Ambitious Ales, ISM Brewing, and Trademark Brewing all scored medals at the 2024 Great American Beer Fest. And joining them, Everywhere—the Orange County-based, Long Beach resident-owned brewery that will be opening a taproom on 4th Street—scored Brewery of the Year in its capacity category.
Oh yes, the Long Beach beer scene has much to celebrate.
So who won what at the 2024 Great American Beer Fest?
Trademark Brewing—the brewery inside the historical Packard Building on Anaheim Street—took home the biggest pieces of hardware. Two medals, to be exact. One silver for their limed-out Mexican lager, “A La Playa,” in the funnily named American Fruit Beer. (We know, we know, it was made in the U.S., but there’s some irony in that it mimicked a Mexican brew.) And one gold for their Codebreaker in the fiercely competitive West Coast IPA. (An honor ISM Brewing took at the World Beer Cup earlier this year, showing Long Beach’s brute strength in that category.)
“What a moment,” said co-owner Sterling Steffen. “[My wife and business partner] Ilana and I are still shocked. And just so damn proud of Kane [Christensen, Trademark’s head brewer] and Danny and the whole Trademark Brewing team. And also? I am absurdly happy for the guys at Ambitious and ISM. Long Beach beer is doing great things, and we’re thrilled to be part of the community.”
Speaking of ISM and Ambitious Ales, the latter brought Long Beach another gold with their Professional Human Being in the Juicy/Hazy IPA category. An honor so large it got mentioned by Forbes.
And ISM took home a bronze for their saison, Plough & Harrow. (That beer also scored a bronze at the World Beer Cup this year.) It was a shock at how low ISM was received at the festival, with many expecting ISM to sweep far more heavily given their cleaning up in nearly festival and cup this year, from the World Beer Cup to San Francisco Beer Week..
So what, exactly, is the Great American Beer Fest?
“Winning any medal at the Great American Beer Festival is a big deal,” ISM owner and brewer Ian McCall said. “But it is extra sweet to win one in our first year of operation. I am extremely proud of our brewing team; their hard work and dedication to their craft are present in each and every beer we release.”
Consider it the Oscars of the beer world. No joke: Descending on Denver each year, this festival is dedicated to all things beer and brings in tens of thousands of brewers, owners, critics, writers, fans, and the curious. And while there are many purposes to the festival—networking, partying, flexing, exploring, discovering, sizing up…—the main focus will always be the awards.
This year’s competition had over 100 categories, from individual beer and ciders to breweries and cideries as a whole. Tannic ciders and Scotch ales (for which former Long Beach brewery Beachwood, after moving its full operations to Huntington Beach, scored the silver in) sitting next to South German-style hefeweizens and fruited American sour ales.
Just ask the boys at Ambitious Ales.
“We are very humbled by the gold win,” Ambitious co-owner Garrett Carroll said. “We’re surrounded by so many amazing brewers in Long Beach. This feels like such an incredible win for our city.”
Amen, brother. Amen.
For the full list of winners at the 2024 Great American Beer Fest, click here.
