The Great American Beer Festival wrapped up on Saturday, the highlight of the day being the annual awards ceremony for the competition. Everyone is of course posting the results, and a complete list of all of the winners is here. I live-tweeted the Oregon winning results during the livestream of the ceremony Saturday morning, and have a summary here. But first a few notes and thoughts.

There were 8,496 total beers entered in the competition (not counting the Pro-Am and the Collaboration entries. of which there were 101 and 49 entries, respectively). That is a lot of beer, but worth noting that it doesn’t represent even half of all the breweries in the U.S. currently. Still, hats off to the judges for working their way through that much beer; it’s no mean feat.

The category with the most entries was also one of the new ones added just this year: Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale, with 391 beers (second was American-Style India Pale Ale with 311). Does that mean the regular IPA category should be crystal clear in appearance now? Apparently not: the official guidelines for non-hazy IPA clarity notes, “Hop haze is allowable at any temperature.” Soooo… okay, I guess. Yes, I know perceived bitterness and mouthfeel are the other apparent differences, but anyway.

I will note that none of the winners in the three new “Juicy or Hazy” categories are from New England.

And of the Oregon winners below, I will point out that Ground Breaker Brewing has been a consistent winner in the Gluten-Free Beer category—this is the seventh consecutive year the brewery has medaled (according to the Oregon Brewers Guild). That’s impressive.

And there were a couple of pleasantly surprising “old favorites” showing up this year, in MacTarnahan’s Amber Ale and Widmer Hefeweizen. Not for nothing I still hold Hefe in high regard!

Here are Oregon’s winners:

• 10 Barrel Brewing
  • Silver – American-Style Stout – P2P
  • Gold – Berliner-Style Weisse – Baywindow
  • Gold – Fruit Wheat Beer – Passionate Envy
• Alesong Brewing & Blending
  • Silver – Brett Beer – Terroir Pinot Gris
  • Bronze – Brett Beer – Touch of Brett Mandarina
  • Silver – Experimental Beer – Terroir Pinot Noir
• GoodLife Brewing
  • Gold – American-Style Wheat Beer – Sweet As Pacific Pale
• Great Notion Brewing
  • Silver – Specialty Beer – Double Stack
• Ground Breaker Brewing
  • Bronze – Gluten-Free Beer – Dark Ale
• Lompoc Brewing
  • Gold – Robust Porter – Lomporter
• Omission Brewing
  • Gold – Classic English-Style Pale Ale – Pale Ale
• Oregon City Brewing
  • Bronze – Mixed-Culture Brett Beer – Coming to Fruition: Cherry
• Pelican Brewing
  • Silver – English-Style India Pale Ale – Silverspot IPA
• pFriem Family Brewers
  • Silver – German-Style Pilsener – Pilsner
  • Gold – Mixed-Culture Brett Beer – Druif
• Portland Brewing
  • Silver – Classic English-Style Pale Ale – MacTarnahan’s Amber Ale
• Sunriver Brewing
  • Silver – American-Style Wheat Beer with Yeast – Fuzztail
  • Bronze – Imperial Red Ale – Cinder Beast
• Three Creeks Brewing
  • Bronze – Session Beer – Stonefly Session Ale
• Wayfinder Beer
  • Silver – Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest – Freiheit Oktoberfest Wiesn
• Widmer Brothers Brewing
  • Bronze – American-Style Wheat Beer with Yeast – Hefeweizen
• Worthy Brewing
  • Silver – Australian-Style Pale Ale – Strata IPA

And finally, pFriem Family Brewers also won Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year.

Congratulations to the winners! Make sure to get out and enjoy some of these beers soon!