Brewbound unveiled the trade publication’s 2024 industry Award Winners and Rising Stars today during the 2024 Brewbound Live business conference in Marina del Rey, California.
The Brewbound Awards serve as an appreciation of industry members, trend setters, breakout brands, change agents and up-and-coming entrepreneurs, celebrating their achievements in the last year.
Winners of the 11th annual Brewbound Awards include:
Craft Brewery of the Year
The Craft Brewery of the Year is awarded to one independent craft beer company producing fewer than 100,000 barrels annually that has excelled in this increasingly challenging marketplace.
San Diego’s Coronado Brewing Company has bucked soft craft trends by resonating with drinkers in its home market of Southern California.
The 29-year-old lifestyle brand, founded by Rick and Ron Chapman, is on a roll of three consecutive years of volume growth, driven by the company’s flagship Weekend Vibes IPA and new brand family member Big Weekend double IPA, which was among the top new craft launches of 2023.
Salty Crew Blonde, a collaboration with clothing brand Salty Crew, has only added to Coronado’s lifestyle brand bonafides. And the addition of hard cider to Coronado’s mix has also paid off, with the company becoming the No. 1 producer of cider in SoCal.
After nearly three decades, Coronado’s is proof that a legacy craft brewer can stay relevant while staying coastal.
Large Brewery of the Year
The Large Brewery of the Year is awarded to one large beer company producing more than 100,000 barrels annually that continues to innovate and grow.
At a time when many craft brewers are turning to lager to fill their tanks, Narragansett has been doing it for 134 years, and counting. The once nearly defunct brand has been growing since CEO Mark Hellendrung bought and revived it in 2005.
Once on life support, Narragansett has grown steadily under Hellendrung’s guidance, finally crossing the 100,000-barrel threshold in 2019 before a COVID-19 year dip in 2020. ’Gansett bounced back to more than 100,000 barrels in 2021 and posted double-digit growth in 2023, becoming the 23rd largest Brewers Association-defined craft brewery.
With a brick-and-mortar brewery in its home of Providence, Rhode Island, led by brewer Lee Lord, and the recent addition of California to the company’s 27-state footprint, there’s plenty of reason to say, “Hi, neighbor” these days.
Beyond Beer Company of the Year
The Beyond Beer Company of the Year is awarded to one company within the cider, hard seltzer, alcoholic kombucha, packaged wine or canned cocktail segments.
Surfside’s vodka-based hard tea and lemonades continue to drive triple-digit sales and volume growth, making it one of the hottest new brands to hit the alcoholic beverage market in recent years.
Surfside is on a trajectory to end 2024 as the No. 2 ready-to-drink (RTD) brand, selling around 5 million cases and racking up wins from coast to coast, with availability in 49 states after focusing on national expansion this year.
Person of the Year
This is reserved for individuals whose work throughout the year has created lasting, substantial, positive change in the bev-alc industry.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Leah Wong Ashburn and the Highland Brewing team have proved pivotal in helping their home city of Asheville, North Carolina, recover and heal. Highland has become a place for both other brewers to sell their beer, and disaster relief organizations to work, as well as a community gathering space.
In the weeks after the storm, Ashburn’s work has turned to stabilizing and strengthening the business her father, Oscar Wong, founded in 1994, and supporting the business’ employees.
After several years of legislative battles, the newly united New Jersey guild finally peeled back strict restrictions on taproom operations first enacted in 2018.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bill into law in January, which allows breweries to host an unlimited number of special events in their taprooms, work with food trucks and restaurants to offer food service and snacks and sell non-alcoholic beverages.
The new law also increased the state’s production cap on brewpubs from 10,000 barrels to 300,000 barrels a year, created a farm-brewery license and modernized the state’s licensing system.
The persistent work of the state’s brewers, the guild and former Brewers Guild of New Jersey executive director Eric Orlando made these changes a reality, improving the operating environment for Garden State breweries.
Founded in 2020 by Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver, the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling (MJF) is a grant-making organization that pays for technical education scholarships for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color either starting careers in the brewing and distilling industries or existing industry members looking to continue their education.
Since its inception, MJF has awarded more than 50 scholarships. The twice yearly scholarship awards have helped recipients advance, grow and build careers in an industry that has struggled to reach underrepresented people. Recipients also receive mentorship and career guidance beyond their education pursuits.
Best New Product
Line or SKU that have been introduced in the previous year that have at least one outstanding quality in terms of taste, design, cause, formulation, or that generate interest over their disruptive potential.
Fonio Rising is a series of beers brewed with fonio, a climate-resistant, sustainable West African grain dubbed the “seed of the universe.” Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver began championing fonio in 2019, inspired by a TED Talk given by Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam.
Brooklyn’s breakthrough partnership with Thiam’s purpose-driven food business Yolélé went worldwide last year with the release of Double Pilsner and has since manifested in collaboration beers with breweries from around the globe. This fall, Brooklyn added to its fonio portfolio, with a pale ale that hit Whole Foods stores in September.
Rising Stars
Companies whose work has great potential to shift or open categories, create new ideas about products or brands, and have shown growth that indicates they will have an enduring presence in the industry.
