Monticello Mountain Ale Wins Bronze Medal at 2026 Great American Beer Festival

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Earlier this month at the Great American Beer Festival, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and Blue Mountain Brewery were awarded the prestigious Bronze Medal in the Scottish Ale category for their Monticello Mountain Ale. The Great American Beer Festival, which brings together breweries across the United States, is one of the largest beer competitions in the world. This year’s competition evaluated over 7,000 beverages from breweries across 49 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. 

Monticello Mountain Ale, brewed in partnership with Blue Mountain Brewery since 2022, is a lightly hopped beer that uses honey harvested from Monticello’s own beehives, giving it a simultaneous strength and sweet touch. The bees help pollinate Monticello’s gardens, and in turn, a taste of the nearby land is in the beer. Learn more about how Monticello Mountain Ale gets made here. 

The award-winning beer also received a silver medal at the National Honey Board Honey Beer Competition in August. It is available at the Monticello Shop and Blue Mountain Brewery locations.  

About the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello 

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation was incorporated in 1923 to preserve Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia. As a civic institution, Monticello seeks to increase knowledge and share the ideals Jefferson articulated in the Declaration of Independence through programming and scholarship built upon a foundation of rigorous research.  

Monticello is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a United Nations World Heritage Site, and a Site of Conscience. As a private, nonprofit organization, Monticello receives no ongoing local, state, or federal funding. Visitors and the generosity of donors make Monticello’s twofold mission of preservation and education possible. For information, visit monticello.org.