Oro Brewing Co., a microbrewery at 210 W. Main St. in Mesa, won a gold medal at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival competition.

Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the a commercial beer competition and recognizes the most outstanding beers produced in the U.S., according to a release.

Oro Brewing Co. was recognized in the coffee beer beer-style category for its Café Oro, a blonde ale infused with cold-press coffee from local roastery Village Coffee Roastery. Oro Brewing Co. is a seven-barrel microbrewery that specializes in small batch craft beers. Go to orobrewing.com.

“We are completely over the moon about receiving this award. Recognition from a prestigious competition like GABF is a humbling and thrilling experience. Although this is the first GABF medal for myself and Oro Brewing Co., hopefully it won’t be our last,” Jesse Kortepeter, head brewer at Oro Brewing Co., said in the release.

The top three winners in the competition’s 98 beer categories covering 177 different beer styles were announced Oct. 8 at the Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. 

The 2022 GABF competition winners were selected by an international panel of 235 expert judges from 9,904 entries, plus 94 Collaboration and 35 Pro-Am entries, received from 2,154 U.S. breweries.

“Each year the Great American Beer Festival showcases the best that American brewers have to offer,” Chris Williams, competition director for the Great American Beer Festival, said in the release. “With more than 9,900 entries, this year’s competition was the most competitive to date. Congratulations to all the winners who truly demonstrated why the U.S. is the best brewing nation in the world.”

For more GABF competition information, including the 2022 winners list and photos, go to GreatAmericanBeerFestival.com.