Loveland’s Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project won two medals at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival, a gold for Grow Old With You in the barley wine or wheat wine category and a silver for Coconut GO in the field beer category.
Medals were announced Oct. 11 at Levitt Pavilion in Denver, where the 44th annual festival was held outdoors for the first time. The competition drew 7,267 entries from 1,300 breweries and cidermakers nationwide. A panel of 225 judges evaluated beers in 105 categories over six days and awarded 336 medals.
Grow Old With You, a barleywine, also medaled at the festival in 2024. In April, it won silver at the World Beer Cup, its fourth consecutive award there and a Colorado record for a single beer at that competition. The Colorado Brewers Guild says it is now tied with Glenwood Canyon Brewing’s Sopris as the most decorated beer from a Colorado craft brewery.
Verboten’s Fort Collins location, Verboten Brewing North, also had a beer advance to the final round of judging. Its German Techno Polka Party made the final table in the German-style maerzen category, which drew 184 entries, the third most of any category.
Josh and Angie Grenz founded Verboten in 2013. Its taproom and production brewery are at 127 E. 5th St. in Loveland, and Verboten Brewing North, which opened in 2024, is at 1611 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins.
