious where the breweries are, below is an interactive map comparing 2022 and all previous years.

States Starting to Lead

I mentioned in the beginning of this document, I like data. Well, let’s take this analysis to a whole other level! Let’s use the data we have, add in a bit of statistics and machine learning, and forecast the states that are starting to take the lead in winning GABF Medals! (For those interested, a simple binomial generalized linear model is used to create the analysis below.)

This tells us that North Carolina - where I live - is the state more likely to win more GABF medals in the future! Go NC!

Pretty cool, huh?

Most Awarded Beers

So far we have learned much about beer competitions and which breweries are successful, which states produce the most beer, and which have been fortunate to win lots of medals. Next, let’s shift the focus to winning beers!

Beer Name	Brewery	City	State	Medals Won
Most Awarded Beers of All Time
I LOVE that Alaskan Brewery has done so well. I love that place!
Alaskan Smoked Porter	Alaskan Brewing and Bottling	Juneau	AK	12
Laughing Lab Scottish Ale	Bristol Brewing	Colorado Springs	CO	10
Samuel Adams Double Bock	Boston Beer	Boston	MA	9
Abbey Belgian Style Ale	New Belgium Brewing	Fort Collins	CO	8
Coors Light	Coors Brewing	Golden	CO	8
Miller Genuine Draft	Miller Brewing	Milwaukee	WI	8
Raspberry Tart	New Glarus Brewing	New Glarus	WI	8
Genesee Cream Ale	GeneseeHigh Falls Brewing	Rochester	NY	7
Kiwanda Cream Ale	Pelican Pub Brewery	Pacific City	OR	7
ODouls	AnheuserBusch Inc	Saint Louis	MO	7

Alaskan Smoked Porter has 12 medals. Impressive!

Explore Alaskan Smoked Porter Success

Medal	Count
Alaskan Smoked Porter GABF Medals
Gold	5
Bronze	4
Silver	3

While Alaskan Porter has been very successful, most of its success was in the 1990s. I’d like to see this beer win another medal soon.

Other Award Winning Beers

We see see how the top awarding winning beers performed over time. Samuel Adams Double Bock performed very well and was the second best beer crafted by an individual brewery, it won the most amount of gold medals. W

What! O’Douls? It embarrasses me that a non-alcoholic is in this list. I do not have a problem with NA beer. While it does not excite me, I’d prefer to see a more traditional beer style take its place.Because O’Douls is brewed by AnheuserBusch, I should have known this before this point in my analysis!

What about Pabst?

We know Pabst Brewing has won more medals than any other brewer. We explored this in detail earlier. So why doesn’t Pabst show up in the list of the most award winning beers? Let’s take a look.

Medal	Medal Count
Pabst Brewing Revisited
How Did the Brands Do Individually?
Old Style
Silver	4
Bronze	3
Old Milwaukee Light
Gold	4
Silver	2
Bronze	1
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Gold	3
Bronze	1
Silver	2
Rainier
Bronze	1
Silver	4
Pabst Genuine Draft Light
Silver	1
Gold	3
Olympia Dry
Gold	2
Silver	2
Olympia
Silver	2
Gold	1
Special Export
Bronze	2
Silver	1
Old Milwaukee
Silver	1
Gold	2
Lone Star
Gold	2
Silver	1
Pabst NA
Silver	1
Gold	2
Olde English 800
Gold	2
Silver	1
Pabst Blue Ribbon PBR
Silver	1
Gold	1
Pabst Blue Ribbon Light
Bronze	1
Silver	1
Blatz
Silver	1
Bronze	1
Old Style Lager
Silver	1
Rainier Lager
Gold	1
Primo
Gold	1
Stag
Gold	1
Schlitz
Bronze	1
Rainier Light
Gold	1
Schlitz Malt Liquor
Silver	1
St Ides Malt Liquor
Bronze	1
Old Milwaukee NA
Gold	1
Old Style Light
Gold	1
Olde English Malt Liquor
Gold	1
Pabst NonAlcoholic
Bronze	1
Hamms
Silver	1
Olde English 800 Malt Liquor
Gold	1
Pearl Lager Beer
Gold	1
Old English 800
Gold	1

Ok, this makes sense. Pabst has done remarkably well. Old Style and Old Milwaukee Light have both won 7 medals. This success simply was left out of the previous tables because I was attempting to keep the tables small. Sorry about that Pabst! Below I make up for it.

Changing Beer Preferences

Well, bad news, we are coming to an end to the GABF Medal Analysis. In this part we will examine how beer preferences are changing.

Below are several visualizations intended to show how beer preferences have changed over time.

I provide static plots where each one shows which types of beers were awarded the most. The slides are divided by decades. In the early years, American Style Beers, ambers, and lagers were most awarded. Specialty, Spiced and IPA Beers were not prominent. This clearly changed over the years!

Note the data below is based on BJCP Beer Categories.

In the early years, craft brewers focused on American Style Beers - no surprise since the GABF is an American Festival! What is equally clear is how beer preferences change over time. Specialty and IPAs found there way to the top of the charts because so many breweries began developing this style to satisfy changing consumer tastes.

Below is an animated representation of the same data above. Perhaps you’ll like this illustration better.

I took the animation above and attempted to re-envision it to improve the user experience. Because of the data, it is not perfect but this took a lot of time to produce so I publish it just so the time does not go wasted!

Continuing this analysis of changing beer preferences, a similar illustration is provided below but this time the plot is using BJCP Beer Styles rather than Beer Category data.

Beer Styles Over Time

In each of these visualizations, it is clear that IPAs have become very popular as have specialty beers. (Many of the specialty beers are derivatives of IPAs.)

IPA Growth

Let’s take a quick dive into the world of IPAs.

ipa_plt_gabf

It is clear that the public is enamored with IPAs. I personally think this style is over-hyped. Go into any store and IPAs dominate the store shelves at the sacrifice of all the other styles of beer.

Beer Styles - Simple Modeling

Let’s use some fundamental statistical analysis and modeling to answer a few questions. First, a brief introduction to weighted log odds - the statistical analysis approach used in developing this content. Don’t be worried, it is really pretty simple. If you are not interested, just skip this part.

Log Odds

Probability, odds ratios and log odds are all the same thing, just expressed in different ways. It’s similar to the idea of scientific notation: the number 1,000 can be written as $1.0 * 10 e 3$ or even $1 * 10 * 10 * 10$ . What works for one person, or one equation, might not work for another. In many cases, you can simply choose which format you want to use.

Probability is the probability an event happens. For example, there might be an 80% chance of rain today. Odds (more technically the odds of success) is defined as probability of success/probability of failure. So the odds of a success (80% chance of rain) has an accompanying odds of failure (20% chance it doesn’t rain); as an equation (the odds ratio), that’s $.8 / .2 = 4$ . Log odds is the logarithm of the odds. $L n (4) = 1.38629436 ≅ 1.386$ .

Got it? (If you don’t, no worries, read on!)

OK, now that you have an idea of log odds (or maybe you don’t and really don’t give a crap), let’s evaluate our first plot below.

Note that I have used otehr beer catergories other an BJCP. I had to do this because htere were not enough samples of all the beer styles so I had to collapse them into Beer Advocate and Brewers Association catergories.

We can learn something here - beer style preferences vary by state:

Texas has an affinity for pale and dark lagers (so do I). IPAs are not as popular.
California loves their IPAs and strong ales too.
Wheat beers have a strong following in Colorado and Oregon.

While I have not verified this, I think this offers strong evidence that beer preferences vary across state boundaries. (If you want to challenge this, let me know and I’ll produce this data for every state.)

Below is the same data but beer was categorized by the Brewers Association Guidelines. Recall that North American Origin Ale Styles include a variety of BJCP categories including IPAs. While the results appear different, a closer examination will reveal the two analyses above are consistent. (I personally prefer the 1st analysis because it is more easily interpretable!)

Using the Beer Advocate Guidelines, I amp of the US is provided below showing the beer preferences across the US. I love this visualization - hope you do too!

Dark lagers, a beer style I love, is popular in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Utah, Texas, and a few other states. LOts to the learned from the plot above..

To continue our exploration of changing beer preferences, let’s return to a visualization we have seen before but this time analyzing beer categories that are growing and most likely to win more GABF medals. (Don’t worry, I am not going to talk about data science and machine learning again.)

Wild-Sour Beers style are a clear up-and-coming beer award-winner. An interesting note is that if you return to the previous map visualization, Wild-Sour Beers style have marginal state level over representation throughout the US. Similarly, Specialty Beer is generally not under nor over represented anywhere except where it’s under-represented in California and in Oregon.

Changes in beer style preferences rather than changes in state preferences appears to be driving the changes.

What’s Next?

Well, I originally thought this document would bring an end to my obsession normalizing beer categories and styles. Wrong again! I next plan to take some of the code underlying this analysis and building a web application that can take in future GABF Results and automatically normalize the results to current BJCP Guidelines and identify any outliers that do not fit the last 40 years of competition results. Stay tuned!