It’s always fun when a medal competition wraps up and our local breweries get to take home a whole cabinet of hardware. The debate will always rage on if beer medals really mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but if it makes me feel this good when someone wins – that has to tell us something, right?

We’re no strangers to winning medals here in Cincinnati – if my notes are right (and this sort of stuff isn’t easy to keep up to date), our local breweries have won more than 630 medals in various competitions over the years (maybe even more if I could find stuff from our thriving pre-prohibition days.)

The US Open is usually a good competition for our beer scene, too. A little less than a third of the total medals that have come back to town has come from the US Open Beer Championship. You can usually hope that after the medal announcement is made each year, we’ll have good news and a lot of happy beer makers in the city.

33 different medals and two awards to go along with it? We can count that as a win this year for Greater Cincinnati.

The List Of Winners

  • Big Ash – Fat Chants – Silver Medal
  • Big Ash – Symphony – Gold Medal
  • Brink – Levelled Up – Bronze Medal
  • Cartridge – Hollow Point – Gold Medal
  • CinBev – Little Kings – Silver Medal
  • The Common Beer Company – Some Like It Mild – Bronze Medal
  • The Common Beer Company – Common Denominator – Silver Medal
  • Darkness Brewing – Mayan Sacrifice – Silver Medal
  • Dead Low – Kick It Kottbusser – Bronze Medal
  • Fretboard – Bootsy Brewski – Silver Medal
  • Grainworks – Luke I Am Your Lager – #8 Top Beer Name
  • Grainworks – Lime Coconut Donut Gose – Silver Medal
  • Grainworks – My Blue Heaven – Gold Medal
  • HighGrain – Black N Blue – Silver Medal
  • Listermann – Chickow! Coconut Fudge – Gold Medal
  • Listermann – Ichor: Zeus – Silver Medal
  • MadTree – Porch Swing – Bronze Medal
  • Municipal Brew Works – Approachable Blonde – Gold Medal
  • Narrow Path – Tri-Kettle Tripel – Gold Medal
  • Narrow Path – Edges Of Light – Bronze Medal
  • Nine Giant – Easy Tiger – Bronze Medal
  • Nine Giant – Happiness Is All The Rage – Bronze Medal
  • Nine Giant – Brilliant Colors – Bronze Medal
  • Nine Giant – 2022 Heavy Metal Drummer – Gold Medal
  • Streetside – Apple Brandy BA Vanilla Marshmellow Speak of the Devil – Silver Medal
  • Streetside – Jungle Mindflayer – Gold Medal
  • Streetside – Barrel-Aged Fraudulent Activity – Bronze Medal
  • Third Eye – Spacetoast – Silver Medal
  • Third Eye – Double Astral – Silver Medal
  • Third Eye – Kelly’s Private Stash – Silver Medal
  • Third Eye – Dark Aura – Gold Medal
  • Urban Artifact – #4 US Brewery Medal
  • Urban Artifact – Kaleidoscope – Gold Medal
  • Urban Artifact – The Gadget – Gold Medal
  • Urban Artifact – Pickle – Gold Medal

My Takeaway (Who You Should Be Paying Attention To)

It’s all great. That needs to be said before I mention anyone specifically. I’m happy to see any one of our local spots win an award. Some of the folks on this list, though, deserve an extra shout-out, I think.

Let’s start with Big Ash. This brewery still doesn’t get enough credit for the awards they’re bringing home lately. With medals at both GABF and World Beer Cup, along with five at the US Open and a slew of others… they should be turning heads if they haven’t already.

Little, Freaking, Kings. I haven’t been shy about my love for Cincinnati’s favorite cream ale in the past, and that certainly hasn’t changed now that their new ownership ‘CinBev’ has brought the little green bottles back to the market. At one time, this beer was the most award-winning in the city, and I’d love to see them take that crown back. With five different GABF medals dating back to 1987… show some respect.

You should know by now that Urban Artifact is doing great things. They’ve been working to redefine a style with their fruit tarts, making it a little hard to fit into a style to win awards at some of these competitions. It’s refreshing to see a competition recognize what they’re brewing, especially with three gold medals. Pickle? That beer should have a whole trophy case if you ask me.

If you want to see the full list of this year’s winners, head over to the US Open’s website. Also… the next time you’re in one of these taprooms, don’t be afraid to snag one of the beers on this list because, clearly… they’re tasty!

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