One of these years it will be physically impossible for the Great American Beer Festival to get bigger.
As it is, 2,700 different beers were served at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver and 4,338 beers from 666 breweries were assessed by 185 judges from 11 countries during the competition held in conjunction the festival.
The complete list of winners in 84 categories is here (a pdf). The breweries that were most successful in their class were:
Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Funkwerks, Funkwerks Brewing Team
Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Tröegs Brewing Company, John Trogner III
Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Pabst Brewing Company, Gregory Deuhs
Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Devils Backbone Brewing Company – Basecamp, Devils Backbone Brewery Team
Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year
The Church Brew Works, Steve Sloan
Brewpub Group and Brewpub Group Brewer of the Year
Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company, Rob Lobreglio
Finally, a few other fun numbers . . .
– 578 breweries in the festival hall
– More than 2,700 beers served at the festival
– 49,000 attendees
– Approximately 2,800 volunteers
– Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 50.6
– Category with highest number of entries: American-Style India Pale Ale, 203