Colorado Brewers Honored at GABF 2017

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Waverly Tulip earned Square Peg Brewers a gold medal in the Historical Beer category.

If you missed the 2017 edition of GABF, you missed a lot. Lots of beer, awards, more beer, a wedding proposal or two, beer. But you don’t have to go to the festival itself to have a good time during GABF. With a bazillion tours, tap takeovers, tastings and special events, GABF and Denver Beer Week become All Things Beer, right here in Colorado. Lucky Us.

If you made it, then you may have attended Saturday’s Award Ceremony, where 4000+ fellow beer brethren gathered inside and outside a cavernous hall at the Colorado Convention Center to discover who would win the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals for best beers in America. And would she say yes?

From the start, things were bright for Colorado beer makers. Awards for the Pro-Am competition were first, and Colorado brewers swept the Pro-Am competition, in which award-winning home brewers partner with a craft brewer to make a big batch of beer. Over 118 teams competed this year. Denver Beer Company and AHA member Doug Thiel earned Gold for Just Another Pretty Face - see their smiling faces in the headline photo above. Black Bottle Brewing Company and Daniel Tomkins brewed the Silver-worthy Lichenhainer, and Odell Brewing joined forces with homebrewer Mark Boelman to make Bronze-award-winning Eluxansis.

Photo by Rick Mazzola © DG2C

I'm glad you love beer. Will you marry me?

Things were looking up for Ryan Wibby of Longmont, too. His Moondoor Dunkel won a Silver in the Munich Dunkel category, brewed at his two-year-old Wibby Brewing Company - most excellent for a young, German-focused brewer. But it got better, as he dropped to one knee and proposed during the award ceremony to his girlfriend Robin Brower. She said yes. It was a good day for everyone, and not yet noon. The crowd cheered, beer awaited, upstairs at the festival hall.

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Hilltopperâ€™s Pride Kentucky Common Ale won silver for Ironworks Brewery & Pub.

Gee-Eh-Bee-Effi-est.

Boulder-based Brewers Association has run GABF for 36 years, and for the past 31 years has conducted the world’s largest beer competition here in Colorado. From humble hotel-ballroom beginnings to this years’ half-a-million-square-foot venue, GABF is the Super Bowl, Academy Awards, and Nobel Prize of beer making, all rolled into one. Of course, 2017 was the biggest ever. 276 judges from 13 different countries sampled 7,923 beers from 2,217 breweries, and awarded 293 medals to 266 winning breweries. That’s a lotta beer. For brewers, winning at GABF is huge.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

A packed house - overflowing into the hallways - eagerly awaits word whether their brews will be honored at the GABF 2017 Awards Ceremony.

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Cellar West wins silver for their specialty saison.

For beer drinkers, it’s beyond huge. GABF represents the largest collection of beer taps on Earth. Most attendees can't walk the entire hall in a four-hour session, let alone sample all the beers. Had you the time and massively-sized liver to handle it all, however, you could have tasted 3,900, one ounce pours served by more than 800 breweries at this one festival. Figure to drink one pint per hour, 16 one-ounce pours every 60 minutes: that’s over10 continuous days of non-stop beer tasting. Cheers!

If you were lucky, you could have sampled one of the truly great award winners from an out-of-the-way brewery you never heard of. Such as Hailstorm Brewing Company of Tinley Park, Illinois. Their Prairie Madness American-Style IPA overcame the longest of odds, beating 407 other IPA’s to earn Gold in this year’s most competitive GABF category. Good stuff, so we heard -

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Dry Dock â€“ South Dock won silver for their German-Style Pilsener.

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Jessup Farm's Fancy Pants took gold in the Brett Beer category.

Colorado Craft Kicks Ass

Besides all three of the Pro-Am awards, Colorado brewers collected 35 medals for ass-kicking beer. We’ve listed them all here, so that if you missed them at GABF you can go visit these award-winning brewers and sample their award-winning beers. Go on. We’ve included a few photos below, to help you identify the brewers and serve as an archive of what they look like before their heads get big. Do go find them, before the rest of the world finds them first.

If you’re in luck, they’ll have their medal-winning beer on-tap and ready to enjoy. But even if they run out of Woods Monk, Galaxy Dry Hopped Funk Yo Couch, So long and thanks for all the (smoked) fish!, or Razz Against the Machine, there’s sure to be something to delight and enjoy. Use the Drinker’s Guide to Colorado to find your way, and you’ll never be lost for a great beer again.

Gold

Sweet Stout or Cream Stout

Oatmeal Milk Stout

Finkel & Garf Brewing Co.

Boulder, CO

Classic Saison

Saison

Funkwerks

Fort Collins, CO

South German-Style Hefeweizen

Hefeweizen

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant - Navy Yard

Broomfield, CO

American-Style Amber/Red Ale

F-Town Amber

Copper Club Brewing Co.

Fruita, CO

English-Style India Pale Ale

Punjabi

CooperSmith's Pub & Brewing

Fort Collins, CO

American-Style Lager or Malt Liquor

Mexican Lager

Lone Tree Brewing Co.

Lone Tree, CO

Smoke Beer

So long and thanks for all the (smoked) fish!

The Sandlot Brewery at Coors Field

Denver, CO

Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer

Plum Creek Sour

Rockyard American Grill & Brewing Co.

Castle Rock, CO

Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout

Medianoche

WeldWerks Brewing Co.

Greeley, CO

Mixed-Culture Brett Beer

Galaxy Dry Hopped Funk Yo Couch

Wiley Roots Brewing Co.

Greeley, CO

Brett Beer

Fancy Pants

Jessup Farm Barrel House

Fort Collins, CO

Historical Beer

Waverly Tulip

Square Peg Brewerks

Alamosa, CO

American-Style Fruit Beer

Razz Against the Machine

Little Machine

Denver, CO

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Finkel & Garf's Oatmeal Milk Stout won gold in the Sweet Stout or Cream Stout category.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

Little Machine's appropriately named Razz Against the Machine took gold in the American-Style Fruit Beer category.

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Rockyard's Plum Creek Sour won gold in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category.

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

WeldWerks Brewing's Medianoche barrel-aged strong stout won gold.

Photo by Rick Mazzola Â© DG2C

Wiley Roots' mixed-culture Brett Beer "Galaxy Dry Hopped Funk Yo Couch" lived up to its name and won them gold.

Photo by Mike Laur © DG2C

In what may be a GABF first, the brewery cat for New Terrain Brewing in Golden came along to help accept a Silver Medal for their Belgian Witbier Suntrip. Meow indeed.

Silver

Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale or Belgian-Style Quadrupel

Séréneté Grand Cru

Bruz Beers

Denver, CO

Emerging India Pale Ale

Vladimir Brutin

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co.

Golden, CO

Session India Pale Ale

Trump Hands

Cannonball Creek Brewing Co.

Golden, CO

Specialty Saison

Westfield

Cellar West Artisan Ales

Lafayette, CO

Ordinary or Special Bitter

Cousin Jack

Dostal Alley Brewpub & Casino

Central City, CO

Bock

Maibock

Dry Dock Brewing Co. - South Dock

Aurora, CO

English-Style Brown Ale

Eclipse Brown Ale

Equinox Brewing

Fort Collins, CO

Aged Beer

Belgian Quad

Green Mountain Beer Co.

Lakewood, CO

German-Style Koelsch

Ice Cutter Kölsch

Joyride Brewing Co.

Edgewater, CO

Irish-Style Red Ale

Balefire Irish Red

Mirror Image Brewing Co.

Frederick, CO

Australian-Style Pale Ale

Mountain Standard IPA

Odell Brewing Co.

Fort Collins, CO

Experimental Beer

Shibbleshabble

Primitive Beer

Longmont, CO

German-Style Altbier

Howitzer Amber

Red Leg Brewing Co.

Colorado Springs, CO

Fruited American-Style Sour Ale

Hoochie Mama

Storm Peak Brewing Co.

Steamboat Springs, CO

International-Style Dark Lager

El Corn

The Post Brewing Co.

Lafayette, CO

International-Style Pilsener

Upslope Craft Lager

Upslope Brewing Co. - Flatiron Park

Boulder, CO

Oatmeal Stout

Yonder Mountain Stout

Vine Street Pub & Brewery

Denver, CO

Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale

Itsy Bits

WeldWerks Brewing Co.

Greeley, CO

Imperial India Pale Ale

Westbound Double IPA

Westbound & Down Brewing Co.

Idaho Springs, CO

Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer

Double Barrel Louie

Westbound & Down Brewing Co.

Idaho Springs, CO

Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest

Lindauer Lager

Wit's End Brewing Co.

Denver, CO

Roswell: Grudge earned Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales silver in the Experimental Beer category.

Lone Tree took home gold for their Mexican Lager and silver for their Hop Zombie imperial red ale.

Odyssey went home with a silver medal for Woods Monk, their barrel-aged strong beer.

Our Mutual Friend Brewing won silver with their Saison Trystero Brett Beer.

Twisted Pine's Patio Pounder Session India Pale Ale won silver.

Bronze

Light Lager

Lightner Creek Lager

Carver Brewing Co.

Durango, CO

American-Style Amber Lager

Grist Maerzen

Grist Brewing Co.

Highlands Ranch, CO

Session Beer

Peacekeeper

Launch Pad Brewery

Aurora, CO

Pro-Am Comp

Chess with Checkers

New Belgium Brewing Co.

Fort Collins, CO

Australian-Style Pale Ale

Pete's Stash

Vail Brewing Co. - Vail Village Pilot

Vail, CO

Herb and Spice Beer

Deck Daze

Vail Brewing Co. - Vail Village Pilot

Vail, CO

Woody Pils wins the crew from Bull & Bush bronze.

Loveland Aleworks' 5th Anniversary Tequila Sour won bronze.

Wibby Brewing won a Silver for Moondoor Dunkel, and coworkers had more to celebrate when owner Ryan proposed to Robin, and she said yes.

Bull & Bush in Glendale always stands out for their beers, and for pushing the envelope with their pouring garb and tasting table displays.