Great American Beer Festival Gives Top Honors To 2 Alexandria Breweries

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Two Alexandria breweries brought home major honors from the 2026 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, including a gold medal and a national brewery-of-the-year award.

Port City Brewing Co., based at 3950 Wheeler Ave., won gold in the Vienna-Style Lager category for its Oktoberfest Vienna Lager, one of four gold medals awarded to Virginia breweries.

The festival, held Oct. 10-11, featured beverages from about 1,300 breweries nationwide and assessed 205 different styles of beer and cider. The silver medalist in the Vienna-style lager category was DC Brau Brewing Co. Almanac Beer Co. of California took bronze.

Alexandria’s Mieza Blendery also earned major recognition, winning the festival’s Brewery and Brewer of the Year award for breweries producing 250 barrels or fewer. Founder Alex Lynch and the blendery also won silver for Sulking in The Brush and bronze for Minotaurs & Matadors in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category.

The medal adds to a strong year for Port City, which also won awards at the Virginia Craft Brewers Cup and U.S. Open Beer Championship.

Port City opened in Alexandria in 2011; Mieza in 2023.

Other gold medal winners from Virginia were Williamsburg's Billsburg Brewery for its red ale, Planet 4; Roseland's Devils Backbone Brewing Company for its contemporary American lager, Gold Leaf Lager; and Charlottesville's Pony Street South Brewery for its Scottish-style ale, Satan's Pony.