GABF

A new category in the 2026 Great American Beer Festival competition aims to raise the profile of craft maltsters and their offerings. Here’s what the malt-minded pros suggest for brewing up an entry—and it starts with collaboration.

The most prestigious beer competition in the United States is open to breweries from across the country, but some states tend to win more than others for reasons that include population size (i.e., more breweries) and proximity. Let’s take a closer look.

Public hops that any farmer can grow have their supporters, including the Brewers Association. Ultimately, however, the success of new varieties such as Vera and Thora will depend on demand from brewers.

Medals and other honors can raise your brewery’s profile, boost your team, and even increase sales. Yet with tighter budgets and more competitions than ever, breweries are carefully considering where and how many they can enter.

Which states have won the most medals in the Great American Beer Festival, relative to the total breweries in the state? Which ones win gold most often?

The new vaccination requirement includes all participants and attendees of the Craft Brewers Conference and Great American Beer Festival.

Registration opens in June for this year’s GABF competition. Changes to the style guidelines this year include new homes for lower-strength Belgian-style ales and Kentucky Common, while pale ales and IPAs got tweaks to reflect the growing aroma spectrum.

The Great American Beer Festival will happen this year, but in an altered and dispersed form. Besides a two-day virtual event, hundreds of breweries around the country are offering sweet deals to passport holders. The crazy thing? It just might work.

GABF goes online this year—our pretzel necklaces will look fine on Zoom—while the competition will proceed with care. August 28 is the deadline to submit beers.

Anticipating fewer entries this year, the Great American Beer Festival competition has combined some style categories, reducing them from 107 to 90.

There’s really no trick to doing well at competitions—just make flawless beer and enter it into the right category. So easy everybody can do it, right?