Beer Experts Just Declared This the Best Brewery in America

This craft operation out of LA beat out nearly 2,000 other brewers.

Published October 15, 2024

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Updated October 15, 2024

The beauty of beer is how damn diverse it is. According to the Brewers Association, the number of US breweries sits around 9,900 as of 2023 — up from just 4,847 in 2015.

All to say, it can be a bit of a fool’s errand to try and name any single one as the nation’s best. But what’s to stop a few hundred experts from trying?

Brewer’s choice

At this year’s Great American Beer Festival, hosted annually by Brewers Association, 285 judges tasted their way through more than 8,800 beers and ciders from nearly 2,000 producers. Every state, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, was represented.

According to the organizers, tasting occurred in three phases over seven days, culminating in a long list of the country’s best beers in styles as popular as the West Coast IPA and esoteric as the German Sour Ale.

The winningest of the bunch: Highland Park Brewery in Los Angeles, CA, which took home four gold medals in some of the event’s most competitive categories — American-Style India Pale Ale, Contemporary American-Style Lager, American-Style Pale Ale and Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale.

glass of beer — Highland Park Brewery won four gold medals at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival, as well as Brewer of the Year.

In the process, the panel also deemed Highland Park Brewery as the year’s best brewer, an award that has previously gone to heavyweights like Allagash in Portland, ME.

In an Instagram post, the brewery compared the award to winning Best Picture at the Oscars and thanked its staff for “continually pushing themselves to grow as brewers and people.” The brew team is led by Josh Penney and currently operates out of a 15-barrel taproom in Chinatown.

the team at highland park brewery posing on stage — LA’s Highland Park Brewery was founded by Bob Kunz (second from left).

California brewing

Highland Park Brewery wasn’t the only California operation to win over the judges with a wide array of styles.

Apogee Brewing Company in Grover Beach also received four medals, however, just one was gold. That was in the category Specialty Saison, with a decidedly less competitive field of only 46 entries. (By comparison, the American-Style India Pale Ale category had 217 entries, the third most in the entire competition.)

For the full list of winners and medals, head over to the Brewers Association’s website.