{"id":34253,"date":"2023-09-25T12:47:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T17:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=34253"},"modified":"2023-09-25T13:01:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T18:01:18","slug":"the-gabf-2023-roundup-great-lakes-medal-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/the-gabf-2023-roundup-great-lakes-medal-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"The GABF 2023 Roundup of Great Lakes Medal Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
This about sums up 2023’s medal haul. Image courtesy the GABF website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well, they can’t all be great years for Illinois, right? Or Michigan, or Wisconsin, or … well, anyone other than Ohio, honestly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year we look at how well the Midwestern Great Lakes states fared at the Great American Beer Fest, and we’ve never had a disparity this large: Ohio took home more medals than Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin combined<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heck, the medals for Fat Heads<\/strong> or Third Eye<\/strong> alone beat out Michigan and Wisconsin. All of this is to say that every year, we see how strong the brewing scene is in Ohio and how well organized the state’s Guild is in getting their beers in front of a national audience like this. The unity, as ever, is present in every medal win as each Ohio brewer in attendance takes the stage with an Ohio guild flag. Really strong stuff. Other guilds, as ever, should take note if these medals are a priority. Clearly, to a few states, they are “nice to have,” not “need to have.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other GABF 2023 Midwestern Takeaways: <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Who expected back to back rauchbier medals for Double Clutch<\/strong>? Hot on the heels of being named last year’s Brewery of the Year (0-250bbl category), let it be known that this car-centric Evanston brewpub is putting out some really high-quality true-to-style German beers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sun King<\/strong> took their silver-medalist Soul Shakedown Party and turned it into a Gold Medal winner this year. Impressive to see how a brewer can take feedback and make the tweaks necessary to have a best-in-class beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to back years in Michigan with just two medals awarded. Did GABF kick the Michigan Guild’s dog or something? The Mitten seems to have zero interest in this competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find it fascinating — and maybe a bit<\/em> frightening — that one of the top-entered categories was Light Lager. And not by much, either. Juicy IPA was of course the top-submitted with 365, but West Coast IPA had 301 and Light Lager had 284 entries. That’s pretty huge. Clearly breweries are not just making these more and more, but they want to be recognized for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Ohio for a second — It’s not just the number of medals that’s genuinely impressive here, it’s the breadth of the categories. Look at the international styles represented in that lineup: Irish, Belgian, German, Bohemian and hell, even New Zealand! Also they must be putting something special in Buckeye State pumpkins — two of the three medalists in that category are Ohioans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this year’s winners are here<\/a>. Here\u2019s a look at how the participating breweries from the Great Lakes states fared at the 2023 GABF: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Illinois: 7 Medals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n