Five Cincinnati breweries won medals at the Great American Beer Festival over the weekend, with MadTree, Brink, Sonder, Big Ash, and Boston Beer Co./Samuel Adams all taking home hardware at GABF.
Perhaps the biggest winner was MadTree, which took home gold in the Extra Special Bitter category for Happy Amber. The same beer also won gold at GABF in 2018, and this is the sixth major award for the beer that is one of MadTree’s flagships.
Brink continued their streak of winning a medal at GABF every year that they’ve been in existence. This time, they took home a silver medal for Zoomie in the coffee stout or porter category. Their dominance in the dark beer categories continues, as their Hold the Reins English mild and Moozie milk stout have both won multiple medals. This was their eighth GABF medal overall.
Big Ash took home their first GABF medal, earning a gold in the Vienna-style lager category for Symphony. Big Ash also won a medal at the World Beer Cup earlier this year for Porter’s Porter in the International Dark Lager category.
Mason’s Sonder Brewing took home a silver medal in the coffee beer category for Kato, a beer they’ve had since their opening. It’s the second GABF medal for Sonder, as they also took home a silver in 2021 for French 75. Ohio has a stronghold on the Coffee Beer segment with multiple award winners and world class beers being produced with coffee in the state.
Boston Beer Co., which has a brewery in Cincinnati, won gold in the Non-Alcohol Beer category for Just the Haze.
Other Ohio winners were Cleveland’s Fat Heads (gold for Alpenglow in German wheat ale and bronze for Bone Head in Strong Red Ale), Athens’ Little Fish (gold for Apple Brandy Barrel Maker of Things in Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer), and Cleveland’s Platform (silver for Second Hand Lions in Belgian Fruit Beer and silver for New Cleveland in International Style Pale Ale).
This performance at GABF continues a strong awards showing for Cincinnati breweries this year, as 19 area breweries won medals at the US Open Beer Championship earlier this year. Four Cincinnati breweries also won awards at the World Beer Cup, including MadTree and Big Ash. The Queen City also figures to clean up at the Ohio Craft Brewer’s Cup, which takes place this weekend.