River North led the Colorado winners — sixteen breweries, including fourteen independent craft operators — with three medals: silvers for pumpkin beer and coffee beer, and bronze for coffee beer. (River North was also named Mid-Sized Brewery of the Year at the 2025 Colorado Brewers Cup.)
Verboten earned two gold medals: for barleywine and old or strong ale. Westbound & Down took a silver medal for American-style strong pale ale and a bronze for session IPA.
Cellar West Brewery won a gold for Belgian-style or French-style ale. Coopersmith's Pub & Brewing took a silver for American light lager, Ratio Beerworks earned silver for American-Belgo-style ale, and the Post Brewing took silver for other strong beer.
Elevation Beer Company earned a bronze for field beer. Avery Brewing won a gold for German-style bock or Maibock. Blue Moon won two gold medals: for field beer and German-style leichtes or kristal weizen.
Some breweries saw repeat winners, including Verboten Brewing's barleywine, which has medaled three times over the years; Ratio's American-Belgo-style ale, which has earned two medals; Post Brewing's malt liquor, which has medaled twice in other strong beer; and Coopersmith's light lager, which has medaled twice.
Westbound & Down's hoppy beers are perennial favorites with Colorado consumers and beer judges alike.
Britt Antley
It's also one of Ratio's oldest recipes, an original that's been on tap all year, every year, since the early days of the business.
"It's always exciting to get recognition for a year-round beer, but maybe even more rewarding, this is an original beer for us," ZumBrunnen says. "This was part of the inspiration when starting Ratio. It was the second beer we ever brewed, in December 2014."
Six Colorado breweries were first-time winners:
- New Terrain earned a gold medal for Belgian-style witbier
- Mash Lab earned a gold for English-style brown ale
- Stodgy Brewing won a silver for wood and barrel-aged sour beer
- Mythmaker Brewing earned a bronze for historical beer
- Wibby Brewing won a bronze medal for Munich-style dunkel
- Best Day Brewing earned a bronze medal for classic non-alcohol ale or lager
The Craft Brewers Conference contest was started by the Brewers Association in 1996 to create a competitive international platform. This year's World Beer Cup pit 1,761 breweries from 49 countries against each other, with a total number of 8,375 entries in 112 total styles judged.
