Boulder County brewers won eight medals at the Great American Beer Festival last weekend, with Longmont’s Left Hand Brewing again leading the way.

The 2015 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition awarded 275 medals to U.S breweries, plus three GABF Pro-Am medals to teams of amateur brewers paired with professional brewers.

Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world. In its 29th year, the 2015 competition surpassed all previous participation records.

This year winning brewers received medals in 92 beer categories covering 145 different beer styles.

The winners were chosen from 6,647 competition entries, from 1,552 breweries representing all 50 states. In 2014, there were 5,507 competition entries, from 1,309 breweries.

Eight medals were awarded to brewers based in Boulder County.

– Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, silver medal in the Belgian-Style Witbier category for its White Rascal.

– Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, bronze medal in the Brown Porter category for its Black Jack Porter.

– Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, gold medal in the Export Stout category for its Fade to Black, Vol. 1.

– Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co., Lafayette, bronze medal in the German-Style Altbier category for its Altbier.

– Bootstrap Brewing Co., Niwot, silver medal in the Imperial Red Ale category for its Wreak Havoc.

– Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, bronze medal in the Ordinary or Special Bitter category for its Sawtooth Ale.

– Odd 13 Brewing, Lafayette, silver medal in the Pro-Am Competition for its Atahsaisa brewed with Mike Froehlich.

– Fate Brewing Co., Boulder, bronze medal in the Pro-Am competition for its Citra IPA brewed with Ryan Lotter.

With its three 2015 medals, Left Hand has won a total of 28 GABF medals in the brewers 22 year history.

This year’s GABF competition saw its biggest panel of judges ever, with 242 beer experts from 15 countries including the U.S.

The event was held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

Next year’s GABF is scheduled for Oct. 6 – 8 also in Denver.