3 NoVA Breweries Among 10 Virginia Winners At Great American Beer Festival

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Three Northern Virginia breweries were among 10 statewide leaving the 40th annual Great American Beer Festival with gold medals this year.

The nation’s largest beer festival has wrapped its 2024 competition, awarding 325 medals to 273 breweries and cideries across the country. This year also marked a first for the prestigious contest with the inclusion of cider and canned cocktails.

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

About 285 beer experts evaluated 8,836 commercial beer entries along with hundreds of commercial cideries and other entries. Breweries earned accolades across various categories, from American pilsners to sours, coffee beers, non-alcoholic brews and beyond.

Alexandria's Port City Brewing Company picked up two medals — gold for its Port City Porter in the Robust Porter category and bronze for the Rauchbier in the Smoke Beer category.

Loudoun County-based Bear Chase Brewing Co., located in Bluemont, also scored two awards. It won silver for the Buttons the Bear in the Oatmeal Stout category and bronze for the Baltic Porter in the Strong Porter category.

Centreville-based Great American Restaurants/Sweetwater Tavern won gold for its Crazy Jackass Ale in the Rye Beers category.

Here are the other Virginia winners:

Gold

Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop – Richmond (Richmond, VA): Hey Girl, Hey! in the American Fruit Beer category

Devils Backbone Brewing Co. – Basecamp (Roseland, VA): Dogwood Saison in the Classic Saison category

Blue Mountain Brewery (Afton, VA): Raspberries on Acid in the Fruited Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category

Silver

Benchtop Brewing Co. (Norfolk, VA): Pilsners are Lagers in the Kellerbier or Zwickelbier category

South Street Brewery (Charlottesville, VA): Barrel-Aged Imperial Satan’s Pony in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer category

Bronze

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery (Richmond, VA): Richmond Lager in the Contemporary American-Style Lager category

Blue Mountain Barrel House and Organic Brewery (Arrington, VA): Wild Pear in the Contemporary Gose category

Benchtop Brewing Co. (Norfolk, VA): Trash Pandamonium in the Strong Red Ale category