Every October, the craft-beer cosmos descends on Denver for the Great American Beer Festival — that gleaming, unholy communion where malt gods and hop evangelists hurl their finest brews into the celestial gauntlet and pray for medals. It’s not just a festival; it’s pilgrimage and pageant, tasting and theology. Beer as art, as muscle, as myth. This year, the Pacific Northwest rose like a lupulin-scented phoenix, sweeping golds and silvers across categories once ruled by titans. Oregon shimmered. Washington thundered. Together, they reminded the world that the wet side of the Cascades still brews the gospel.
Today, Peaks & Pints gathers regional victors — a five-pour pantheon of medal-polished brilliance. From Von Ebert’s tart incantation to Fort George’s lucid coastal haze, from Barrel Mountain’s quiet mastery to Silver City’s caramel hymn, capped by Single Hill’s field-charged Yakima fever dream — this isn’t a recap; it’s a toast. To the makers who turn patience into poetry, grain into glory, and hops into hallelujahs. Raise your glass: the gods are still thirsty.
Peaks & Pints GABF 2025 Northwest Medalists Beer Flight
Von Ebert Brewing Drink Me Potion Raspberry Tart Ale
5% ABV | American Fruit Beer | Portland, OR
🏅 Gold — 2025 GABF, American Fruit Beer (1 of 100)
Born from the grit and grace of “Grandma Ebert,” Portland’s Von Ebert Brewing has built its house on precision and nerve — and this year they bottled lightning. Drink Me Potion claimed gold, rising above 99 rivals with a ruby pour glowing like dusk through stained glass. Bursting with Pacific Northwest raspberries, it walks the razor’s edge between tart and tender: fruit, soft grain, and a teasing floral lift. The sip sparks bright, then folds into jammy warmth, finishing crisp and clean. Elegant, alive, unashamedly radiant — a fruit beer that hums with modern polish and old-world soul.
Barrel Mountain Brewing Ash Cloud Amber
5.5 ABV | American Amber / Red Ale | Battle Ground, WA
🏅 Gold — 2025 GABF, American Amber / Red Ale
From quiet Battle Ground comes a master class in restraint. Ash Cloud Amber took gold, besting Summon Ifrit and Old Head Red with a malt symphony seven layers deep — 2-Row, Munich, Carapils, Victory, Crystal 60 and 120, and a breath of chocolate malt. Cascade and Centennial hops add a citrus flicker while caramel, biscuit, and coffee linger like campfire smoke at twilight. It pours copper-bronze, perfectly balanced — not shouting, but resonating. Malt as melody, confidence as rebellion — proof that subtlety still wins wars.
Fort George Brewery City of Dreams
5.5% ABV | Hazy Pale Ale | Astoria, OR
🏅 Gold — 2025 GABF, Juicy / Hazy Pale Ale
Astoria’s fog-kissed icon doesn’t brew beer so much as conjure atmosphere. City of Dreams struck gold, gliding past Gaining Momentum and Sneakbox with its luminous calm. Citra and Mosaic swirl through a pale-malt base like sunrise through sea mist — pineapple, orange peel, and tropical hush hovering over a pillowy body. A subtle bitterness lands like salt air on skin. Lush yet lucid, playful yet poised, it’s Fort George distilled into a single pint: coastal light, captured and poured.
Single Hill Brewing Six Sisters Fresh Hop IPA
6.8 ABV | Fresh Hop IPA | Yakima, WA
🥈 Silver — 2025 GABF, Fresh Hop Beer (2 of 142)
From Yakima’s golden rows of green gold, Single Hill Brewing keeps redefining what harvest tastes like. Founded by Zac Turner and Jack Lamb, the brewery builds beers that taste like where they’re born — and Six Sisters is terroir in full bloom. Freshly cut Simcoe, Mosaic, and HBC 638 cones crash into the kettle, delivering grapefruit oil, mango skin, citrus blossom, and the unmistakable hum of living resin. The flavor lands bright, vivid, gone too soon. A silver feels poetic — a medal for a beer that celebrates impermanence, the fleeting beauty of the field. Yakima, bottled and breathing.
Silver City Brewery Ridgetop Red Ale
5.1% ABV | American Amber / Red Ale | Bremerton, WA
🥉 Bronze — 2025 GABF, American Style Amber / Red Ale
For nearly three decades, Silver City Brewery has been Kitsap County’s quiet giant, and Ridgetop Red its enduring anthem. A perennial medalist, it earned bronze at GABF 2025, standing tall among the nation’s best ambers with that signature balance of malt depth and unhurried grace. Brewed from Northwest 2-Row, Caramel, and Crystal malts, it pours deep ruby with aromas of toasted bread, caramel, and cocoa whisper. The sip slides from maple crust to nutty toffee, finishing clean and dry with a soft hop flicker. Familiar, timeless, unpretentious — proof that true craftsmanship doesn’t age; it just refines its shine.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and icder cooler inventory
