Another year is in the books for the Great American Beer Festival and last night they announced the winners for this year’s medals. Last night wrapped up the awards ceremony for the 2021 edition of the Great American Beer Festival. And as per usual, we here at The Beer Thrillers got you the list of Pennsylvania breweries that have won.
For those unaware, The Great American Beer Festival, is thee annual event for craft breweries across the country. Every year, hundreds / thousands of breweries and brewers meet up in Colorado for the annual event, showcasing their goods, and hoping to bring home some of the illustrious medals. Getting a gold, silver, and even bronze at the GABF means a big deal to the brewer, and to the brewery itself.
It helps solidify yourself as a top brewery, it helps to get you recognition, and showcases the merits of the brewers involved.
You can read past years award winners for Pennsylvania here:
I’ll break this article down by GOLD – SILVER – BRONZE, and then at the end list some statistics. Enjoy.
GOLD
Gold Medals:
Category: Brett Beer
Brewery: Cinderlands Brewing Co. – Foederhouse
Beer: Gregg
Category: Smoke Beer
Brewery: Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co.
Beer: Croydon is Burning
SILVER
SILVER MEDALS:
Category: Bock
Brewery: Attic Brewing
Beer: Unresolved
Category: Contemporary Gose
Brewery: Workhorse Brewing Co.
Beer: Prickly Pear Margarita
BRONZE
Bronze Medals:
Category: Brown Porter
Brewery: Dock Street Brewing
Beer: Man Full of Trouble
STATS
You can see a drop down menu of awards here: 2021 GABF Winners. And you can select it to several different filters.
This year there was a total of 5 Pennsylvania medalists, 2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. In 2020 there was 3 medalists, 1 gold, and 2 silver. In 2019 there was 7 medalists, 3 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze.
GABF Competition Statistics
- 35th edition of the GABF competition
- 9,680 beers judged
- 2,192 breweries in the competition from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico
- 170 judges
- Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 99.6
- Category with the highest number of entries: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (427)
- 290 total medals awarded
- 265 medal-winning breweries
- 425 first-time GABF entrants
- 30 first-time entrant GABF medal winners
Looking Forward
Hopefully 2022 will see more medalists. 2021 was a step up (5 medalists this year) from last year (3 medalists), but still under 2019 (7 medalists). Hopefully 2022 will be better for Pennsylvania breweries.
Additional Links:
- Great American Beer Festival
- 2021 Great American Beer Festival – Winners Announced – Brewer’s Association
- 2021 Great American Beer Festival Coverage – Forbes
- 2020 Great American Beer Festival Winners – Pennsylvania
- 2019 Great American Beer Festival Winners – Pennsylvania
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William Penn’s brewhouse
History often repeats itself, and nowhere is this more evident than in the history of beer. Pennsylvania’s love affair with brewing dates back to the colonial era, with small breweries flourishing across the state. One of the earliest examples is the Anthony Morris Brewery, founded in 1686 in Philadelphia. This establishment was among the original breweries of colonial America, setting the stage for a thriving beer culture in the region.
Fast forward to 1827, when German immigrant John Yost founded his John Yost Brewery in Womelsdorf, PA. Meanwhile, in Altoona, PA, the beer scene was bustling, with dozens of small breweries serving the local community. Some of these early breweries have stood the test of time, such as the family-owned Straub Brewery, established in 1872 in St. Marys, PA, and of course, Yuengling—America’s oldest brewery—founded in 1829 in Pottsville, PA.
The Impact of Prohibition: A Struggling Beer Industry
Yuengling Brewery located in Pottsville, PA
The beer industry faced a significant setback with the onset of Prohibition in 1920. By the time Prohibition ended in 1933, the beer scene had been decimated. The industry made a slow comeback, and by 1950, only 407 breweries were operating in the entire United States—a stark contrast to the vibrant scene of previous decades. The era of small, family-owned, and neighborhood breweries producing distinct, local beers seemed to be over, as big beer companies began to dominate the market.
Pabst Brewing Company managed to survive Prohibition by diversifying into cheese production and re-entered the beer industry after the ban was lifted. Miller Lite, introduced nationally in 1975, is another example of a brand that has continued to dominate the beer scene.
Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933, was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. It was driven by the temperance movement, which argued that alcohol was the root cause of many societal issues, including crime, poverty, and family breakdowns. The movement gained significant political momentum in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, culminating in the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919, which legally enforced the prohibition of alcohol. The Volstead Act, passed shortly after, provided the legal framework for enforcing Prohibition, defining what constituted an “intoxicating liquor” and setting the penalties for violating the law.
Despite its intentions, Prohibition had several unintended consequences. Rather than eliminating alcohol consumption, it drove it underground, leading to the rise of illegal speakeasies and a booming black market for alcohol. Organized crime syndicates, most notably led by figures like Al Capone, capitalized on this demand by establishing extensive bootlegging operations. The enforcement of Prohibition laws proved difficult and costly, with widespread corruption among law enforcement and government officials. By the early 1930s, public sentiment had turned against Prohibition, and it was widely viewed as a failed experiment. This shift in opinion eventually led to the passage of the 21st Amendment in 1933, which repealed Prohibition and marked the end of this tumultuous chapter in American history.
The Craft Beer Renaissance: The Return of the Small Breweries
Perot Malting
So, when did the small, independent breweries make their comeback in Pennsylvania? The turning point can be traced back to the early 1970s, right before the introduction of Miller Lite. In 1972, a game-changing event occurred: the release of Cascade hops from a government breeding program. The floral and slightly bitter notes of this hop variety revolutionized the beer industry, setting the stage for the craft beer movement.
The true resurgence of small-scale brewing, however, began in 1978, when President Jimmy Carter lifted the ban on homebrewing, a prohibition-era relic. This decision reignited the idea that small-town, locally produced beer was not only possible but desirable. The formula was simple yet powerful: creative flavoring combined with small, local beer production equaled a craft beer explosion.
Dock Street Brewing Co.: Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future
A full 307 years after William Frampton opened his brewery on Philadelphia’s Dock Street Creek, the legacy of Pennsylvania’s brewing history was honored with the founding of Dock Street Brewing Co. Rosemarie Certo and Jeffrey Ware established this pioneering brewery, one of the first post-Prohibition craft breweries in the country and Philadelphia’s first all-grain brewpub.
Yards Brewing Company: A Legacy of Innovation
Yards Brewing early on
In 1994, Tom Kehoe and Jon Bovi followed in the footsteps of these early pioneers. Inspired by their homebrewing experiments in the 1980s and a passion for unique beer flavors, they opened Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia. Their success marked another significant milestone in the state’s brewing history.
The Modern Craft Beer Boom in Pennsylvania
Today, Pennsylvania is home to over 300 craft breweries, each contributing to the state’s rich brewing heritage. What started out as small, local, and personal has come full circle, but this time with even more flavor and creativity. The repetition of history has brought about a new era where beer is once again local, distinct, and deeply personal.
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We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:
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I got to pick up this book by Dr. Alison E. Feeney last Thursday at the Mid-Town Scholar ahead of her panel discussion (alongside Hannah Ison, Jeffrey Musselman, and Sara Bozich). You can read about that here: “For The Love of Beer – Panel Discussion“. It was a fun and entertaining (and informative) night at the Mid-Town Scholar getting to listen to the three of them discuss breweries, beer, brewing, and community.
And that is the heart of this book. Communities. Even moreso than the breweries this is ‘about’, the heart of the book though is communities. And at the heart of a lot of communities, and growing, is craft breweries. Breweries, in particular craft breweries, are the seat of many things in communities now adays. Places like Boneshire, Moo-Duck, Troegs, and many other breweries that give back to their communities through charities and other activities. Breweries like ZeroDay and Millworks that act like centerpieces for revitalization of downtown areas.
There is so much to love about craft breweries and what all they do (and can do). And Dr. Feeney’s book covers that so well. From revitalizing downtown areas, or old historic buildings, to providing a center and a place for a community, to being an employment opportunity for the local town, to sustainability and environmental help, providing spent grain for local farmers, to helping charities, to hosting events, to having delicious food, to having local ingredients, etc, there is so much that breweries do for their local communities.
Dr. Alison Feeney has traveled all across Pennsylvania checking out various breweries, hop farms, malts, grains, communities, universities, etc, and has gotten a feel for the state, its history, its brewing industry, and the breweries and the people. She’s interviewed tons of people, she’s talked to customers, brewers, hop growers, home brew shop owners, just about everyone you can think of attached to the industry.
The book covers a lot of different breweries across the state. From big to little. From regional powerhouses like Victory and Troegs to smaller localized shops like Moo-Duck, Boneshire, Bonn Place, etc. She has traveled all across the state, all of the regions covered.
There is a wealth of information in the book detailing the history of beer, the history of brewing, the history of Pennsylvania, and brewing and beer in Pennsylvania, as well as a wealth of information and knowledge on brewing, the beer industry, and hops and other things in general. There is a ton of information on the breweries she’s visited as well, small details like the beers they have, or the information on how they restored the buildings they occupied, or little bits and info on the brewers or their styles.
The book is filled with pictures and images from all assortments of things, like hops, to the various breweries, to beer, to the workers at the breweries, to signs, to locations, etc. These pictures help fill in an overall image and idea of the breweries from across the state for those who haven’t gotten to visit them yet. Also with each brewery mentioned there is a small map of Pennsylvania showing where its located with an actual address as well. Its not a complete map of every brewery, and Dr. Feeney even states at the beginning that she isn’t providing a comprehensive listing of every brewery in PA as it’d be out of date before the book even saw print. Case in point – the book mentions Harty Brewing which has since folded up (relatively recently). But don’t let that fool you, this book is chock full of information and knowledge about PA beer and breweries.
At the beginning of the book is a note saying that a portion of the proceeds of the book are going to animal shelters and local places for animals. After this is the chapter previews which list which breweries are mentioned in which chapters and provides an outline for the book. Early chapters discuss beer and the history of it, progressing from Europe and Africa and Asia to America. Detailing the early pioneers to America and bringing beer over on the Mayflower, etc. It then discusses the history of beer and brewing in Pennsylvania.
Following this is how breweries affect communities, how they revitalize communities and buildings, and a chapter on historic buildings and how breweries are reusing old buildings. A chapter on the sustainability and environmental issues and help that breweries are doing and then a closing chapter on looking forward.
This book is a good read for anyone interested in beer, brewing, and especially for those interested in the craft breweries of Pennsylvania. She has provided lots of knowledge on the inner workings from the beginning to the present day on just about every tangential topic with the beer industry. I would certainly recommend this for anyone looking to learn about brewing and beer in Pennsylvania or just loves reading about breweries in Pennsylvania.
My GoodReads Score: ****
Global GoodReads Score: 4.00 (two ratings, three now, as of 10.9.19)
This was the first book review on the blog, hopefully you all like it, I know its a bit different then the beer and brewery reviews. But I am looking forward to doing a few more of these as I have a lot of beer books to read and go through. This is combining two of my loves – literature / books and beers, so this is definitely a double-win for me getting to review books about beer here for the blog. So if you are interested in this, let us know! Also if you have any beer book recommendations, be sure to leave them in the comments!
Thanks and cheers all!
-B. Kline
My GoodReads review link can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3007622590