Des Moines' Confluence Brewing wins gold at national festival

Iowa's brewers won two medals at this year's Great American Beer Festival, Axios' John Frank reports from the awards ceremony in Denver last weekend.

Why it matters: GABF is America's premier beer competition, and winning one of the 300-plus medals helps put a brewery on the map.

• The festival celebrated its 40th year and a return after a two-year pandemic hiatus.

By the numbers: The 2022 competition was the most competitive to date with 2,154 breweries submitting more than 9,900 beers.

Details: Confluence Brewing in Des Moines won gold in the Pro-Am competition with Kaltrauch, a beer made with homebrewers Randy Daniels and KC McKinney.

• Lake Time Brewery in Clear Lake won a bronze medal for Peanut Butter Porter in the specialty beer category.

Of note: It's the first time either brewery won a GABF medal, according to the Brewers Association, which hosts the competition.

🥳 Celebrate: Confluence is hosting the biggest party in its history in honor of its 10th year of business.

• There will be bands, food trucks, artist booths, on site T-shirt printing and the release of 10 new beers.
• Starts Oct. 21 at 3:30pm; Oct. 22-23 at noon