Now in its seventh year, the New York State Craft Beer Competition has become the largest state-level competition in the country, a spectacular celebration of the New York State craft beer community.
The 2023 New York State Craft Beer Competition Winners is sponsored by the New York State Brewers Association. This year’s competition featured 1,350 beer entries from 189 breweries across 29 different categories.
And on March 24 a total of 90 medals were awarded at the Awards Ceremony in Albany, NY, as well as the Governor’s Craft Beer Cup and the “Brewery of the Year” awards.
This year’s Governor’s Cup went to Genesee Brewing Company for their “Genesee Brew House Helles.”
The 2023 Brewery of the Year award was won by Wayward Lane Brewing, a less-than-2-year-old brewery out of Schoharie, NY.
New York State Craft Beer Competition Medal Winners
Category 1: Wheat Beer
Gold: Pearl to Pine – Wood Kettle Brewing
Silver: Gather House – Drowned Lands
Bronze: HOLZNOT HEFEWEIZEN – McGraw Box Brewing Co.
Category 2: Amber and Dark Lagers
Gold: Exposinator Doppelbock – Naked Dove Brewing Company
Silver: Tmave Pivo – Swiftwater Brewing Company
Bronze: Doppelbock – Rohrbach Brewing Company
Category 3: Golden/Blonde Ales
Gold: La Crema – Aurora Brewing Co.
Silver: Kolsch No. 2 – EBBS Brewing Co
Bronze: Freudian Sips – Active Ingredient Brewing Company
Category 4: Amber/Red Ales
Gold: Irish Red Ale – Seneca Street Brew Pub
Silver: Sleepy Pants Hoppy Amber – 18th Ward Brewing
Bronze: ESB – Laurentide Beer Company
Category 5: Pale Ales
Gold: Wayne Legitzky – Ausable Brewing Company
Silver: Bay Bridge Pale Ale – Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.
Bronze: Builders Brew American Pale Ale – Heroes Brewing Company
Category 6: American IPA
Gold: Cross Section IPA – Wagner Valley Brewing Company
Silver: Venomous Villains – Kings County Brewers Collective
Bronze: Derailleur – Artisanal Brew Works
Bronze: Explosible IPA – Bright Eye Beer Co.
Category 7: Hazy Pale Ale
Gold: Cultivar: Motueka – Wayward Lane Brewing
Silver: Cosmic Juice – Great South Bay Brewery
Bronze: Defies Logic Hazy Pale Ale – Underground Beer Lab
Category 8: American IPA Variations
Gold: 8 Legged RyePA – Spider Bite Beer Co.
Gold: Hyphen – ONCO Fermentations, Inc
Silver: Prizm – Wayward Lane Brewing
Bronze: Grass Wagon – Catskill Brewery
Category 9: American DIPA – 21 entries
Gold: Saber’s Edge – Pearl Street Grill and Brewery
Silver: Lean To – West Kill Brewing
Bronze: Pacific Dawn – Captain Lawrence Brewing Co
Category 10: Barrel Aged Sour
Gold: Something, Something, Something 2022 – Prison City Brewing
Silver: Valley Beer Vintage 2020 – Hudson Valley Brewery
Bronze: No Bronze Awarded
Category 11: Barrel Aged Non-Sour
Gold: Double Barrel Aqueduct – Big Ditch Brewing Company
Silver: Last of the Steam-Powered Trains – Grimm Artisanal Ales
Bronze: Barrel-Aged Cast Iron Lager – Brewery at the CIA
Category 12: Belgian Farmhouse
Gold: Thirst Aid Kit – Community Beer Works
Silver: Sweet Potato Farmhouse – Big aLICe
Bronze: Daypack Saison – Liquid State Brewing Company
Category 13: Belgian Other (Trappist, Strong, etc.)
Gold: Rophenia – Spider Bite Beer Co.
Silver: Single – Brewery Ardennes
Bronze: Cloud Swing Belgian-Style Tripel – Liquid State Brewing Company
Category 14: Experimental
Gold: Dionysus – Seven Points Brewing Company
Silver: We Made It – Willow Rock Brewing Company
Bronze: Yule Lad – Rare Form Brewing Company
Category 15: Fruit & Vegetable (Non-Sour)
Gold: Buy The Berries Blueberry Wheat – Steelbound Brewery
Silver: S2 Lemongrass & Ginger Saison – Transmitter Brewing
Bronze: The One V-43: Island Addition – New York Beer Project
Category 16: Fruit & Vegetable Beer (Sour)
Gold: Delta pH – Bartlett Pear – Active Ingredient Brewing Company
Silver: Desert Rose – Roc Brewing Co.
Bronze: Tropical Sour – Valcour Brewing Company
Category 17: Brown Ale (American & British)
Gold: Major Trail Brown Ale – Skaneateles Brewery
Silver: The Whale – Community Beer Works
Silver: Brownstone Revival – Sixpoint Brewery
Bronze: Oh, Bother – Riseform Brewing Co.
Bronze: Bluff Point Brown – Keuka Brewing Company
Category 18: Porter (Non-Imperial)
Gold: Dark Portal – Blue Point Brewing
Silver: Thacher – The Warbler Brewery
Bronze: Genesee Brew House Robust Porter – Genesee Brewing Company
Category 19: Stout (Non-Imperial)
Gold: Present Absence – WT Brews LLC
Silver: Chocolate Milk Stout – Slate Town Brewing Company
Bronze: Bodega Cat – Kings County Brewers Collective
Category 20: Imperial Stouts and Porters
Gold: Russian Imperial Stout – Naked Dove Brewing Company
Silver: Baltic Porter – Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.
Bronze: Bear Fight Stout – Strangebird
Category 21: Strong Ales (Non-Belgian)
Gold: Imperial Red Rye – K2 Brewing
Silver: Cabin Fever – Drowned Lands
Bronze: Winter Warmer – West Shore Brewing Company
Category 22: Kettle and Simple Sours
Gold: Creekside – West Kill Brewing
Silver: Leipzig Gose – Big Slide Brewery & Public House
Bronze: Berliner Style Weisse – Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.
Category 23: Wild and Sour Ales
Gold: J’adoube – Grimm Artisanal Ales
Silver: Abbot’s Reserve – Duncan’s Abbey
Bronze: Yellowstone Wild Ale – New York Beer Project
Category 24: Light Lagers – Modern & Contemporary
Gold: Pilsner No. 2 – EBBS Brewing Co.
Silver: L’ultima Moda – Wild East Brewing Co.
Bronze: 4AM PILS – Kings County Brewers Collective
Category 25: Light Lagers – Traditional
Gold: Genesee Brew House Helles – Genesee Brewing Company
Silver: Lockport Lager – New York Beer Project
Bronze: Infinite Machine – Kings County Brewers Collective
Category 26: Hazy IPA
Gold: Pigeon Camera – Fidens Brewing Company
Silver: Haze On – Prison City Brewing
Bronze: Crooked Soul – Peacemaker Brewing Company
Category 27: Hazy DIPA
Gold: Ratface Macdougall – Catskill Brewery
Silver: Simcoe Super Fresh to Death – Aurora Brewing Co.
Silver: Cloud Generator – Wayward Lane Brewing
Bronze: Bright Lights, Big Kitty – Kings County Brewers Collective
Bronze: Topology Double NEIPA – Underground Beer Lab
Category 28: Coffee, Chocolate, Spice & Other Adjunct Beer (non-sour) – 90 entries
Gold: Xylem – Wayward Lane Brewing
Silver: Drink yourself a Jacket – Valcour Brewing Company
Bronze: Neapolitan Ice Cream Stout – Blue Point Brewing
Category 29: Coffee, Chocolate, Spice & Other Adjunct Beer (sour) – 9 entries
Gold: No Gold Awarded
Silver: Super Spruce – Grimm Artisanal Ales
Bronze: No Bronze was Awarded
2023 NYS Brewery of the Year
Wayward Lane Brewing (Schoharie, NY)
2023 Governor’s Cup
Genesee Brew House Helles – Genesee Brewing Company
Best Collaboration Beer:
Pearl to Pine – Wood Kettle Brewing & Nine Spot Brewing
Best New York State Beer (at least 60% NYS Hops & NYS Malt)
Genesee Brew House Helles – Genesee Brewing Company