Virginia breweries win 13 GABF medals as Mieza takes a national title
Twelve Virginia brewing locations medaled at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival, up from eight medals last year. Mieza Blendery of Alexandria won Brewery and Brewer of the Year in the 0-250 barrel class.
Virginia breweries won 13 medals at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival competition, up from eight in 2025, while Mieza Blendery of Alexandria captured one of the event’s national brewery titles.
Mieza and founder Alex Lynch were named Brewery and Brewer of the Year in the competition’s 0-250 barrel class. Mieza also won silver and bronze in Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer, giving the small Alexandria producer three national recognitions from one competition.
The Brewers Association announced the results October 11 in Denver. A panel of 225 judges evaluated 7,267 beer and cider entries from 1,300 breweries and cideries representing 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and awarded 336 medals to 243 producers.
Virginia’s total included four golds, four silvers and five bronzes across 12 brewing locations, with Mieza accounting for two of the medals.
Virginia’s 2026 medalists
Gold medals went to Planet 4 from Billsburg Brewery in Williamsburg, in American Amber and Red Ale; Gold Leaf Lager from Devils Backbone Brewing Co. in Roseland, in Contemporary American Lager; Oktoberfest from Port City Brewing Co. in Alexandria, in Vienna-Style Lager; and Satan’s Pony from South Street Brewery in Charlottesville, in Scottish-Style Ale.
Silver medals went to Oktoberfest from Bingo Beer Co. in Richmond, in German-Style Maerzen; Coffee Blonde from The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery in Hampton, in Coffee Beer; Red Molly from Pale Fire Brewing Co. in Harrisonburg, in Irish-Style Red Ale; and Sulking in the Brush from Mieza, in Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer.
Bronze medals went to Monticello Mountain Ale from Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, in Scottish-Style Ale; Yucatan Sunrise from Full Distance Brewing in Stafford, in Mexican-Style Pale Lager; Safety Dance from Smartmouth Brewing Pilot House in Virginia Beach, in Kellerbier or Zwickelbier; Tow the Lime from Starr Hill’s Richmond Beer Hall, in American Fruit Beer; and Minotaurs & Matadors from Mieza, in Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer.
Virginia Craft Beer Magazine, the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild’s official media sponsor, headlined its coverage as 11 Virginia breweries, though its own list names 12 and does not explain the difference. The official GABF results show 13 medals from 12 Virginia brewing locations. One of the 12, Devils Backbone, has been owned by Anheuser-Busch since 2016.
Mieza’s national title
Mieza specializes in mixed-fermentation and barrel-aged beer, a production model that depends on long aging periods, blending judgment and inventory that cannot be turned quickly.
The festival decides its brewery titles on total points: six for a gold, five for a silver, four for a bronze. Mieza’s silver and bronze supplied all nine of its points, and they came in the same national category, a 46-entry field in which Mieza took two of the three medals. The gold in that category went to Madrigal from Monday Night Brewing of Atlanta.
Mieza described the bronze-winning Minotaurs & Matadors as a barrel-aged blond blend made with Virginia-grown Malbec grapes, tying the award to both fermentation technique and local agriculture.
The result gives Mieza a business story beyond the medals. A national Brewery and Brewer of the Year award can lift taproom traffic, club sales and limited-release demand, but the smallest breweries have the least ability to expand production quickly. Mieza will have to decide how to use the recognition without exhausting the aged inventory that made the win possible.
Repeat winners build brand value
Port City’s Oktoberfest won its fourth GABF medal, all four in Vienna-Style Lager, after a 2013 silver, a 2020 bronze and a 2023 gold. Owner Bill Butcher put the brewery’s lifetime festival total at 17 medals.
At Starr Hill’s Richmond Beer Hall, pilot brewer Jeff Metz earned bronze for Tow the Lime in American Fruit Beer. Starr Hill said the win “marks Metz’s 4th medal from the GABF in the last 3 years,” after a 2024 gold for Hey Girl, Hey in American Fruit Beer, a 2024 Pro-Am bronze for South of Helles and a 2025 bronze for Second Rodeo in German-Style Pils.
The 13-medal showing also demonstrates the breadth of Virginia production. The winners span sour beer, fruit beer, coffee beer, amber ale, Scottish ale, Irish red ale and multiple lager styles. They include brewpubs, regional production breweries, a major brewer-owned facility and very small specialty producers.
For taprooms and tourism offices, the immediate opportunity is to make the awards easy to find. Medal-winning beers that remain available should be identified on menus and retail shelves with the competition year and category. Breweries should also be precise about whether the winning beer was produced at the named location, especially when brands operate multiple taprooms or production sites.
The Great American Beer Festival describes its winner database as consumer information and cautions that it likely contains errors and that brand and ownership details can change. The 2026 results nevertheless give Virginia producers a timely marketing asset heading into the fall tourism and holiday retail season.
