Ten Illinois Brews Capture Honors At Great American Beer Festival

ILLINOIS — Ten Illinois beers recently were honored as some of the best brews in the country, including Chicago-based Maplewood Brewing, which captured a gold medal at the recent Great American Beer Festival in Colorado.

The annual competition brings together beer-makers from around the U.S. and ranks beers based on category and awards a gold, silver and bronze medal in each beer type classification.

All but one of the Illinois honorees are based in either Chicago or the suburban area and Evanston-based Double Clutch Brewing was a double-honoree at the festival.

Here’s a list of Illinois winners:

Gold:

• Fat Pug, Maplewood Brewing, Chicago, Oatmeal Stout category

Silver:

• Lightning Will, On Tour Brewing, Chicago, American Pilsener category
• Oscar’s Pardon, Haymarket Brewing, Chicago, American Belgo-Style Ale
• Dosvidanya Mexican Chocolate, DESTIHL Brewing, Normal, Chili Beer category
• Helles Lager, Double Clutch Brewing, Evanston, Munich-style Helles category
• Helles Rauchbier, Double Clutch Brewing, Evanston, Smoke beer category

Bronze

• Amberama, Elmhurst Brewing, Elmhurst, American Amber lager category
• Midwest Royalty, Alarmist Brewing, Chicago, American-style lager category
• The Full Lemonty, Pollyanna Brewing, Lemont, Golden or blonde ale category
• Diversey Station, Ravinia Brewing, Chicago, Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale category

A total of 16 Illinois beers were nominated for prizes at the Great American Beer Festival. Now in its 40th year, the annual festival featured more than 2,000 beers from 500 breweries.

Hosted by the Brewers Association, the trade organization representing more than 5,600 small and independent American craft brewers, the festival is once again an in-person event at the Colorado Convention Center after two years of a pandemic-imposed hiatus.

The 10 Illinois winners in 2022 followed up a year in which 16 beers from around the state were awarded honors. Alarmist’s Midwest Royalty claimed a bronze medal for the second straight year and was the only repeat winner from the 2021 event.