Washington and Oregon Shine at 2025 Great American Beer Festival

*2 Towns Ciderhouse won gold for its 14th Anniversary Cider. Photo courtesy of the Brewers Association*

The 2025 Great American Beer Festival 2025 hurled 347 medals across 102 beer styles (plus a few shiny new cider categories), and the Pacific Northwest walked through Denver like it owned the clouds. Over seven days and 8,315 entries, judges wept, palates trembled, and clipboards bowed. Yet again, Washington and Oregon turned rainwater and rebellion into liquid poetry.

Washington — Granite Jaw, Green Halo

Call it the Evergreen flex. Grains of Wrath roared to gold in American IPA with Built for Speed—the hardest room in the house—then doubled down with silver for Papermaker while Bale Breaker snagged bronze for Daybreak Pale. Fresh-hop royalty returned as Trap Door took gold for Fresher than Fresh with Single Hill right behind on silver for Six Sisters. Formula’s Wetland Wheat shimmered gold while Mac & Jack’s Serengeti earned bronze, proving wheat still swings. Cloudburst took silver for No Mistakes (Schwarzbier), Figurehead bronze for St. Charlie (Doppelbock/Eisbock), Loowit bronze for Kölsch, and Resonate silver for Altbier. Fair Isle landed silver for mixed-culture brilliance, Chuckanut silver for historical craft, and Fremont silver for its dark, classic NA. Add Barrel Mountain’s Ash Cloud (gold), Vice and Recluse’s amber glory, and Project 9’s Beer Gardner haze—Washington didn’t just medal; it wrote scripture in stainless steel and rain.

Oregon — Velvet Hammer, Monastery Glow

Oregon played the symphony. Von Ebert danced away with two golds—Drink Me Potion (American Fruit) and Clubhaus Lager (Light Lager). Grand Fir matched with Westwood Pale and Heartwood Stout, both gold, both immaculate. Newcomer Upp Liquids landed like a meteor: gold for Moments Made and Buzz Box, silver for Flower Child and Upp Yours, bronze for Reduction Ratio. The state’s wild fermenters ruled: pFriem took gold and bronze for its twin Spontanée sours, and Alesong gilded the barrel-age kingdom with Mezcla. Fort George claimed gold for City of Dreams; Breakside and pFriem shared bronzes for their IPAs; Pelican’s Tsunami rolled in silver, while Wayfinder, ColdFire, and Monkless polished off lager and Belgian perfection. Even the orchard joined in—2 Towns Ciderhouse, Portland Cider — and Deschutes added medals across every non-alcohol and fruit lane. Oregon didn’t just win; it sermonized, soft-spoken but unstoppable.

The medals may scatter across the map, but the rhythm still hums here: hops that smell like thunderheads, lagers clean as glass, sours that taste like devotion. The Great American Beer Festival didn’t crown champions so much as confirm what the drizzle already knows—up here, beer isn’t brewed. It’s conjured.

Brewers Association President and CEO Bart Watson presents Cloudburst Brewing founder and head brewer Steve Luke with a silver for their schwarzbier, No Mistakes. Photo courtesy of the Brewers Association.

Washington Winners — GABF 2025

Aslan Brewing Co. (Bellingham, WA) — Disco Lemonade — Gold — German Sour Ale
Bale Breaker Brewing Co. (Yakima, WA) — Daybreak Pale Ale — Bronze — American-Style Pale Ale
Barrel Mountain Brewing (Battle Ground, WA) — Ash Cloud — Gold — American Amber/Red Ale
Chuckanut Brewery (Burlington, WA) — Chuckanut Grodziskie — Silver — Historical Beer
Cloudburst Brewing (Seattle, WA) — No Mistakes — Silver — German-Style Schwarzbier
Dru Bru – Cle Elum (Cle Elum, WA) — Margarita Sour — Bronze — American Sour Ale
Fair Isle Brewing (Seattle, WA) — The Knitting Circle Batch C — Silver — Mixed-Culture Brett Beer
Figurehead Brewing Co. (Seattle, WA) — St. Charlie — Bronze — German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock
Formula Brewing (Issaquah, WA) — Wetland Wheat — Gold — American Wheat Beer
Fremont Brewing (Seattle, WA) — NA Dark — Silver — Classic Non-Alcohol Ale or Lager
Grains of Wrath Brewing (Camas, WA) — Built for Speed — Gold — American-Style India Pale Ale
Grains of Wrath Brewing (Camas, WA) — Papermaker — Silver — American-Style Pale Ale
Loowit Brewing (Vancouver, WA) — Corsair Kölsch — Bronze — German-Style Kölsch
Mac & Jack’s Brewery (Redmond, WA) — Serengeti Wheat — Bronze — American Wheat Beer
Project 9 Brewing Co. (Seattle, WA) — Beer Gardner — Bronze — Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale
Recluse Brew Works (Washougal, WA) — Speciální 13 Czech-Style Amber Lager — Bronze — International Amber Lager
Resonate Brewery + Pizzeria (Bellevue, WA) — Lithium — Silver — German-Style Altbier
Schilling Cider (Auburn, WA) — Local Legend — Bronze — No/Low-Tannin Cider
Silver City Brewery (Bremerton, WA) — Magnificent Scotch Ale — Bronze — Scotch Ale
Silver City Brewery (Bremerton, WA) — Ridgetop Red — Bronze — Irish-Style Red Ale
Single Hill Brewing Co. (Yakima, WA) — Six Sisters — Silver — Fresh Hop Beer
Trap Door Brewing (Vancouver, WA) — Fresher than Fresh — Gold — Fresh Hop Beer
Vice Beer (Vancouver, WA) — Don’t Sweat the Czechnique — Silver — International Amber Lager

*Von Ebert Brewing won two golds at GABF 2025: Drink Me Potion and Clubhaus Lager. Photo courtesy of the Brewers Association.*

Oregon Winners — GABF 2025

2 Towns Ciderhouse (Corvallis, OR) — 14th Anniversary — Gold — No/Low-Tannin Cider
2 Towns Ciderhouse (Corvallis, OR) — Huckleberry Cosmic Crisp — Bronze — Fruited Cider
Alesong Brewing & Blending (Eugene, OR) — Mezcla — Gold — Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer
Breakside Brewery & Taproom (Milwaukie, OR) — Breakside IPA — Bronze — American-Style India Pale Ale
Breakside Brewery & Taproom (Milwaukie, OR) — La Maison du Bang! — Bronze — Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout
ColdFire Brewing – Production (Junction City, OR) — Czech Pilsner — Bronze — Czech-Style Pale Lager
Deschutes Brewery (Bend, OR) — Super Stoked — Gold — Classic Non-Alcohol Ale or Lager
Fort George Brewery – Waterfront (Astoria, OR) — City of Dreams — Gold — Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale
Grand Fir Brewing (Portland, OR) — Heartwood Stout — Gold — Stout
Grand Fir Brewing (Portland, OR) — Westwood Pale — Gold — Rye Beers
Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland, OR) — Great Gourds of Fire — Bronze — Pumpkin Beer
Hopworks Urban Brewery (Portland, OR) — Velvet Organic ESB — Silver — Extra Special Bitter
McMenamins Breweries (Portland, OR) — Pistol Peach IPA — Silver — Experimental India Pale Ale
Monkless Belgian Ales (Bend, OR) — Capitulation — Silver — American-Belgo-Style Ale
Monkless Belgian Ales (Bend, OR) — Peppercorn Imperial Wit — Bronze — Other Strong Beer
Oregon City Brewing Co. (Oregon City, OR) — My Cerise Amour — Bronze — Belgian Fruit Beer
Pelican Brewing Co. – Tillamook (Tillamook, OR) — Tsunami Stout — Silver — Stout
pFriem Cascade Locks Barrelhouse (Cascade Locks, OR) — Spontanée — Gold — Belgian-Style Sour Ale
pFriem Cascade Locks Barrelhouse (Cascade Locks, OR) — Fruited Spontanée — Bronze — Belgian-Style Sour Ale
pFriem Family Brewers (Hood River, OR) — Cosmic Guava West Coast IPA — Bronze — West Coast IPA
Portland Cider Co. (Clackamas, OR) — Original Gold — Silver — No/Low-Tannin Cider
UPP Liquids (Bend, OR) — Moments Made — Gold — Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse
UPP Liquids (Bend, OR) — Buzz Box — Gold — Honey Beer
UPP Liquids (Bend, OR) — Flower Child — Silver — Contemporary Gose
UPP Liquids (Bend, OR) — UPP Yours — Silver — Field Beer
UPP Liquids (Bend, OR) — Reduction Ratio — Bronze — Imperial Stout
Von Ebert Brewing (Portland, OR) — Drink Me Potion — Gold — American Fruit Beer
Von Ebert Brewing (Portland, OR) — Clubhaus Lager — Gold — American-Style Light Lager
Wayfinder Beer (Portland, OR) — Secret Secret — Silver — International Dark Lager