4 Iowa breweries medal at Great American Beer Festival. See who won

Four Iowa breweries were recognized at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival in Denver over the weekend, including one brewery that received a gold medal for brewing excellence.

The Great American Beer Festival is one of the country's most notable competitions for brewers, attracting nearly 2,000 breweries and cideries from all across the U.S. This year, 326 beverages received medals out of the 9,000 commercial entries. Judges were assigned beers to evaluate in their specific area of expertise, and judging occurred in three phases over a week.

The Iowa breweries to receive medals include:

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Doug Goettsch and partners Matt and Faye Swift started Big Grove in 2013. In addition to Solon, Big Grove has taprooms in Iowa City, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, with plans to open an additional location in Omaha.

"We raise a glass to the friendly brewers who do the gold medal work every day and brew Iowa's number one selling craft beer and among the most sought-after beers in the midwest," Big Grove wrote in an Instagram post.

Founded in 2013, SingleSpeed Brewing has three breweries/taprooms in Iowa, including one in Des Moines. Two of its beverages — Ring Around the Gose and Tip the Calf — have medaled two and three times, respectively, at the Great American Beer Festival.

"Any time we return from the Great American Beer Festival competition with a medal, it serves as a reminder to me just how hard our brewery team works on the creation of innovative, world-class beer," said Dave Morgan, founder of SingleSpeed Brewing Co.

The newcomer of all the breweries, Paha Cider, was started in October 2023 by Mark Westbrock. Though new to the scene, Paha Cider can be found in more than 100 stores and restaurants across Iowa.

For the first time this year, the Great American Beer Festival included several new cider categories.

"We're really blown away to be included because it's such a big competition, and there were a lot of really good cideries from all around the country we're going against," Westbrock said. "The fact that we got narrowed down as one of the best is very humbling."

Craig and Sara Neuzi opened Pivo Brewery in 2017. Pivo is the Czech word for beer, which also honors the Neuzis' Czech heritage. All Pivo beers and ciders are named after Iowa towns to "honor the places our customers love to call home."

Pivo has taken home medals from the Great American Beer Festival previously, and they are on display in Pivo's taproom on two mounted deer heads named Buck and Chuck.

Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.