Brouwer’s Café in Seattle, a 2015 RateBeer Best Award winner.

“I’d like to raise a glass to the people who make the beer we drink,” says RateBeer executive director Joseph Tucker. “These men and women are the artists, engineers, visionaries, chefs, CEOs and of course janitors and many other roles combined that are today’s craft brewers. I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a beer with many around the craft beer industry and there are no more passionate, skilled, brave and hard-working people on the planet. The great success of craft beer around the world is further testament to this. It’s my great pleasure to honor them, and all those in the craft beer industry, with the results of this year’s RateBeer Best.”

2015 RateBeer Best was again the largest beer competition in the world. More than 300,000 beers from more than 18,500 breweries worldwide were tallied. Rating volume increased by a whopping 13% over the previous year. By comparison, RateBeer Best judged as many beers in 2015 as would be evaluated at the Great American Beer Festival competition over the course of 52 years. More than 21,000 beers were judged in the New Brewers category alone, which is 32 times more than all the beers by all the brewers at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF).

Beer Junction in West Seattle, a 2015 RateBeer Best Award winner.

RateBeer is now home to some of the most experienced beer critics in the world. Seven members have more than 20,000 complete reviews, and 275 master beer tasters have more than 4,000 reviews. Additionally, the world record holder for complete beer reviews, Jan Bolvig of VestJylland, Denmark, has more than 36,000 beer reviews to his credit. RateBeer is also home to countless Certified Cicerones, Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) graduates, and GABF and GBBF judges.

Despite the majority of reviewers and beers being American, the community has many raters from around the globe, many of which are among RateBeer’s top raters. The depth and breadth of RateBeer’s beer database is truly unsurpassed, and the competition is extremely comprehensive.

Here are some of the winners from Washington:

Best New Brewer in Washington: Holy Mountain Brewing

Top New Beer in Washington: Fremont Brewing’s Abominable – Bourbon Barrel Coffee Cinnamon

Washington’s Best Places for Beer > Brewpub: Walking Man Brewing & Public House

Washington’s Best Places for Beer > Restaurant: Yard House Seattle

Washington’s Best Places for Beer > Brewer Tap Room: Reuben’s Brews

Washington’s Best Places for Beer > Bottle Shop: Beer Junction

Washington’s Best Places for Beer > Grocery: Whole Foods Market – Roosevelt Square

Washington’s Best Places for Beer > Bar: Brouwer’s Café

Click here to see the full list of winners among a variety of categories.