Minnesota brewers win 7 medals at the Great American Beer Festival

(ABC 6 News) – It was a victory for beer lovers in Minnesota as 7 brewers across the state won medals at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival.

The festival is America’s premier beer competition and is held annually in Denver, CO. This year the festival celebrated its 40th year – after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, the event showcased 2,154 breweries from all 50 states including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, with 9,904 total beers judged.

Minnesota took home 7 medals including 4 gold and 3 silver.

Medal	Brewery	City	Beer Name	Category
Gold	Bend Paddle Brewing Co.	Duluth	Dunkel Lager	German Dark Lager
Gold	Ursa Minor Brewing	Duluth	Equanimity	Irish-Style Red Ale
Gold	Insight Brewing	Minneapolis	Avant	Other Hoppy Lager
Gold	Forgotten Star Brewing Co.	Fridley	Dark Skies	Other Strong Beer
Silver	Forgotten Star Brewing Co.	Fridley	Bonspiel Bock	Bock
Silver	Wooden Hill Brewing Co.	Edina	Kold Shoulder	German-Style Koelsch
Silver	Pantown Brewing Co.	Saint Cloud	Drop Forge Milk Stout	Sweet Stout or Cream Stout

In all, there 300 total medals awarded with 301 first-time entrants and 18 first-time winners.

The competition took place in 3 phases over a period of 9 days and was judged by 235 beer experts from 7 countries, including the U.S. The festival was held October 6-8.

“Each year the Great American Beer Festival showcases the best that American brewers have to offer,” said Chris Williams, competition director, Great American Beer Festival. “With 9,904 entries, this year’s competition was the most competitive to date. Congratulations to all the winners who truly demonstrated why the U.S. is the best brewing nation in the world.”

To view a full list of 2022 winners, CLICK HERE.