Goose Island Beer Co. Wins Big at Beer Festival
The Chicago brewery secured four medals and top honors at the Great American Beer Festival in 2026.
Updated on Oct. 16, 2026 in Beer
Live Poll
Do you trust established brands to maintain high quality as they grow and age?
Goose Island Beer Co. earned four medals at the Great American Beer Festival in 2026, including the prestigious Brewery and Brewer of the Year award. The Chicago-based company was the only Illinois brewery to take home a gold medal at the event.
Why it matters
The recognition highlights the brewery's standing in the high-volume production category, where it serves as a major national player. It confirms the sustained quality of their barrel-aging program, which has been in development for 30 years.
Goose Island took the title in the 100,000+ barrels production category after 38 years in business. The brewery secured a gold medal for its 2025 Bourbon County Brand Proprietor's Stout and a bronze for the 2026 Apple Crisp Stout.
The players
Goose Island Beer Co.
A Chicago-based brewery that has been in operation for 38 years.
Colby Magratten
The brewer who created the award-winning 2025 Bourbon County Brand Proprietor's Stout.
The details
The 2025 Proprietor's Stout, which features walnuts, pistachios, cassia bark, cinnamon, and honey, was developed by brewer Colby Magratten. Employees select winning flavors through a blind testing process before the beer is aged in bourbon barrels for one year.
Timeline
The 2025 Proprietor's Stout won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup in April 2026.
Goose Island received its awards at the Great American Beer Festival in 2026.
Culture Shift
The brewery's success at the 2026 World Beer Cup establishes a track record of quality that precedes the recent Great American Beer Festival performance. These accolades reflect a growing consumer demand for specialized, barrel-aged craft beer varieties.
Chicago residents can sample the gold-medal-winning 2025 Proprietor's Stout, as it is produced exclusively for the local market. The beer's distinct profile relies on specific ingredients like walnuts, pistachios, and honey.
The takeaway
Innovation remains central to the brewery's success as employees continue to submit original flavor concepts for blind testing. Enthusiasts can track the development of new stouts by watching for the results of these annual, multi-stage ingredient refinement processes.
Further reading
For more on the local craft scene, explore the Chicago Beer section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Inc..
Live Poll
Do you trust established brands to maintain high quality as they grow and age?
