Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant's Media and West Chester pubs were the chain's bellwether locales once again, with perennial medalist Bob Barrar of the Media pub taking Gold for his Russian Imperial Stout (Imperial Stout), while Chris LaPierre of West Chester took a Bronze for Bourbon Ivan (Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers). Iron Hill has won at least one GABF medal every year since its first entry in 1997 and was named Large Brewpub of the Year in 2005.

In Delaware, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery of Milton and Stewart's Brewing Company of Bear were also double winners, each taking pair of Bronzes. DFH's Bryan Selders won with Worldwide Stout (Aged Beer) and Festina Lente (Belgian-Style Sour Ale), while Stewart's Ric Hoffman earned his medals for Stewart's Smoked Porter (Smoke Flavored Beer) and Dunkel Rico (European-Style Dark - Munich Dunkel).

McKenzie Brew House's Scott Morrison continued his GABF win streak with a Silver for Raven in the Baltic-Style Porter category, and Rock Bottom King of Prussia's Brian McConnell also earned Silver with its Schwartzbier (Berman-Style Schwartzbier). Patrick Jones of Triumph New Hope, who won three medals last year, took a Bronze for Triumph Bengal Gold IPA (English-Style India Pale Ale).

Troegs Brewing of Harrisburg and brewer John Trogner won a Silver for Troegenator Double Bock (Bock) in a category in which no Gold was awarded, making it the de facto best among the entries, and fellow newcomer Bethlehem Brew Works earned a Bronze for its Berliner Weiss in the German-Style Wheat Ale category. Jeff Fegley was the brewer.

Winners in the major GABF categories for breweries were Pabst Brewing Company, Woodridge, IL -- Large Brewing Company of the Year, Bob Newman Brewer of the Year; New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI -- Mid_Size Brewery of the year, Daniel J. Carey Brewer of the Year, and Bear Republic Brewing Co., Healdsburg, CA -- Small Brewing Company of the Year, Richard G. Norgrove Brewer of the Year.

Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Company Brewer of the Year were Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR, and brewer Darron R. S. Welch. Small Brewpub Company and Small Brewpub Company Brewer of the Year were Flossmoor Station Brewing Co., Flossmoor, IL and brewer Matt Van Wyk. Both won the same awards in 2005 with the same beers and in the same categories. To have achieved this back-to-back with different judges is a signal achievement.

41,000 people, a record total, attended GABF 2006, an amazing 39% increase over 29,500 attendess in 2005. There were 384 breweries and over 1650 beers pouring on the festival floor, 450 breweries entered 2402 in the competition. Judges from nine countries, 104 of them, selected winners in 69 Categories. No Gold Medals were awarded in four of those categories.

California, with 39, and Colorado with 28 were the states with the most medals. Pennsylvania's seven medals tied it with Virginia for (appropriately enough) seventh place. It should be noted that, had Iron Hill followed its previous practice of listed all beers as being from the Delaware pubs (the Beer Yard reporting has always corrected for this in our annual lists, crediting the location and brewer responsible for the beer), Pennsylvania would have had only five medals on the official list.

The complete list of winners can be found here and an accompanying Beer Yard News story is, or soon will be, posted here to provide a further wrap-up of East Coast medal winners and analysis of the results.--JACK CURTIN