Grapevine Craft Brewery staff traveled to Denver, Colorado, Oct. 2–Oct. 4 to compete in the Great American Beer Festival and returned home with a gold medal.

The brewery placed first in the English Brown Ale category for their Sir William's English Brown Ale.

According to the GABF's website, the festival awards gold, silver and bronze medals for excellence in 84 beer-style categories but does not necessarily award medals to the top three finishers in a particular category. When judges decide a category contains three excellent examples of the style, they award gold, silver and bronze medals for the first, second and third place beers, respectively.

There were more than 5,000 entries for the 2014 GABF awards, and the winners were selected by a panel of more than 200 expert judges.

The craft brewery broke ground at 924 Jean St., Grapevine, in September and is expected to be open by February. Plans include a two-story tasting room and an outside area, and will feature beers the company has not distributed anywhere else.