The results for the first annual Washington Beer Awards were announced at the WA Brewers Festival on Saturday, and Black Raven Brewing from Redmond and Old Schoolhouse Brewery from Winthrop took home the top honors. More than 400 beers from 70 breweries across the state competed in the event. The competition was held on May 18 with about 40 trained beer judges participating in the evaluation of beers across over 90 styles.

Black Raven Brewing took home the Large Brewery of the Year award after winning 5 medals. Their Grandfather Raven took home a gold medal for American-style Imperial Stout, Nothing But Flowers won a silver medal for American-style Pale Ale, Great Grandfather Raven took bronze in Wood Aged Beers, and they won silver and bronze in the Specialty Beers category for Feral Saison and Possum Claus respectively.

Old Schoolhouse received Small Brewery of the Year honors for winning 4 medals. Hooligan Stout won silver in the Stouts category, their Imperial Stout took bronze in the American-Style Imperial Stout category, their Imperial IPA won bronze in the Imperial or Double India Pale Ale category and their Ruud Awakening IPA took the top spot in what was surely a hotly contested American India Pale Ales category. Note to self: make the trip to Winthrop to visit these guys sometime soon.

Newcomer Reuben’s Brews has been one of the most talked about Seattle brewery openings in some time, and they showed why by winning 5 medals and being named the runner up for the Small Brewery of the Year award. They took home hardware for their Balsch, Robust Porter, Belgian Imperial Rye IPA, American Brown and Imperial Rye IPA. 

 No stranger to taking home medals from competitions like the Great American Beer Festival, Chuckanut Brewery was also a big winner, taking home 4 medals for their Helles, Pilsner, Dunkel and Golden Ale. Elysian Brewing and Icicle Brewing both took home 4 medalsl, with Elysian winning for their Space Dust IPA, Hombre, Men’s Room Original Red and Superfuzz, while Icicle was honored for their Bavarian Cowboy, Khaos Kolsch, Priebe Porter and Real Snow.

Big Al Brewing took home 4 medals as well, including the top 2 spots in the Sour Beer category for NW by SE and Jupiter’s Blood. I really enjoy their sour beers any time I get to taste them, so a big cheers to Alejandro and crew. Their Hop Villain and Irish Red also took home medals.

Last, but certainly not least, Ice Harbor Brewing took home 4 medals for their Sternwheeler Stout, Runaway Red Ale, IPA and Tangerine “ExBEERience” Hefeweizen.

A big congratulations to all of the winning breweries!

You can see the full list of winners here.