The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) pivoted yet again to maintain its long-running awards competition.
The awards ceremony typically coincides with October’s GABF. Instead, 2021 winners were announced on Sept. 10 during the Brewers Association’s annual Craft Brewers Conference® & Brew Expo America®.
GABF, the country’s largest ticketed beer festival, announced earlier this year that it will skip its public event in 2021 (as it did in 2020). It plans to return in person to celebrate its 40th anniversary Oct. 6-8, 2022.
This year, Utah breweries earned a trio of bronze medals.
Templin Family Brewing won bronze for its flagship Granary Kellerbier. The Kellerbier or Zwickelbier category featured 85 entries.
It marks the second straight year T.F., which opened in October 2018, saw its Kellerbier earn bronze at GABF. And in 2019, T.F. won silver for its Rauchbier.
Shades Brewing returned to the podium after missing out on medaling in 2020. Its Kveik 1 American Sour Ale earned bronze in 2021 after capturing gold in 2018. In 2019, Shades picked up a gold medal for its Kveik Thai Tom Kha.
Level Crossing Brewing nabbed bronze for its Vienna Lager in a category with 113 entries. Previously, in 2019, the South Salt Lake brewery picked up a bronze medal for its Suss it Out Rye IPA.
The 2021 competition featured 9,680 beers from 2,192 breweries judged in 98 categories.
GABF: Utah Winners (category in parentheses)
Utah brewers picked up three medals at the 2021 GABF. That follows up on a three-medal showing in 2020 and a six-medal haul at the 2019 event. Here’s a full list of 2021 winners.
In all, 291 medals were awarded. At the end of 2020, more than 8,700 breweries operated in the United States.
Level Crossing Brewing
- Bronze — Vienna Lager (47 – Vienna-style Lager); 113 entries
Shades Brewing
- Bronze — Kveik 1 (24 – American Sour Ale); 36 entries
Templin Family (T.F.) Brewing
- Bronze — Granary Kellerbier (33 – Kellerbier or Zwickelbier); 85 entries
