The winners from the 2024 World Beer Cup have been announced. Here’s some reaction and breakdown on how the Pacific Northwest performed.
image sourced from the Brewers Association
The winners from the 2024 World Beer Cup have been announced. Here’s some reaction and breakdown on how the Pacific Northwest performed.
Last week, as part of the Craft Brewers Conference closing ceremony in Las Vegas, the Brewers Association announced the international winners of the 2024 World Beer Cup. Those not familiar we’ve attached a quick summary before getting to the hard numbers.
Developed in 1996 to celebrate the art and science of brewing, this global competition continues to create greater consumer awareness about different beer styles and flavor profiles while promoting international brewing excellence.
“When industry professionals acknowledge the excellence in products from around the market, the beer drinker can be sure that those brands are the finest available,” says Chris Williams, World Beer Cup competition director.
Awards PhilosophyThe World Beer Cup recognizes brewing excellence in more than 100 categories but does not automatically award the top three entries in a particular category. When judges determine that a category contains three excellent examples of the style, they present gold, silver, and bronze awards for the first, second, and third place beers, respectively.
“Evaluating beer happens on many levels,” says Williams. “On a professional level, beer evaluation is a form of peer review. The results are public, so consumers can learn what beers meet a high level of quality and what beers exemplify certain styles as interpreted by the judges.”
Judges may grant an award in any one or more of the three award places without granting awards in all three places. For example, judges may recognize a beer as a silver or bronze award winner yet not grant a gold award. Learn more.
About the Brewers Association
The World Beer Cup is organized by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.
-the Brewers Association
Hosted in Las Vegas, this year, the World Beer Cup invited breweries from throughout the globe to submit their beers into over 170 styles (172 technically). The result according to this year’s committee was 2,060 breweries submitted over 9,300 beers, with 25% originating from international brewers. Or to put it another way, 50 countries competed to win one or more medals from 330 awards (329 if you exclude a gold medal not issued for Belgian-Style or French-Style Ale). And the result for the Pacific Northwest?
Once again, it was Oregon taking home the most wins at 29. Nearly doubling second place Washington’s total, at 15, that’s pretty impressive. Following Washington is British Columbia at 4, including two gold medals. And rounding out the list is Idaho who only took one medal, bronze by Boise Brewing Company. By comparison, outside the area, California took home 61 medals, followed by Colorado at 21, and finally Texas at 14. In California’s case, their state alone beat out all the Pacific Northwest including British Columbia!
But, when you look at the per capita number of breweries to medals you see something interesting.
Oregon - 8%. The % # of medals the state took home from this year’s World Beer Cup.
Washington - 4%. That the % the state took home out of all the medals.
British Columbia - 1%
Idaho - Less than 1%
But when you look at the per capita brewery totals by each state, you see that actually Oregon and Washington fared better than California. How well?
Well, for comparison California has around 1100 registered breweries in the state, while Oregon has around 400 with Washington around 430. That means that when you look at medals per number of breweries from each state, it’s 9% for Oregon, 5% for California, 4% for Washington, 2% for British Columbia, and once again Idaho with less than 1% per capita # of breweries.
And then, there are the reactions from breweries who responded when asked for a comment.
"We are super excited to get the Gold medal for City of Dreams Pale Ale. The brew staff has worked hard on that beer to dial it in over the years and we're all proud to be recognized for a beer fresh off the line that you can get in almost every store in the Pacific Northwest!" - Fort George Brewery
One of those who, when contacted, responded was Brian Bovenizer at Fort George Brewery in Astoria, Oregon. Known for everything from their annual 3-Way IPA release to their Festival of Dark Arts, the brewery remains competitive in a crowded space. And the beer?
If you’re a regular supporter of Fort George, then City of Dreams Pale Ale should surprise you; it won Gold in the Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale category. In fact, it beat out the likes of SweetWater Brewing Co. out of Fort Collins (Colorado) and Barebottle Brewing Co. from San Francisco (California).
We are very excited to have brought home a Silver Medal, and want to congratulate the other amazing Washington breweries that also won. -Sound2Summit Brewing
Going on 10 years, this humble brewery in Snohomish, Washington, garners plenty of support from its locals and is a stopping point for hikers, cyclists, and those who are escaping North from Seattle. For their efforts, the brewery took home Silver for their Ryes of the Pumpkin King in the Pumpkin Beer category. Those in the competition, Karbach Brewing Co. from Houston (Texas) and River North Brewery from Denver (Colorado), took Gold and Bronze respectively.
Then there are the newcomers, like this one.
We’re totally floored! As a new brewery it still feels surreal to be competing against so many great breweries. To take home a medal in a global competition in one of the most coveted categories is truly a dream come true! -Project 9 Brewing Company
Barely a year old, Project 9 is one of Seattle’s newer breweries in the area. In the Roosevelt neighborhood, Project 9’s focus is mainly on india pale ales (running the gauntlet from the west coast to the hazy and juicy) and sours (complemented with fruits like mango, passionfruit, or tree nuts like coconut). For Barry Kinter, co-owner of Project 9 Brewing, they’re beyond stoked. And the medal?
They took Bronze for their King Lupu's Happy Juice, in the Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale category. The other two breweries that beat them were Old Irving Brewing Co. out of Chicago (Illinois) and MadeWest Brewing Co. from Ventura (California), who took Gold and Silver medals, respectively.
We are honored to be in the company of some great brewers and breweries who have placed in the German Style Pilsner category.
It's a great acknowledgement for the crew. We are stoked! -Seapine Brewing Company
Last, we got a reaction from Seattle’s Seapine Brewing, after taking Silver for their Pilsner in the German-Style Pilsener category. In Seattle’s SoDo (e.g. South Downtown) neighborhood, this brewery remains a humble producer of bespoke india pale ales, pale ales, and an overall balanced variety of beers. And Silver isn’t anything to sneeze at when you consider they lost to pFriem Family Brewers out of Hood River (Oregon and beat out Transmission Brewing from Ventura (California.
But these are just a handful of reactions from those who took the time to respond when asked for a quote. The real winners are you, the consumer, who are blessed to live in one of the most bountiful areas in the country if not the world.
But, if you still need a nudge, then click below and look for yourself, at this year’s winners at the 2024 World Beer Cup.
