Malibu Brewing Co. Wins Medal At Great American Beer Festival

MALIBU, CA — Malibu Brewing Co. was among the winners at the recent 40th annual Great American Beer Festival.

The nation’s largest beer festival has wrapped its 2024 competition, awarding 325 medals to 273 breweries and cideries across the country. Panels of judges evaluated 8,836 beer entries across 102 categories and 170 subcategories.

The festival is held in Denver, Colorado every year, allowing thousands of people to try hundreds of competing beers. This year, the festival hosted hundreds of breweries at the Colorado Convention Center from Oct. 10 through Oct. 12.

Breweries earned accolades across various categories, from American pilsners to sours, coffee beers, non-alcoholic brews and beyond.

Malibu Brewing Co.'s Big Rock Amber Lager went head-to-head with 164 other beers in the American Amber Lager category.

It took home a Bronze medal, bested only by first-place winner Bateman Bier from Chicago's Greenstar Brewing and Silver medalist Las Cruces from Castle Rock, Colorado's Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Co.

It's the latest accolade for the brewery, whose taproom is located in Trancas Country Market.

The brewery's beers have previously earned awards at past Great American Beer Festivals, the San Diego International Beer Competition, the Brewers Cup of California, the Tasting Alliance World Beer Competition and more.

Here are the other Southern California breweries that won medals at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival:

Gold

• Blackside Snap (Riip Beer Co., Huntington Beach) — American Black Ale or American Stout
• Who’s That Brown (Tarantula Hill Brewing Co., Thousand Oaks) — American-Style Brown Ale
• Competition (Highland Park Brewery — Chinatown, Los Angeles) — American-Style IPA
• Timbo (Highland Park Brewery — Chinatown, Los Angeles) American-Style Pale Ale
• Dusk Til Dawn (Pizza Port, San Clemente) — Coffee Stout or Porter
• Baseball (Highland Park Brewery — Chinatown, Los Angeles) — Contemporary American-Style Lager
• 3 Citrus Gose (Culture Brewing Co., Solana Beach) — Contemporary Gose
• Schwarz Wulf (Greywolf Brewing, Norco) — German Dark Lager
• Two Wheeler (Far Field Beer Co., Hawthorne) — Herb and Spice Beer
• Indie Roo (Pizza Port Imperial Beach, Imperial Beach) — Imperial Stout
• Puesto Negra (Puesto Cerveceria, San Diego) — International Dark Lager
• Smells Like Purple Rain (Riip Beer Co., Huntington Beach) — International-Style Pale Ale
• Chillzner (Craft Coast – San Marcos, San Marcos) — International-Style Pilsener
• Zombi Shark Fight (Green Cheek Beer Co., Costa Mesa) — Italian-Style Pilsener
• DDH Pillow (Highland Park Brewery – Chinatown, Los Angeles) — Juicy or Hazy Imperial IPA
• Professional Human Being (Ambitious Ales, Long Beach) — Juicy or Hazy IPA
• Joyful Intuition (Everywhere Beer Co., Orange) — Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale
• Jeff’s Baltic Porter (Green Cheek Beer Co., Oceanside) — Strong Porter
• Codebreaker (Trademark Brewing, Long Beach) — West Coast IPA
• Bass Clef (Audio Graph Beer Co., Los Angeles) — Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer

Silver

• A La Playa (Trademark Brewing, Long Beach) — American Fruit Beer
• DOMESTIQUE Blonde Ale (Rouleur Brewing Co., Carlsbad) — Belgian-Style Ale or French-Style Ale
• Apple Pomace Puncheon (Angel City Brewery, Los Angeles) — Belgian-Style Sour Ale
• Belle Saison (Third Window Brewing Co., Santa Barbara) — Brett Beer
• Brighton ESB (Bravery Brewing Co., Lancaster) — Extra Special Bitter
• Branching Out (Everywhere Beer Co., Orange) — Hoppy Lager
• Foggy Pines (Evans Brewing Co., Corona) — Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale
• Wannabe Wallaby (Riip Beer Co., Huntington Beach) — New Zealand India Pale Ale
• Full Malted Jacket (Beachwood Brewing, Huntington Beach) — Scotch Ale
• Josh’s New Tiny Shoes (Green Cheek Beer Co., Orange) — Session IPA
• Mount Eden (Pure Project, Vista) — Specialty Saison
• Magpie (Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co., Santa Barbara) — Strong Porter

Bronze

• A Dark in the Light (Radiant Beer Co., Anaheim) — American Black Ale or American Stout
• Transmission Light (Transmission Brewing, Ventura) — American-Style Light Lager
• Plough & Harrow (ISM Brewing, Long Beach) — Classic Saison
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Tiempo (Kilowatt Brewing, San Diego) — Dessert Stout or Pastry Stout
• Bench Seat (Transmission Brewing, Ventura) — Golden or Blonde Ale
• Stone LifeBlurred (Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station, San Diego) — Other Strong Beer
• Guillaume (Pizza Port Ocean Beach, San Diego) — Session Beer or Belgian-Style Table Beer

See the full list of winning brews across California here.