Last year Atlas Brew Works snapped a five-year Great American Beer Festival (GABF) drought for the District of Columbia, as their Bullpen Pilsner won bronze in the American Pilsener category. This year Atlas medaled with a darker beer, Silent Neighbor Stout, which took bronze in the Stout category (67 entries) after winning gold at the World Beer Cup earlier in the year.

It’s a nice way to celebrate your tenth anniversary!

atlas silent neighbor stout

“We’re ecstatic about the Silent Neighbor medaling at GABF. The brewery staff has really been crushing it this year and we couldn’t be prouder right now. I think Silent Neighbor is as good as it’s ever been and the accolades certainly help to reinforce that,” Atlas Director of Brewing Operations Daniel Vilarrubi told us via email.

DMV breweries went gold and silver in the Vienna-style Lager category, for Oktoberfests, which is the third time in the last ten years that local breweries have won multiple medals for Oktoberfests. It last happened in 2020, with Lost Rhino taking gold and Port City bronze. This year Port City won gold and Silver Branch silver out of 116 beers. The royal we of the DMV is good at making O’fests, and hey, ’tis the season! We’re really spoiled having these two breweries in the area, don’t take them for granted. Silver Branch celebrates by opening their second location in Warrenton, VA next weekend, while Port City heard news of their win during Wunderfest.

Keeping it inside the Beltway, Rock Bottom Bethesda put Maryland on the board with a gold medal for Rye Barrel-Aged Atom Smasher barleywine in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer category, besting 121 other beers. It’s 12.5%, so be careful! It’s also Maryland’s first gold medal since Silver Branch in 2020. Nice work by Rock Bottom brewer Geoff Lively, who collects his 14th (!!!) GABF medal at Rock Bottom, and his first since 2011. Looking for something less boozy? Head up 270 for Waredaca’s Milk Stout, which took silver in Sweet Stout or Cream Stout. Vibrissa’s Scout took gold (46 entries), and we’re not done talking about stouts just yet.

A Sweetwater property has medalled in seven out of the last eight years. Last year both Centreville and Sterling won and we wondered if they made fun of Merrifield. This year Sweetwater Tavern Merrifield’s Midnight Rider Imperial Porter won bronze in the Strong Porter category (38 entries). We should visit all of them more often.

Bear Chase Kodiak Kolsch
Brews ‘n views at Bear Chase

Bear Chase in Bluemont, VA has some great views, and has award-winning beer as well. They won two medals: a gold for Kodiak Kolsch (195 entries, one of the ten most popular) and a bronze for Buttons the Bear Oatmeal Stout (48 entries). You might know their head brewer, Chuck Noll, from his time at Franklin’s in Hyattsville, MD. Fun Fact: Franklin’s current brewer and co-founder/former co-owner of DC Brau Jeff Hancock got his start under Noll. We recommend a day trip. Speaking of drives, Stafford’s Barley Naked–how was this name for a brewery left unclaimed for so long!–won gold for Rock Hill Irish Red (87 entries). If you have to brave the Occoquan section of I-95 that goes from three to two lanes every day on your evening commute, you deserve this pot at the end of your rainbow.

GABF 2023 consisted of 175 styles and substyles, with 9,298 beer entries from all 50 states plus DC and Puerto Rico. At the time of publication, Atlas was the only District brewery to submit beer to GABF, thanks to reporting from Mike Stein, though DC Brau has done so in the past. According to Good Beer Hunting Managing Editor Bryan Roth, “Based on an analysis of IRI-tracked sales data, winning medals at GABF almost never translated to added or prolonged success for a brand. Instead, the most quantitative use for medal wins was more about brand awareness than anything else,” so don’t expect a run on Silent Neighbor stout, but do expect more people to talk up the winners. Beervana’s Jeff Alworth has a related piece that’s worth reading, in which he argues that the judging portion of the fest is a regional affair, but winning does have sales and brand awareness implications.

The GABF website has a complete list of medals and categories, and we extend a hearty congrats to all the winners. We’d also like to thank Port City for ensuring that the cold chain is kept unbroken by sending not only their beers to the GABF judges, but also serving as the area logistics and distribution point for other area breweries’ beers sent to GABF.