The Illinois Breweries That Produce GABF-Winning Hazy Beers (And That’s Not All They Do)

The Brewers Association introduced the Hazy/Juicy IPA category for the Great American Beer Fest awards in 2018, reflecting the style’s presence and impact within the brewing world — and the first gold medal went to Chicago’s Alarmist Brewing with its Le Jus. Eris Brewery & Cider won bronze in that same category for its Folken Haze. The next year, Old Irving followed with another gold for its ever-popular Beezer. Indeed, Chicago stood as king of the hazy-beer hill. All told, seven Illinois breweries have received a total of nine medals (four gold) in five years for the hazy/juicy Pale Ale, Strong Pale Ale, IPA and Imperial IPA categories. Here are the The Illinois Breweries that Produce GABF-winning Hazy Beers, and a little more about what they brew, serve, and offer.

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Illinois Breweries Who Won Big at 2022 GABF Competition

Illinois breweries, including nine within the Chicago metro area, came away with 10 medals at the Great American Beer Fest, with Double Clutch Brewing emulating what On Tour Brewing did in 2017: win two beer medals and the “Brewery of the Year” for a small brewery award (0-250 barrels). The only gold went to Maplewood Brewing for its Oatmeal Stout. The 10 beer medals is down from the robust 16 Illinois breweries won in 2021, but still a more than respectable showing.
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Iron Hill Brewery Medals at 21st Consecutive GABF

On Saturday, October 7, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant won two silver medals at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. This brings their lifetime medal count to 47, but that isn’t even the astonishing part of this story. These medals—one for their Russian Imperial Stout in the Imperial Stout category and the other for Solzhenitzen in the Aged Beer category—extend an already amazing GABF medal-winning streak to an unprecedented 21 consecutive years.
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2016 GABF Awards Result in Error, The Rise of New Breweries and More

This year’s 2016 Great American Beer Festival Awards Ceremony was anything but dull. To celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Festival, the Brewers Association, the trade organization that puts on the event, assembled a much more polished performance in recognizing the industry’s best.

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