The World’s Best IPA—According To The 2025 Great American Beer Festival

Destihl Brewery TourBus Double Dry Hopped Hazy IPA

Photo illustration: Brad Japhe

For 39 years the Great American Beer Festival has been bringing the best brewers in the world to Denver, Colorado for the industry’s largest annual celebration. For attendees, it’s largely about merriment and camaraderie. For the folks crafting all that liquid, it represents more than that–they want to take home some hardware. Yes, GABF also happens to be one of the premiere judgings of the calendar year and we now know the results for the gold medal recipients of 2025.

Despite reports of craft beer slowdowns, the Colorado Convention Center hosting the event appeared as boisterous as ever. A total of 8,315 beers were entered into the competition, representing 1,555 breweries and cideries from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each category had an average number of 71 entries. But the most popular style – for several years running – remains the same: “Juicy/Hazy India Pale Ale.” A total of 301 beers were entered into the crowded field this year. Let’s take a closer look at who got the gold and what makes this brew so special.

The winner is…TourBus Double Dry Hopped Hazy IPA from DESTIHL Brewery out of Normal, Illinois. This 7.4% juice-bomb is brewed with Citra and Mosiac hops, imbuing the opaque-orange-hued liquid with a generous assortment of tropical and citrus fruits. Flaked oats and wheat are used in fermentation in addition to a standard 2-row malt. These cereals add an unexpected roundness to the mouthfeel. It’s best described as soft, and it helps retain the bitter, rusty-metal tones tightly woven to the beer’s firm finish.

TourBus is an ongoing series dedicated to the brewery’s love of the Grateful Dead – specifically the band’s tradition of perpetually taking its show on the road, with passionate followers in-tow. This particular year-round release is no stranger to accolades. In fact, it actually won the gold in the same category at GABF back in 2021. So the folks at DESTIHL have really dialed into something special with this one. You can snag a 16 oz can in and around Illinois for around $5.75.

There’s likely to be a run on the liquid now that it’s a two-time champion. So if you’re in the area you might want to act fast in procuring some. But there are other options as well. Hazy IPA wasn’t the only subcategory of India Pale Ale to be recognized by the 250 judges at Great American Beer Festival. In total there were eight sub-styles this year. Here’s a run-down of the other golds. Get them while you can. Hoppy hunting…

• American Style IPA: Built for Speed from Grains of Wrath Brewing
• Experimental IPA: Hazy Crush from New York Beer Project – Beer Lodge
• Imperial IPA: Dankish from Moonraker Brewing Co.
• Imperial Hazy IPA: tracing the departed from everywhere
• New Zealand IPA: Chepedelic from ISM Brewing
• Session IPA: Oros from Offset Bier Co.
• West Coast IPA: How the West Was One: Mosaic from Westbound & Down Brewing Co.