Winners Announced for the 15th Anniversary of The North Carolina Brewers Cup Competition.
Mocksville, NC—The North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild proudly announces the results of the 2026 NC Brewers Cup competition. Now in its 15th year, this premier event, supported by Pro Refrigeration, Tryon Distributing, and G&A Partners, saw 898 entries submitted from 119 of North Carolina’s independent craft breweries. It is the Southeast’s largest commercial beer competition.
Entries were received and organized into competition flights at Pro Refrigeration, Inc. in Mocksville, NC, and then transported to the judging sites thanks to Tryon Distributing. They were judged simultaneously at Atticus, LLC in Cary, NC, and White Labs in Asheville, NC, over the weekend of August 22nd-23rd. Certified judges from across the Southeast assessed the beers based on the 2026 GABF Beer Style Guidelines.
Medals were awarded in 40 style-based beer categories, including the “NC Homegrown” category, which requires at least 55% of the beer’s dry weight to be sourced from North Carolina ingredients. The largest categories of this year’s competition were:
Juicy or Hazy IPA with 53 entries
West Coast-Style IPA with 41 entries
Fruit Beer with 41 entries
Click here for a printable PDF of all 2026 NC Brewers Cup medalists
Each year, the competition’s top honor, NC Brewery of the Year, is presented to the brewery scoring the most overall points, based on medals won. In 2025, the coveted NC Brewery of the Year trophy was awarded to Little Brother Brewing in Greensboro, NC. This year’s winner, along with the winner of the NC New Brewery of the Year award, will be revealed at the NC Beer Industry Awards Banquet on November 17th, 2026, during the NC Craft Brewers Conference at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, NC.
Want to try our state’s medal-winning beers? Celebrate NC Beer Month this October by visiting North Carolina’s craft brewery taprooms. Throughout the month, look for events that highlight the state’s rich brewing culture and unique taproom experiences.
