2026 GABF Winners Made With Award Winning Malt By Root Shoot Malting
Photo © Brewers Association
LOVELAND, CO— Root Shoot Malting was featured at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival (GABF)® Awards last week, for the gold medal winner in the Craft Malt Beer category. Three additional Colorado beers from Los Dos Potrillos Cervecería, Old 121 Brewhouse, and Bent Barley Brewing won medals for beers crafted with Root Shoot malt.
The Craft Malt Beer category had an outstanding 132 entries that were judged based on how they highlighted the character of malt used. The winners were announced with the malt each was brewed with. The gold medal in this category went to the Schmalz family-owned Dostal Alley Brewpub & Casino in Central City Colorado. Root Shoot has provided malt for Dostal Alley since 2021, working alongside legacy malting and brewing professional Dave Thomas, Dostal’s Brewer Emeritus. “Jacob Mack Mild Ale is our long-time malt-centered mild, brown ale named after one of the first brewers in Colorado and Central City (1862-1898 as the Rocky Mountain Brewery). The stone walls are still standing,” he says.
Jacob Mack Mild Ale was brewed with Root Shoot Malting English Pale as its base malt, and Root Shoot Malting Buck Naked Chocolate specialty malt.
This gold medal win joins three other 2026 GABF award-winners brewed with Root Shoot malt: Los Dos Potrillos Cervecería won gold for Agua Fresca made with Root Shoot Pilsner, Light Munich, and Malted Corn in the American Fruit Beer category; Bent Barley Brewing won gold for Dry Irish Stout made with Root Shoot English Pale malt in the Porter or Stout category; and Old 12 Brewhouse won silver for Colt 121 made with Genie Pale and Malted Corn in the Other Strong Beer category. “We take these wins as evidence that great beer starts with great ingredients,” says Todd Olander, Founder at Root Shoot and Farmer at Olander Farms. “Seeing their work recognized on a national stage makes it even more rewarding.”
Twelve more of Root Shoot’s customers— Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Co., Glenwood Canyon Brewpub, Verboten Brewing & Barrel Project, Liquid Mechanics Brewing Company, Locavore Beer Works, MainStage Brewing Company, River North Brewery, New Belgium Brewing, Black Tooth Brewing Company, Pinthouse, and Geisthaus Brewing Company— also won 2026 GABF medals.
“We’re so proud of the work we do at Root Shoot and grateful for the brewers who choose to use our malts,” adds Todd.
Root Shoot Malting is the most decorated malthouse in the Malt Cup, an internationally recognized malt quality competition and the only industry awards program of its kind. Root Shoot has won eighteen consecutive medals— every single year since the Malt Cup began eight years ago— and taken home the traveling best in show trophy twice. Among these recognitions are a bronze medal in 2022 for English Pale malt, one of the malts in the GABF Craft Malt Beer category winner by Dostal Alley.
Contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com with media inquiries about Root Shoot Malting.
ABOUT ROOT SHOOT MALTING
Root Shoot Malting is a fifth-generation family farm and a first-generation craft malthouse producing responsibly-raised, caringly-crafted, high-quality malts. We believe farmers are stewards of the land and that responsible agriculture can support a better food and beverage industry. Located on the Olander family farm in Loveland, Colo., Root Shoot produces malts made from barley, wheat, rye, and corn and is working to protect farmland through its conservation easement with Colorado Open Lands. Find our craft malts online at rootshootmalting.com.