Arizona craft breweries had a banner day – winning eight medals, its most in more than two decades – Saturday at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival in Denver.
This year’s GABF, the world’s largest commercial beer competition, judged a record 9,497 beers from 2,295 breweries in 107 style categories.
Arizona’s eight medals are more than the state won – combined – in 2016 (one), 2017 (four), and 2018 (two). It’s Arizona’s biggest single-year haul since bringing home nine medals in 1998.
The crew from Saddle Mountain Brewing (pictured) in Goodyear captured the gold medal in the Scottish-style ale category for the third straight year with their Taildragger Clan-Destine, while Historic Brewing in Flagstaff took the gold in American-style fruit beer with its salt-and-lime Salt River lager.
OHSO Brewery, which has several Valley locations, was the only Arizona brewery to grab two medals – a silver in wood- and barrel-aged strong stout for its Te Quiero, part of its Tales from the Crypt series, and a bronze in American-style fruit beer for its grapefruit-mango Boom Dynamite.
Huss Brewing in Tempe and Wren House Brewing in Phoenix picked silvers for lagers – Huss for its Oktoberfest in American-style amber lager and Wren House for its Valley Beer in American-style lager or pilsener.
Newcomer MotoSonora Brewery garnered Tucson’s only medal by earning silver in India pale lager or malt liquor for its Go Kart Mozart malt liquor.
SunUp Brewing in Phoenix earned a bronze in coffee stout or porter for its White Russian, one of Arizona’s highest-rated beers on user-review websites.
See the full list of 2019 winners.
