The Great American Beer Festival concluded Saturday in Denver. Earlier in the day the winners of the commercial competition were announced. A complete list of the winners is here. The Brewers Association has compiled plenty of facts and figures about the competition and the festival.
– The competition saw its biggest panel of judges ever, with 222 beer experts from 10 countries evaluating 5,507 commercial entries, plus 89 Pro-Am entries.
– Winners in 90 categories were chosen from 5,507 competition entries (16 percent more than in 2013) from 1,309 breweries.
– Fifty-two first-time entering breweries won awards.
– Top three states by ratio of medals to entries by state:
* New Jersey: 19% with 16 entries and three medals
* Alaska: 13% with 16 entries and two medals—tied with federal district Washington, D.C.: 13% with 8 entries and one medal
* New Mexico: 10% with 84 entries and eight medals
Style Categories
Since 2002, the most-entered category has been American-Style India Pale Ale (IPA), which saw 279 entries in 2014.
The top five entered categories were:
1. American-Style India Pale Ale (279 entries)
2. Herb and Spice Beer (150 entries)
3. American-Style Pale Ale (145 entries)
4. American-Style Amber/Red Ale (140 entries)
5. Imperial India Pale Ale (135 entries)
More numbers:
– 710 breweries in the festival hall
– More than 3,500 beers served at the festival
– 49,000 attendees
– More than 3,200 volunteers
– 222 judges from 10 countries
– Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 61.2 (excludes Pro-Am beers)