The academy awards of Oregon beer were announced at the Oregon Beer Awards ceremony at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon on April 6th, 2023. In 30 categories, 1,113 beers were entered by 126 brewing companies and 56 of them took home medals. In addition to the double-blind judged beer competition presided over by 88 judges over the course of 6 days of judging, there were another 8 awards in non-beer judged categories that were voted on by the OBA academy of over 300 industry peers.

There are a few things that make the Oregon Beer Awards special, most notably the awards ceremony which is held with far more dramatic flourishes, pomp, and celebration than most if not all similar beer awards. In a sold-out Revolution Hall the industry and a few beer fans gathered, with a second show bar added where attendees could watch the ceremony live streamed. Unlike any other beer awards that I know of, this one actually has MC/Hosts who make intros, stroll out between awards, dress-up, and perform comedy bits.

While the 2023 Oregon Beer Awards had less beers entered this year than last, the number of breweries who entered the competition were higher than ever. This was born out in the results, with the highest number of different breweries winning medals at an OBA ever.

"Large" Breweries accounted for 30% of entries and won 40% of the medals. On average large breweries entered 13 beers each.
"Medium" Breweries accounted for 34% of all entries and won 33% of the medals. On average medium breweries entered 10 beers each.
"Small" Breweries accounted for 36% of all entries and won 26% of medals. On average small breweries entered 5 beers each.
IPA is still king with 97 entries (not including sub-styles
Fresh Hop IPA and Pale is nearly as popular with 71 entries
Pilsner is one of the most popular beer styles (not even including variations) with 55 entries.
Hazy IPA is the fourth most entered category with 54 entries.

Unlike other beer competitions, the Oregon Beer Awards Style Guidelines are designed to keep categories competitive, and medal in styles that are meaningful to a consumer. Carefully curated by a committee of top brewers and beer influencers in the state”, styles have evolved every year to reflect industry changes and strive to be as inclusive as possible. To read all about this years style categories and judging methodology and philosophy, go here.

Oregon Beer Awards hosts/MC’s Ben Love and Natalie Baldwin

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Brewery of the Year large, medium and small were the among the biggest surprises. The three winning breweries prove that it’s anyone’s game at the OBA’s as long as you deliver with world-class beer there are no biases.

Breakside Brewery had another very strong year, but 10 Barrel Brewing showed up even better, edging them out for large brewery of the year.

Grains of Wrath did outstanding with a gold in IPA, and silvers in both dark hoppy and pale ale. Enough to win them medium-sized brewery of the year.

Bierly Brewing wins both gold and silver in the gluten-free category to push them into the small brewery of the year award. After last years gluten-free debacle in which Deschutes won the gold and initially the silver as well before it was revealed the latter beer was brewed in Colorado, and then Mutantis Brewery who won bronze declared they would boycott, it was refreshing to see Bierly Brewing show true grace and dominance in this category.

nebuleus beer was the breakout story of last year’s OBA’s winning small brewery of the year, they did excellent again this year with two silver medals but were slightly edged out by Bierly’s gold and silver for small breweyr of the year.

Sunriver Brewing is always a perennial awards winner, this year was especially good with 2 gold medals and 2 bronze medals.

ColdFire Brewing proved the buzz is real for this underrated but growing Eugene brewery with a gold for their Italian-style Pilsner and a bronze for an IPA.

New and newish breweries had a great showing; Threshold Brewing won a gold medal, brand new Van Henion Brewing also won a gold for Helles, Fracture Brewing won a silver for pilsner, and Grand Fir Brewing won a silver, bronze, and best new brewery.

The biggest surprise of the year? Sky High Brewing & Pub, a brewery most have never heard of, won the gold in the second most competitive category for Pilsner. This Corvallis based brewpub has been around since 2013 but is rarely seen outside of the pub

COMPLETE 2023 OREGON BEER AWARDS MEDAL WINNERS

Pilsner

🥇GOLD Bohemian Pilsner, Sky High Brewing & Pub

🥈SILVER King Crispy, Deschutes Brewery

🥉BRONZE Noble Pilsner, Breakside Brewery

Golden, Blonde, and Other Light Ales

🥇GOLD Kolsch, Ancestry Brewing

🥈SILVER Cream Ale, Buoy Beer Company

🥉BRONZE Prazise, 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

Hoppy Lagers

🥇GOLD Italian Style Pilsner, ColdFire Brewing

🥈SILVER Fracture West Coast Pilsner, Fracture Brewing

🥉BRONZE Italian Pilsner, Buoy Beer Company

Light German and European Lagers

🥇GOLD Van Henion Helles Lager, Van Henion Brewing

🥈SILVER Vienna Lager, Von Ebert Brewing

🥉BRONZE Vienna Lager, Breakside Brewery

Dark German and European Lagers

🥇GOLD Dunkel, Rosenstadt Brewery

🥈SILVER Ember, Grand Fir Brewing

🥉BRONZE Hidden Hand Černé Pivo, Wayfinder Beer

International Lagers

🥇GOLD Milagro Oscuro, Ex Novo Brewing Co.

🥈SILVER Double Hockey Sticks, Breakside Brewery

🥉BRONZE Japanese Dry-Style Lager, Occidental Brewing Company

Stout and Porter

🥇GOLD Docklands Baltic Porter, Away Days Brewing Co

🥈SILVER Opacus Stout, StormBreaker Brewing

🥉BRONZE Doublin' in Dublin, Assembly Brewing

Classic UK Styles

🥇GOLD Organic Velvet ESB, Hopworks Urban Brewery

🥈SILVER Witness Mark Ordinary Bitter, Steeplejack Brewing Company (collab with Obelisk Beer & Wayfinder Beer)

🥉BRONZE Absobloodylutely, Weekend Beer Co.

Classic North American Styles

🥇GOLD Line Dry Rye, Oakshire Brewing

🥈SILVER Upside Brown, Falling Sky Brewing

🥉BRONZE Rye PA, Old Town Brewery

Belgian Beers, German Wheat Beers, and Traditional Brett Beers

🥇GOLD Farm Out, Worthy Brewing

🥈SILVER Belgian Quad, Ninkasi Brewing Company

🥉BRONZE Scrap Iron, Upright Brewing

Red Beers

🥇GOLD Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Ales & Spirits

🥈SILVER Charmed Life, Block 15 Brewing Co.

🥉BRONZE Red Ale, Old Town Brewery

Sara and Jarek Szymanski from Threshold Brewing & Blending

Strong Beers

🥇GOLD Neptune, Threshold Brewing & Blending

🥈SILVER Red Fang Malt Liquor, Wayfinder Beer

🥉BRONZE Co-Munichator, Deschutes Brewery

Sessionable Hoppy Beers

🥇GOLD Bondi Beach Party, Sunriver Brewing Company

🥈SILVER Papermaker Pale, Grains of Wrath Brewing

🥉BRONZE Cuddle Puddle, Breakside Brewery

India Pale Ale

🥇GOLD Built For Speed, Grains of Wrath Brewing

🥈SILVER Wave Decay, Von Ebert Brewing

🥉BRONZE Skyline Dreams, ColdFire Brewing

Hazy or Juicy IPA

🥇GOLD Day Use, Bend Brewing Co.

🥈SILVER Van Beer, Great Notion Brewing

🥉BRONZE Star Senders, Ruse Brewing

Imperial India Pale Ale

🥇GOLD High Desert Diesel, Sunriver Brewing Company

🥈SILVER Down On The Street, McMenamins Old Saint Francis School

🥉BRONZE West Coast, Best Coast, Breakside Brewery

Dark Hoppy Beers

🥇GOLD Waning Echoes, Von Ebert Brewing

🥈SILVER Falling Up, Grains of Wrath Brewing

🥉BRONZE Silvertip IRA, Grand Fir Brewing

Barrel-Aged Beers

🥇GOLD La Trinidad, Monkless Belgian Ales

🥈SILVER Wooden Femur, Boneyard Beer

🥉BRONZE Peach Deface, 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

Barrel-Aged Stouts

🥇GOLD The Trappings and the Suits of Woe, Breakside Brewery

🥈SILVER Matryoshka 2023 w/ Coconut, Fort George Brewery

🥉BRONZE Senor Rhino, Alesong Brewing & Blending

Flavored Beers

🥇GOLD Hachimitsu Mai, Deschutes Brewery

🥈SILVER Dash o' Bitters, Oregon City Brewing Co

🥉BRONZE Cocoa Cow, Sunriver Brewing Company

Fruit Beers

🥇GOLD Pineapple Juice Invader, Great Notion Brewing

🥈SILVER Coconut Brown Ale, Public Coast Brewing Co.

🥉BRONZE Sugar High, 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

Coffee and Smoke Beers

🥇GOLD Mashes to Ashes, ForeLand Beer

🥈SILVER Amelia Grodziskie, Steeplejack Brewing Company

🥉BRONZE Multorporter Smoked Porter, Mt. Hood Brewing Co.

Experimental and Historical Beers

🥇GOLD Agrio Morado, 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

🥈SILVER Marionberry Cheesecake, 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

🥉BRONZE Pot of Gold, Great Notion

American Sour Beers

🥇GOLD Riviera, 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

🥈SILVER Staying Hoptimistic, Cascade Brewing

🥉BRONZE Gindulgence, 10 Barrel Brewing Co.

Mixed Culture Beers

🥇GOLD Traveling Companions, Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery

🥈SILVER Spruce for New Avenues, nebuleus

🥉BRONZE Flanders Red, Dirt Road Brewing

Alesong Brewing’s Doug Coombs and Matt Van Wyk who reprimanded whoever gave him COVID at last year’s OBA’s

Fruited Mixed Culture Beers

🥇GOLD Raspberry Parliament, Alesong Brewing & Blending

🥈SILVER names.mean.nothing.b1, nebuleus

🥉BRONZE pFriemsters Union Abrikoos, pFriem Family Brewers

Gluten-Free Beers

🥇GOLD Blackbird Stout, Bierly Brewing

🥈SILVER Rendezvous Double IPA, Bierly Brewing

🥉BRONZE Inclusion, Ground Breaker Brewing

Fresh Hop Pale Ales and India Pale Ales

🥇GOLD Songspire, Ruse Brewing

🥈SILVER Summer Chinook, Migration Brewing Company

🥉BRONZE Doug Said So, Sunriver Brewing Company

Fresh Hop Hazy Pale Ales and India Pale Ales

🥇GOLD Set Freshies to Haze, StormBreaker Brewing

🥈SILVER Breakside What Fresh Beast, Breakside Brewery

🥉BRONZE Clever Weather, Ruse Brewing

Other Fresh Hop Beers

🥇GOLD Fresh Hop East Side Pilsner, Baerlic Brewing Company

🥈SILVER Fresh Hop King Crispy, Deschutes Brewery

🥉BRONZE Fresh Hop Luminosa Single Farm Table Beer, Steeplejack Brewing Company

Brewery of the Year Awards

OBA will award three Brewery of the Year awards based on the results from the competition: Large, Medium, and Small. Eligibility is determined by barrels sold in Oregon for the previous year (so for the 2023 competition, it is determined by barrels sold in Oregon in 2022). Large Breweries sold more than 5,000 barrels in the designated period; Medium Breweries sold 1,000-4,999 barrels; Small Breweries sold fewer than 1,000 barrels.

All breweries who participate in the competition are eligible for the Brewery of the Year Awards. Scoring for Brewery of the Year is determined by a point system using the following criteria:

» Each medal is worth a certain number of points: Gold=6, Silver=5, Bronze=4
» A brewery’s total points are divided by either a)
the number of entries from that brewery OR b) the median number of beers entered by breweries in that Brewery of the Year size group, whichever is higher.
» In the case of a tie, the tiebreaker criteria in order are: total number of medals won, total number of gold medals won, total number of entries in gold medal-winning categories.

Brewery of the Year: Large

10 Barrel Brewing

Brewery of the Year: Medium

Grains of Wrath Brewery

Brewery of the Year: Small

Bierly Brewing

OBA NON-JUDGED ACADEMY AWARDS

Best New Brewery Grand Fir Brewing

Best Bottle Shop Belmont Station

Best Beer Bar or Taphouse Loyal Legion

Best Brewpub Experience Wayfinder Beer

Best Brewpub Experience Fort George Brewery

Best Labels/Branding Block 15 Brewing Co.

Brewery of the Year: Large Breakside Brewery

Brewery of the Year: Medium Grains of Wrath Brewery

Brewery of the Year: Small nebuleus

Craft Advocate of the Year Peter DeFazio

Hall of Fame Gayle Goschie and Karl Ockert

Regional Brewing Company of the Year

North Coast Fort George Brewery
Willamette Block 15 Brewing Co.
Central pFriem Family Brewers
Eastern Barley Brown's Brew Pub
Southern Arch Rock Brewing Company