Best of the Vest!

When one of our customers earns a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup, Canada Beer Cup, or the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, using Great Western Malting or Canada Malting Co. malt, we celebrate right alongside them. And while the medal is the real prize, we’ve found there’s another tradition brewers have come to look forward to:

The Gold Medal Vest.

• 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
• Winner: Fat Pug – American Single Malt Whiskey made with Great Western Malting High Color Pale Ale 73%.

“The GWM High Color Pale Malt sets the tone—rich, toasty, and expressive enough to hold its own alongside roasted specialty malts. It’s the backbone of our stout-inspired American Single Malt.” –Mike Scifo

• 2025 World Beer Cup
• Winner: Highwayman – American Pilsner made with 100% Great Western Premium 2 Row.

“Because it’s grown and malted in my home state of Idaho! It’s fantastic in the brewhouse, great extract and color and makes bomb ass beers.” – Max Shafer

• 2025 World Beer Cup
• Winner: Super Slap – American Style India Pale Ale made with 85% GWM Pure Idaho Pilsner Malt.

“Pure Idaho is very light in color yet offers the perfect balance of malt flavor and sweetness. Great as a base malt for hoppy beers that need some residual sweetness character to off-set high levels of hops.” – Trevor Walls

• 2025 Great American Beer Fest
• Winner: Red Nose Holiday Wassail – a 7 Herb and Spice Beer made with 70% GWM Premium 2-Row.

“Great Western Premium 2-Row delivers a versatile and consistently clean malt character, making it the perfect foundation for both classic and modern beer styles—from ales to lagers. It’s the malt we trust to fill our silo every time, playing a major role in our success as Nevada’s most award-winning craft brewery.” – Aaron Halecky

• 2025 Great American Beer Fest
• Winner: Just Friends – a Belgian-Style Strong Specialty beer made with 60% GW 2-Row and 10% GW Munich.

“Love the smooth profile and how it harmoniously melds well with specialty malts.” – David Pascual

• 2025 Great American Beer Fest
• Winner: Fresher Than Fresh – a Fresh Hop Beer made with 82% Superior Pils, 5% Low Color Wheat, and 7% Premium Flaked Oats.

“We switched to Superior Pils from Pure Idaho when we installed our silo, and while we loved Idaho we think the beers are as good or better with Superior Pils. The Low Color Wheat has been an awesome addition to the brewhouse as well. We were looking for a product that kept the color down while adding in some of the protein structure to stand up to heavy hop loads.” – Tristan Karosas

• 2025 Great American Beer Fest
• Winner: Astronaut Sauce – an American Belgo Pale made with a Superior Pils base malt.

“This malt is always consistent in quality, efficiency, flavor and aroma. The delicate malt character is always a huge compliment to all my beers.” – Peter Crowley

• 2025 Great American Beer Fest
• Winner: Urban Oasis: Raspberry & Lemon Verbena – an American Fruited Sour Ale made with 100% Canada Malting 2-Row Malt.

“Great Diastatic Power with virtually no tannins or phenolic compounds leached during the sparge. And while it lends itself extremely well to adjuncted beers, it has enough depth to stand alone in single malt beers as well.” – Harrison Forman

• 2025 Canada Beer Cup
• Winner: Destiny – a West Coast IPA made with 82% Canada Malting 2-Row, 8% Canada Malting Munich, 8% Great Western Dextrapils, and 2% Great Western Caramel Steam.

“I truly believe that fresh malt is key to making great beer and it cannot get any fresher than Canada Malting. Clean malt flavour and great consistency are the cherry on top.” – Sebastian Peterson

• 2025 Canada Beer Cup
• Winner: Flat Cap Stout – an American Porter and Stout made with 70% CMC Two Row, 18% CMC Munich, and 7% GWM Crystal 15.

“Canada Malting Co. is a fantastic partner to Tool Shed Brewing. We consistently get great quality, locally grown and malted products from CMC. Their team members in sales, marketing and production have been great collaborators with us. Between the products and the people, CMC has proven to be our most valued supplier in delivering award-winning craft beers to our customers.” – Jared Belfrage

• 2025 Canada Beer Cup
• Winner: Tabula Rasa Hazy IPA – a Hazy Pale Ale and Hazy Session Ale made with CMG Superior Pale malt 70%, CMG Premier Flaked Wheat 18%, and CMG Premier Flaked Oats 12 %.

“I like the fullness and body the CMC flaked products offer. I use the Superior Pale Malt in almost every beer I make. I love the colour, character and consistency I get from it. It’s also diverse enough that I use it in my English style beers as well as North American styles.“ – Andrew Estabrooks 

• 2025 Canada Beer Cup
• Winner: Black Angus IPA – an English IPA made with Pilsen Aromatic and C30 malts.

“We’ve been using this malt for over 10 years and the consistency and quality it provides is second to none and it clearly shows in our accolades at this year’s Canada Beer Cup.” – Iain Sutherland

• 2025 Canada Beer Cup
• Winner: Morning Star Coffee Lager – a Spice, Herb, and Vegetable Beer made with 67% Canada Malting Superior Pilsen.

“Superior Pilsen is the base malt for our flagship beer (Last Cast Lager), which is in turn the base beer for our award-winning Morning Star Coffee Lager. The malt lends a rich, pleasantly complex, and grainy profile to both beers, and gets along very well with the light roast cold brewed coffee we add to turn Last Cast into Morning Star.” – Cam McKeigan

• 2025 Canada Beer Cup
• Winner: Pegasus American Pale Ale – a Contemporary Pale Ale made with 91% Bow Valley Select, 6% Dextra Pils, and 3% Crystal 40.

“BVS is a great base malt. It is consistent, clean and we are always confident from the bottom up. The fact that it is grown here in Alberta is a major bonus. Every batch we produce showcases some of the best barley in the world and provides the opportunity to highlight the terroir of the region.” – Nathan Champagne

Congrats to all the 2026 World Beer Cup winners who used Great Western or Canada Malting Co. malt! Your craftsmanship deserves the gold and the gear.

If you’ve recently won gold at the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup or San Francisco World Spirits Competition, using Great Western Malting or Canada Malting Co. base malts, you’re eligible to receive one custom Filson vest per gold award. To request your vest and share your testimony, please visit: https://resources.countrymalt.com/gold-medal-program/