Competition scale from the Brewers Association's annual announcements, plus style family share and the biggest movers from the record. A blank cell is a figure the announcement did not state.
The first two charts and the scale table are totals for the whole competition, so Filters do not change them. The style family chart and the movers follow Filters.
Entries Judged
Entries
Table view
Entries Judged
Name
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Entries
8,806
9,680
9,904
8,315
7,267
Medals Awarded and Breweries Entering
Medals
Breweries Entering
Table view
Medals Awarded and Breweries Entering
Name
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Medals
272
293
299
303
326
347
336
Breweries Entering
1,720
2,192
1,555
Competition Scale by Year
Competition Scale by Year
Year
Awards Date
Venue
Entries
Breweries Entering
Medals
Winning Breweries
Categories
Coverage
Notes
2020
2020-10-16
Virtual ceremony
8,806
1,720
272
240
91
Not Loaded: The competition year is in range, but no results are loaded.
34th edition; festival cancelled and awards streamed
2021
2021-09-10
Craft Brewers Conference in Denver
9,680
2,192
293
265
97
Complete
35th edition; festival cancelled for a second year; largest competition to date; medals counted from the official winners list (the press release said 290)
2022
2022-10-08
Bellco Theatre in Denver
9,904
299
268
98
Complete
36th edition; 177 styles; plus 35 Pro-Am and 94 Collaboration entries; medals counted from the loaded official winners list (the press release said 300; the Honey Beer gold is not loaded because the list prints no city for it)
2023
2023-09-23
Bellco Theatre in Denver
303
253
101
Complete
37th edition; medals and categories counted from the official winners list (entries not stated there)
2024
2024-10-12
Bellco Theatre in Denver
326
273
102
Complete
38th edition; 102 beer categories and 170 subcategories plus cider and Pro-Am; Highland Park and Apogee took the most medals
2025
2025-10-11
Bellco Theatre in Denver
8,315
1,555
347
273
Complete
39th edition; 250 judges; 273 breweries and cideries won 347 medals
2026
2026-10-11
Levitt Pavilion at Ruby Hill Park in Denver
7,267
336
243
112
Complete
40th edition; winners announced October 11 2026 at the opening Sunday session; 7,267 beer and cider entries from 49 states plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico; 225 judges per San Diego Beer News; new categories Rice Lager, Hop Water, one-time Craft Malt; gluten-free split into three categories; Brewery of the Year judged on total company production with a new over 100,000 barrel bracket
Style Families and Movers
Medals by Style Family and YearTop Seven Families in View, Plus Other
Fruit, Spice, and Specialty won the largest share of medals in 2026: 18 percent, against 20 percent in 2021. Cider and Mead gained the most share (4.5 points) and Smoke and Wood lost the most (2.7 points).
How it is measured
Share is a family's medals divided by all medals in the year. Style families are this site's grouping of the official categories, not an official one.
What it does not say
Medal share follows the category list as much as brewing. Each category awards up to three medals, so a family's share rises when the competition adds categories in it.