Oregon Beer Awards: Trends and Notes
One of the the competition’s 20 stewards prepping a new round. Judging is easy; being a steward is hard work!
On Thursday evening, organizers announced the winners of the Oregon Beer Awards at a gala event. I had expected to attend, but we didn’t want to leave our newest four-legged housemate, Rosie, alone (she’s young, a little anxious, and just barely getting to know us). If you would like to see it for yourself, you can find a video of the telecast here—and I actually recommend at least dipping in. You might catch Alan Taylor give his entire thank you speech in German, or watch Darron Welch, this year’s very worthy Hall of Fame inductee, give a heartfelt thanks. It’s worth it to see someone accept their gold medal—you can see how much these awards mean. L
Enough of the ceremony, let’s talk about the winners.
This was the ninth edition of the competition, and for possibly the first time the categories didn’t change from the year prior. [Check that; I just got a note that they eliminated the gluten-free category in 2024.] In this competition, there are just 29 categories and 87 medals. This year, 122 breweries entered 1,088 beers. One of the reasons it’s so respected is that most of the judges are brewers themselves—though obviously, no one ever judges a category in which their beer is in competition. While the categories didn’t change, the judging did; this year, the competition decided to have three panels judge the same beers in the preliminary rounds, so beers had to achieve a high level of agreement just to get to round two. The panels in finals rounds were large—typically eight people. All of that is to say that if a beer won a medal, it had to go through three rounds, five panels, and +/- 24 judges. These beers were vetted—there were no accidental winners.
Below I’ll discuss a few of the trends and breweries that caught my attention, but you can go see the full list of winners here.
The big winners this year included familiar names. Sunriver took home the biggest haul with 13 medals, but Breakside, with 9 medals, edged Sunriver out with four golds. Great Notion won five and swept the hazy category. pFriem took four medals, and so did Grand Fir, which is barely more than a year old, and still just brewpub. Brewmaster and co-owner Whitney Burnside also notched three golds—a remarkable run for such a small brewery. Fifteen breweries won multiple medals, and they joined 29 other breweries who won one.
The Unexpected Winners
Awards are really for the breweries themselves—a medal rarely sells more beer. But when a little brewery few people have heard of scores a win, it does bring them broader acclaim. No one was surprised to see Arch Rock win a medal this year, but the first time the small southern coast brewery did it, we all paid attention. I had never heard of the Corvallis brewpub Sky High until last year, when it won gold in the Pilsner category. Now I’ll never forget it.
So who shone this year?
In a very crowded Bend market, five-year-old Bevel has flown under the radar, but not this year. It won gold for Midnight Crave in flavored beer.
Two-year-old Binary Brewing in Beaverton took silver for Motherboard Milk Stout.
Gresham’s MadCow took a silver for Sunset Serenade Raspberry Hibiscus Saison.
Oak Union, a year old and brewed in Portland on contract won a bronze for their Giltine Baltic Porter.
Finally, Two Shy Brewing in Roseburg scored a silver in for their Olaf’s Warm Hugs in a category of yeast-forward beers.
I don’t know that Hetty Alice, Gavin Lord’s side project at Living Haus, counts as “under the radar,” but it picked up a gold as well.
Hall of Fame inductee and Pelican Brewmaster Darron Welch
Competition head honcho and Breakside Brewmaster Ben Edmunds
Specializing
One thing that is becoming more obvious is how breweries are now becoming specialists in certain kinds of beers. In some cases, a brewery has chosen to focus on a particular kind of beer. Portland’s nebuleus (who prefer the lowercase title), won three medals this year in the wild categories, two for straight mixed culture, one for fruited. It’s a remarkable achievement for such a small, new brewery. Alesong is another wild ale specialist.
But we also see a kind of “tell” from breweries that ostensibly play the field. pFriem, for example, was back to its winning ways in pilsner, winning gold for the third time in four years—and added another gold for their Japanese lager. Great Notion absolutely owns hazies in Oregon. They swept the category, and added another medal in imperial IPAs. Of Breakside’s nine medals, six were in hoppy categories. It’s a little early to make a comment about Grand Fir, and Whitney may well muddy the waters with many wins over the years—but three of her four medals were for dark beers. This shadow specialization is cool to see.
Changing of the Guard?
For the most part, the names of the big winners were familiar—Breakside and Sunriver are perennial champs. However, we’re seeing others creep into that upper tier. Great Notion has been winning medals for years, but this was a bit of a coming-out party, when they emerged as a more than just a fan favorite. It’s hard to ignore the work nebuleus is doing, either, and if you pair it with one-time acid kings Cascade, it definitely feels like a transition is afoot. Wayfinder lost their founding brewmaster Kevin Davey more than a year ago, but the changing of the guard there has worked out pretty well—Natalie Baldwin came in and picked up two medals, keeping Wayfinder among Portland’s elite.
Finally, one name that usually appears at the top of the list was absent this year—10 Barrel. With two outposts and a huge amount of brewing talent, they have historically cleaned up. Last year they won seven medals, but in 2024 they “only” picked up two. It could be a blip, but it’s something to watch.
During his comments at the start of the awards ceremony, competition director Ben Edmunds noted that the OBAs, once a oddball, quirky competition—exactly what you’d expect of Oregon—has become something more than an experiment. He said: “As this event, both the competition and the ceremony, has matured over the years, I can proudly say that the OBAs are inspiring other brewers and states. We’ve offered support and resources to organizers in Texas, New York, Alaska, Montana, Colorado, and Ohio as they’ve created their in-state competitions.” It had attracted such attention, he said, “because it is a competition by and for brewers that treats the beer with great respect.”
I am glad to see its influence grow, and I do think that last part is why. In Oregon, brewers really care about making great beer, and this competition acts as a measuring stick for how they’re doing. I hope casual fans appreciate that, have a look at the list, and go try the beers they can find on shelves and taplists. We are fortunate to have all these incredible breweries here. Congrats to all the winners!