It is with great sadness that we are suspending the U.S. Open College Beer Championships for the 2025 academic year. Every institution faces budget uncertainties, and we believe any resources available should be directed towards student education first. Further, as incredible as it seems, making assumptions or predictions about the logistics of shipping beer between Canada and the United States seems unwise.
We will revisit this decision over the summer, and encourage you to contact us with your perspectives.
2024 u.s. open college beer championship results
The 2024 Grand National Champion of the U.S. Open College Beer Championship is Eastern Michigan University located in Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA. The school won three gold medals in the open competition and placed third in the head-to-head competition. The gold medal-winning beers included a Belgian Tripel, an ESB (Extra Special Bitter), and an English Barleywine. Nine of the eleven competing schools entered an American Pale Ale (APA) to be judged against each other, and Eastern Michigan's placed third in that competition.
MiraCosta College Technology Career Institute located in Carlsbad, California, USA and Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) Teaching Brewery located in Langley, British Columbia, CA share second place honors and honours, each school being awarded two gold and one silver medal. One of MiraCosta's gold medals was awarded for placing first in the American Pale Ale head-to-head competition. Both schools are past Grand National Champions; KPU in 2019 and MiraCosta in 2021.
The competitiveness of this year's entries also led to three schools tying for third-place: Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA), Schoolcraft College (Livonia, Michigan, USA), and Niagara College (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, CA). KVCC, Grand National Champion in 2022, was awarded one gold and two bronze medals as well as a silver medal for the second place honors in the APA head-to-head competition. Schoolcraft College was awarded two gold and one bronze medals while 2023 Grand National Champion Niagara College won one gold and two silver medals.
A total of eleven schools entered this year's competition, including first-time entrants Big Red Brewing, a graduate student organization at Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, and Chattahoochee Technical College located in Marietta, Georgia, USA. Additionally, all schools entered in the competition were awarded more than one medal for the first time in the eight years since the competition was begun. The complete list of medal winners is below.
Complete List of Medal-winning Beers
(listed alphabetically by institution)
Gold Medals
CASCADilla Gorge Water (Single Hop Pale Ale), Cornell University Tonsure (Belgian Tripel), Eastern Michigan University Keith's Kitchen Sink (ESB – Extra Special Bitter), Eastern Michigan University Second Horseman (English Barley Wine Ale), Eastern Michigan University Happy Hoppy (International Style Pilsner), KPU Harvest Rice Saison (French and Belgian Saison), KPU [TIED FOR BEST IN SHOW] Hecate House Special (German-Style Schwarzbier), KVCC Spring ‘24 - Russian River “Row 2 Hill 56” Pale Clone (American Pale Ale), MiraCosta CTCI [HEAD TO HEAD] Spring ‘24 - Brown Ale (American Brown Ale), MiraCosta CTCI Cherry Blawesome (Wood/Barrel- Fruit Beer), Niagara College [TIED FOR BEST IN SHOW] College Pale Ale (American Pale Ale), Schoolcraft College SC Grand Cru (Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale), Schoolcraft College
Silver Medals
Barrel Aged Stout (Barrel-Aged Strong Stout/Porter), Chattahoochee Tech Bartow Blonde (Golden or Blonde Ale), Chattahoochee Tech I Think I Just Drank A Walnut (English Mild Ale), Chattahoochee Tech Non-Alc Stout (Non-Alcoholic Stout), KPU KVCC Pale Ale (American Pale Ale), KVCC [HEAD TO HEAD] Umbra (American Black Ale), Lourdes University Spring ‘24 - Hazy IPA (New England/Juicy/Hazy IPA), MiraCosta CTCI Vindobona Schrammel (Vienna-Style Lager), Niagara College Blonde...James Blonde (Belgian and French Ale), Niagara College
Bronze Medals
The Clogger Imperial Stout (Imperial Stout Specialty), Cornell University Soar (American Pale Ale), Eastern Michigan University [HEAD TO HEAD] Ginger Makwa (Herb and Spice Beer), KVCC Party In The Back (Baltic-Style Porter), KVCC Community Service (Belgian Witbier), Lourdes University 275 Kolsch (German Kölsch), Schoolcraft College
About the college championship
The U.S. Open College Beer Championship is for student brewers enrolled at schools, colleges and universities that teach brewing courses. The U.S. Open College Championship is the only competition of its kind focusing on student brewers.
Any college or university that offers courses in brewing can enter the U.S. Open. All beers for a given institution are submitted by one of the school’s brewing professors or instructors. The beers can be brewed on any system on or off-campus that is approved by the professors/instructors. Collaboration beers brewed with a professional brewery should be entered in the full U.S. Open competition rather than the U.S. Open College Beer Championship.
Each college or university may enter up to four beers of their own choosing. Those four entries are judged according to the regular U.S. Open Style Standards as well as the stated intentions of the student brewers. Among these entries, any number of gold, silver, or bronze medals may be awarded.
Each school is also invited to submit a beer from a specific category to be judged head-to-head according to the U.S. Open style standards and judging procedures. The chosen category will rotate from year to year. Only one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal are awarded in this special category.
