Nashville’s Blackstone Brewing Co. earned two medals at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, accounting for Tennessee’s only wins in this year’s competition.
Blackstone won a silver medal for its Pumpkin Ale in the Pumpkin Beer category and a bronze medal for its Nut Brown Ale in the English-Style Brown category.
The awards bring Blackstone’s total GABF haul to 15 medals since 1996. The Nut Brown Ale had previously won three medals at the competition, while the Pumpkin Ale earned a gold medal in 2023.
Across the competition, 243 breweries and cideries received a combined 336 medals. Judges evaluated 7,267 beer and cider entries over three days, representing breweries and cideries from 49 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
“The submissions from this year’s competition continue to reflect just how far American brewing and cidermaking have come,” said Chris Williams, competition director for the Brewers Association.
Williams also pointed to the addition of new categories, including Craft Malt Beer and Hop Water, as examples of how the competition continues to evolve.
“GABF remains one of the most competitive stages in craft beer, and these winners represent the very best our industry has to offer,” Williams said.
No Memphis-area breweries received medals this year.