Six Bay Area Breweries Win Big at Largest U.S. Beer Festival

The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious beer competitions; it’s certainly the most important one in the United States. Over 100 professional beer judges evaluate more than 2,800 beers entered by almost 500 different domestic breweries. This October marked the 26th year of this enormous festival, which took place this year at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

By Joel Williams  
Published: November, 2007 

The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious beer competitions; it’s certainly the most important one in the United States. Over 100 professional beer judges evaluate more than 2,800 beers entered by almost 500 different domestic breweries. This October marked the 26^th year of this enormous festival, which took place this year at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

This year, six Bay Area breweries took home a staggering 13 of the coveted 2007 GABF awards. Even more impressive is the fact that more than half of those awards went to two breweries, Marin Brewing Company and Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant, both of which are owned and were founded by the same person, Bay Area native Brendan Moylan.

Moylan was in high spirits when I asked him about his breweries’ performances at the 2007 GABF. We had a good little weekend in Denver, he said, before immediately giving most of the credit to the brewers, Arne Johnson at Marin Brewing and Denise Jones at Moylan’s, along with their staffs. Arne and Denise and the whole brew teams at both places did such an amazing job. I think they are challenging each other with their brewing and it only makes things better. Moylan added, No one in the 26-year history of the event who makes craft beer has ever done that well on a single weekend!

Moylan’s Brewery and Restaurant in Novato won a Gold Medal for its Moylan’s Irish Dry Stout in the Classic Irish Style Dry Stout category. And in a rare accomplishment, Moylan’s won both Gold and Silver Medals in the Imperial or Double India Pale Ale category with its Hopsickle and Moylander beers, respectively.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, Brendan Moylan’s other brewery, Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur Landing, racked up four Gold Medals. The Star Brew Triple Wheat won top honors in the American Style Wheat Wine Ale category, while the Pt. Reyes Porter was voted the best in the Robust Porter category. Two of Marin Brewing’s Belgian style ales also brought home the gold. Triple Dipsea Belgian-Style Ale won best in the Belgian Style Abby Ale category, and Tiburon Blond was the winner in the Belgian and French-Style Ale category.

Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa was awarded Silver Medals in three different categories: Supplication took second in the Belgian-Style Sour Ale category, Blind Pig took second in the American-Style India Pale Ale category, and Temptation won silver in the Wood and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category.

Among other local breweries winning prestigious GABF medals this year, Schooners’s Grille and Brewery in Antioch won a Silver Medal for its Oatmeal Stout, and Third Street Aleworks in Santa Rosa won a Bronze Medal for its Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout.

One other medal awarded to a neighborhood brewery completes what I am christening a Bay Area beer trifecta. When 21^st Amendment in downtown San Francisco won a Bronze Medal for its Double Trouble India Pale Ale, this meant that all three medals in the Imperial or Double India Pale Ale category were awarded to Bay Area breweries. So, if you like really strong and hoppy beers, the best three in the United States are available by stopping by Marin Brewing Company and 21^st Amendment. Both breweries, coincidentally, are located close to the waterfront, and are easily accessible by ferry.