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Better on Draft | Tasting Flight: 2025 GABF

·39 min·2 clips

Michigan took three golds, three silvers, and a bronze at GABF.

1. Better on Draft’s “Tasting Flight: 2025 GABF” centers on the Great American Beer Festival and its 2025 medal results. 2. Jimmy and Wendy host the episode, and Wendy brings the medal rundown while Jimmy pushes the discussion toward judging mechanics and festival context. 3. The episode asks what GABF medals mean for breweries in Michigan, Indiana, and beyond. 4. Jimmy reads GABF background from a press release and says the festival founded in 1982 is now a major U.S. beer event. 5. The hosts explain that GABF combines a show floor with samples and a judging session that can happen at the same time. 6. Wendy notes that 273 breweries and cideries took home 347 medals from 8,315 entries. 7. Jimmy highlights that 250 judges had to evaluate the entries, which he translates into roughly 33.26 beers per judge. 8. Wendy says Michigan finished with three golds, three silvers, and a bronze. 9. She names Mitten Brewing Company’s Oktoberfest, Urbanrest’s Kaiser, and Late Time Brewing and Spirits’ Astronaut Sauce as Michigan golds. 10. She also names Shorts’ Hot Loins, Redwood’s Sabrina, Haymarket’s Baltic porter, and Brewery 424’s coffee beer among the state’s medal winners. 11. Jimmy and Wendy focus on how shorts, mitten, and other breweries fit GABF’s style-based judging rather than a simple “best beer” contest. 12. Wendy points out that Mitten’s Oktoberfest is a good sign when a brewery wins on a house beer. 13. Indiana gets a separate rundown with Danny Boy’s Gilly Billy Goat to Bock, Sun King’s Keller Blaze, and Sun King Fishers’ Ouija, heavy chocolate edition. 14. Jimmy explains that Taxman also won for Deduction, a Belgian dubbel, and In the Black in the wood and barrel-aged strong category. 15. Wendy calls out Fast Friends Beer Company in Austin, Texas, and says Sarah Perez’s progress in beer has been worth following. 16. Jimmy names other winners he has visited or drinks regularly, including Creature Comforts’ Tropicalia, Monday Night Brewing’s chocolate beer and specialty Saison, Distill’s Tourbus Double Dry Hopped, Athletic’s Run Wild, and Allagash’s Belgian Tripel and lager. 17. The tone is conversational, with Wendy reading medal lists and Jimmy interrupting for questions, travel stories, and beer recommendations. 18. The format mixes state-by-state awards coverage with side notes about beer trips, birthdays, cruises, and future brewery visits. 19. Listeners who track brewery medals, regional beer scenes, or GABF results will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a single brewery interview or a tightly edited narrative may skip this one.

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