Colorado brewers take home 21 GABF medals

Colorado breweries claimed 21 medals in the much-hyped Great American Beer Festival competition, far fewer than normal.

By the numbers: The awards, announced Friday at the Craft Brewers Conference, included seven gold medals for best-in-category brews.

• Colorado swept the American Fruit Beer category with three winners.
• For the ninth year in a row, Cannonball Creek Brewing in Golden won a gold medal.
• Our Mutual Friend in Denver was the only brewery to take home two, a gold for Australian Pale Ale and silver for Mixed-Culture Brett Beer.
• Peak View Brewing in Greenwood Village won its first medal, a silver for a Blood Orange Wheat in the Fruit Wheat Beer category.

Yes, but: A number of big-name Colorado breweries that are used to winning didn't have their names called.

• It's the first time since 2000 that Colorado failed to finish in the top two states for total medals, according to the Denver Business Journal.
• And it's the lowest total for the state in 17 years.

Colorado breweries that won GABF medals in 2021:

Gold: BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse – Boulder, Barrel Aged Got Beer, Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer

Gold: Bootstrap Brewing, Stick's Pale Ale, American-Style Pale Ale

Gold: Cannonball Creek Brewing, Vladimir Brutin, Experimental India Pale Ale

Gold: Cerebral Brewing, Humo y Espejos with Fuego!, Chili Beer

Gold: Crystal Springs Brewing, Blood Orange Kölsch, American Fruit Beer category

Gold: Our Mutual Friend Brewing, Inner Light, Australian Pale Ale

Gold: Ratio Beerworks, Domestica, Golden or Blonde Ale

Silver: Avery Brewing, Stampede, American-Style Lager

Silver: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Stay the Funk In, Belgian-Style Sour Ale

Silver: Great Divide Brewing, Wild Raspberry Ale, American Fruit Beer

Silver: Our Mutual Friend Brewing, Biere Ovale, Mixed-Culture Brett Beer

Silver: Peak View Brewing, Blood Orange Wheat, Fruit Wheat Beer

Silver: SKA Brewing, True Blonde Ale, English Ale

Silver: Steamworks Brewing, Prescribed Burn, Chili Beer

Silver: Strange Craft Beer, Silverbrick Norwegian Farmhouse, Historical Beer

Bronze: 12Degree Brewing, Treachery, Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale

Bronze: Amalgam Brewing, Skins, Experimental Beer

Bronze: Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Snow Drop, Historical Beer

Bronze: Holidaily Brewing, Big Henry Hazy IPA, Gluten-Free Beer

Bronze: Lone Tree Brewing, Lone Tree Peach Pale Ale, American Fruit Beer

Bronze: Telluride Brewing, Face Down Brown, American-Style Brown Ale

See the full list of winners