The 7 best breweries in America

Great American Beer Festival/Facebook

Approximately 1,752 breweries participated in this year's festival, which was hosted by the Brewers Association and took place from October 6 to 8 in Denver, Colorado.

On Saturday afternoon, a jury of more than 265 beer industry professionals from 12 countries announced the winners. Without knowing the brand names, they tasted each brewery's selected beers according to specific flavor parameters (which you can read more about in this 68-page set of guidelines).

The breweries are broken into seven different size categories, ranging from "small brewpub" to "large brewing company."  The top one in each group was awarded the title of "Champion Brewery."

Here are the winners.