Arizona breweries win 8 medals at national beer competition

Arizona brewers took home eight medals, including three golds, in the 2026 Great American Beer Festival competition.

Wren House Brewing Co. of Phoenix led the state with two gold medals.

Its festbier won in the Dortmunder or German-style festbier category, one of the most competitive categories, with 161 entries. The Phoenix brewery won another gold for its whiskey barrel-aged marzen in the wood- and barrel-aged beer category.

The festbier gold is the brewery’s second for that beer, following a win in 2022.

“This beer is an absolute labor of love,” the brewery said in an Instagram post.

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A post shared by Wren House Brewing Company (@wrenhousebrewing)

Wren House said its brew team has been experimenting with barrel-aged beers, most of them made for members of its Saguaro Society.

Saddle Mountain Brewing Co. of Goodyear earned the state’s third gold in the experimental beer category for its dill pickle-infused sour called “Dill You Take Me Higher?”

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More Arizona breweries take home silver and bronze

Tucson’s Corbett Brewing won silver in the smoke beer category for Cypress Pils, and Rickety Cricket Brewing of Kingman took silver in the barley wine or wheat wine category for Barrel Aged Bee’s Knees 2025.

Bronze medals went to:

• 12 West Brewing Co. of Gilbert for Zona, a contemporary American lager
• Fate Brewing Co. of Scottsdale for Pueblo Vienna Lager, an international-style amber lager
• Barrio Brewing Co. of Tucson for Barrio Nolan’s Porter in the porter or stout category

Last year, seven Arizona breweries won awards at the Great American Beer Festival.

The full list of winners can be seen here.

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