These Are The Best Beers In America, According To The Great American Beer Festival
The Great American Beer Festival turned 40 this year.
BREWERS ASSOCIATIONThere are beer festivals and then there’s the Great American Beer Festival. The largest beer festival in the world the event is part drunken festival, part serious beer competition with the nation’s best breweries battling it out for one of the events coveted gold, silver, and bronze medals.
The event is hosted by the Brewers Association and is celebrating both its 40th birthday this year and the festival’s return after two years away due to COVID.
This year 2154 breweries entered the competition with a mind blowing 9,904 beers. Over 177 different beer styles were judged this year (yes, there are that many), but 325 different judges. The average number of beers entered in each category is 99, with the highest number of entries happening, as always, in the American Style India Pale Ale category. 268 breweries walked away with medals this year, 18 of them for the first time. 301 breweries entered for the first time.