Prost! 2 Minnesota breweries win Great American Beer Fest gold medals with German flavors

If there were any doubts that Minnesota breweries know their Deutschland-style beers, two of them took top honors in German beer categories at America’s biggest brewers’ competition over the weekend.

Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub and Arbeiter Brewing Co. — located a mile apart off Hwy. 55 in south Minneapolis — each won gold medals at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival in Denver. One of Duluth’s rising stars, Ursa Minor Brewing, was awarded a bronze medal in the contest, which involved 273 breweries from around the country.

Northbound’s new Eisbock beer won gold in GABF’s German-style Doppelbock or Eisbock category. This tops off a bountiful year for the Standish neighborhood brewpub and its dark-brown, malty German beers. In its 12th year of operation, Northbound also won a gold at the 2024 World Beer Cup in Las Vegas with its Doppelbock.

In a Facebook post celebrating the latest win, Northbound wrote, “If the Doppelbock was so award-winning, why wouldn’t the next iteration, Eisbock, also win some awards? That question was answered at this year’s Great American Beer Festival.”

Arbeiter won in GABF’s German-Style Pilsener category for one of its flagship beers, Haha Pils — named after Minnehaha Avenue, where the brewery’s taproom opened in the former Harriet Brewing space coming out of COVID restrictions in 2021. The beer had been well-scored in prior contests, but this was its first GABF medal. Arbeiter head brewer Aaron Herman credited the win to “ever-so-slightly tweaking the recipe over time.”

“Such small changes would be literally imperceivable in an IPA of any kind,” Herman explained, “but in a German Pilsener, these small changes can be the difference between a really good beer and a great beer.”

Arbeiter co-founder Garth Blomberg said the Haha Pils has become a calling card for the brewery.

“Its success in Minnesota should translate to a national scale,” said Blomberg, who cheered all of this year’s regional wins: “Minnesota is home to some of the best breweries in the country, and you’re seeing breweries from all over the state popping up at these competitions.”

Including ones from Duluth’s booming brewing scene. Ursa Minor’s bronze medal came in the Irish Red-Style Ale category with its year-round Equanimity beer, which also won a gold medal at last year’s World Beer Cup.

All three of the GABF winners had a busy a weekend, since they were also among the 87 breweries that took part in the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild’s annual Autumn Brew Review at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis.

Said the guild’s executive director, Jess Talley: “We have a lot to celebrate about the innovation, quality, and craftsmanship of our local craft beer.”