We say it every time a new awards ceremony kicks out a bunch of Cincinnati-bound medals… but, for as confusing as it might be on whether they actually move the needle for sales, it feels great when our local places win them! This year’s US Open Craft Beer Championship was a great one for the city!
I won’t draw this out too long, but we’ve got fifty new medals out of this year’s competition. Fifty. That’s 16 Gold, 19 Silver, and 15 Bronze medals. That’s a lot to make note of.
Things To Note
There are definitely a few things that stand out to me about this group of winners.
Right off the top, it’s hard to ignore the continued dominance of Brink. This brewery has been winning medals since day one, and that continues. It’s wild to see a small, neighborhood brewery remain so dominant in awards ceremonies, and even wilder when they are like Brink and keep doing it with such a great, wide variety of beer styles.
Third Eye keeps building their legacy with another 8 medals to add to their already impressive count… including several more gold medals. They are dialed in with big, flavorful beers, and it shows. The standout for me is their anniversary beer winning… blending beers is a whole different game, and they’re doing an incredible job of it!
Urban Artifact is a tough one, as their beers don’t often fit into classic style categories – so when they win an award, it always makes me smile. They’re doing an incredible job and definitely deserve a lot more recognition from the awards givers than they often get.
We like our fruit beers! I am not just talking about the big, overfruited fruit tarts from Urban Artifact, either. With Rhinegeist, Sonder, Sam Adams, Grainworks all also taking home medals for different types of frutied beers, it’s clear that Cincinnati is becoming a big of a haven for fans of fruit beer styles!
A mix of big, veteran spaces, like Rhinegeist and Fretboard sits right next to winners at smaller places like Sons of Toil and Narrow Path. This gives me a lot of pride in what our bigger beer scene is developing into here in Cincinnati – and a great sign that you can get incredible beer at all sorts of different spaces all around Greater Cincinnati!
The List Of Winners
Without forcing you to wait any longer… here’s the full list of winners!
Brink Brewing Company
- Brink, El Lauro Muro – Bronze Medal
- Brink, Gold Top – Gold Medal
- Brink, Hold The Reins – Silver Medal
- Brink, Kellermeister – Gold Medal
- Brink, Lil Zoomie – Bronze Medal
- Brink, Moozie – Silver Medal
The Common Beer Company
- The Common, Grand Cabaret – Silver Medal
Esoteric Brewing Company
- Esoteric Brewing Company, Eclipse – Gold Medal
Fabled Brew Works
- Fabled Brew Works, Barrel-Aged Skooma – Bronze Medal
- Fabled Brew Works, Lernaean Hydra – Bronze Medal
- Fabled Brew Works, Rockin’ The Rainbow Road- Gold Medal
- Fabled Brew Works, Zombies 607 My Neighbors – Silver Medal
Fretboard Brewing Company
- Fretboard, Crazy Train – Silver Medal
Grainworks
- Grainworks, Peach Dreams – Bronze Medal
- Grainworks, Old Motor Oil – Silver Medal
Municipal Brew Works
- Municipal Brew Works, Approachable Blonde – Silver Medal
Narrow Path
- Narrow Path, A Better Burden – Gold Medal
- Narrow Path, Barrel-Aged Matters Of Importance – Gold Medal
- Narrow Path, Pathinator – Gold Medal
Nine Giant
- Nine Giant, Quiet Light – Gold Medal
Northern Row
- Northern Row, Brawler – Silver Medal
Rhinegeist
- Rhinegeist, Bubbles – Bronze Medal
- Rhinegeist, Mango Bubbles – Gold Medal
- Rhinegeist, 2023 Rye Barrel-Aged Night Whale – Bronze Medal
- Rhinegeist, Skip – Bronze Medal
- Rhinegeist, Wowie – Silver Medal
Sam Adams Taproom
- Sam Adams, Queen City Crown – Silver Medal
Sonder Brewing Company
- Sonder, Causing A Racket – Gold Medal
- Sonder, Divot – Silver Medal
Sons of Toil
- Sons Of Toil, Blackberry Imperial Stout – Silver Medal
- Sons Of Toil, Dunkel Bock – Bronze Medal
- Sons Of Toil, English Brown Ale – Gold Medal
- Sons Of Toil, Hefeweizen – Bronze Medal
Streetside Brewing
- Streetside, Barrel-Aged Hazelnut Speak Of The Devil – Silver Medal
- Streetside, Derive and Forbidden Root, Friendship Bracelet – Gold Medal
Third Eye
- Third Eye, 5th Anniversary Blend – Bronze Medal
- Third Eye, Dark Aura – Gold Medal
- Third Eye, Double Astral – Gold Medal
- Third Eye, Enlightenment – Silver Medal
- Third Eye, Funky Diablo – Bronze Medal
- Third Eye, Jelly Brain – Gold Medal
- Third Eye, Kelly’s Private Stash – Bronze Medal
- Third Eye, Prismatic Muse – Silver Medal
Urban Artifact
- Urban Artifact, Astronaut Food: Strawberry – Gold Medal
- Urban Artifact, Mt. Giona – Silver Medal
- Urban Artifact, Pickle – Bronze Medal
- Urban Artifact, Raspberry Tea – Bronze Medal
- Urban Artifact, Seedless: Strawberry – Silver Medal
Wandering Monsters
- Wandering Monsters, Maple Barrel Aged Viator Obscura – Gold Medal
- Wandering Monsters, Triple Chocolate Viator Obscura – Silver Medal
Wooden Cask
- Wooden Cask, Reformation – Silver Medal