After past wins, Idaho breweries tanked at Great American Beer Festival. Here’s why.

Before we begin, let’s hoist a large glass of beer in honor of all the Idaho breweries trying to navigate the coronavirus pandemic.

Actually, better make it a pitcher.

It might make accepting the results of this year’s Great American Beer Festival a little easier.

After a successful run — and an outstanding 2019 for Boise breweries, in particular — Idaho won precisely zero medals at the 34th annual GABF, which wrapped up with a virtual awards ceremony and online event last weekend.

It was the first Idaho goose egg in, well, a while.

“That broke my streak,” said Lance Chavez, head brewer at Boise Brewing. “We had five years in a row, which is respectable.”

Respectable? GABF is the world’s largest commercial beer competition. Earning even a single award is a major industry honor. In 2019, four Idaho breweries took home wins, including three gold medals for Boise. Mad Swede Brewing Co. won gold for Naked Sunbather in the American-Style Brown Ale category; Sockeye Brewing won gold for Red-Fish Rauchbock in Smoke Beer; and Boise Brewing won gold for Black Cliffs in American-Style Stout. Grand Teton Brewing Co. of Victor also took home silver for Black Cauldron in the Imperial Stout division.

This year’s GABF was significantly different. And not just because Idaho’s keg ran dry.

A whopping 60,000 people normally attend GABF at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. This year, the festival went virtual. And to ensure the safety of the 115 judges, GABF spread out judging over nearly three weeks instead of three days.

That said, this year’s competition still included 8,806 beers from 1,720 breweries in 91 categories.

Oregon won 22 medals. Heck, Wyoming and Montana each won three.

Yet Idaho didn’t eke out a single one.

Here are a few possible reasons.

▪ Fewer Gem State breweries participated. In 2019, 14 Idaho breweries submitted 50 entries. In 2020, nine breweries submitted 30 entries. That’s a huge drop.

Even after winning gold in 2020, Sockeye Brewing decided to pass.

“There was a little bit of uncertainty about judging (if it even would happen) early,” emailed Tyson Cardon, Sockeye’s director of sales and marketing, “and we ended up opting out ... Kind of a bummer ... but so goes 2020.”

Idaho’s downward participatory swing wasn’t unusual, said Ann Obenchain, marketing director for the Brewers Association, which presents GABF.

“Most states followed a similar pattern,” she said via email, “peaking in 2019 pre-pandemic, with a decrease this year in entering breweries, and also entries.”

▪ Boise Brewing’s Black Cliffs American Stout, arguably Boise’s hottest awards beer, got bumped into a tougher category.

Black Cliffs has been shredding at GABF. It won gold in 2019, bronze in 2018, plus silver in 2016 and 2015. But this year, the American-Style Stout category was collapsed with American-Style Black Ale. GABF categories sometimes evolve to reflect changing trends and style popularity.

Consequently, Black Cliffs suddenly contended with the likes of Firestone Walker’s formidable Wookey Jack black IPA. “That’s a good beer,” Chavez said. In fact, it took first place.

“What can you do?” he added with a good-natured laugh. “You can’t win ‘em every year. You’re gonna try.”

▪ In the end, GABF is a subjective competition.

Chavez might know that better than any Idahoan right now. He judged at this year’s event. “I did get a different perspective of things,” he said.

Bottom line: Boise Brewing entered four beers, “and, yep, just other beers got chosen,” Chavez said.

No, it doesn’t make the outcome any less difficult to swallow. But there’s always next year. And lots of time until then to sip delicious local brews while nursing GABF wounds.

“Trust me, we’re not happy,” Chavez said. “It had to end sometime. And of all the years, 2020 — yeah, it’s appropriate to end the streak. It’s a s****y year, anyway.

“We had a good run, man.”

Either way, Idaho has a strong shot at bouncing back at GABF next year.

To end on a positive note? It’s worth mentioning that Kyle Manns, newly hired director of brewing at Western Collective in Garden City, earned bling at GABF this year — for California. Manns’ Munich-style B.A. Dunkel, created during his previous job at Taps Brewery & Barrel Room in Orange County, took bronze in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer category.

This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 3:55 PM.