Two Northwest Philly breweries win gold medals at the World Beer Cup
Attic was tops in international dark lager for Common Nightjar, while New Ridge’s American-style amber lager Just Like Himmel won over the judges.
Northwest Philadelphia breweries led the region’s showing at the 2026 World Beer Cup, with Germantown’s Attic Brewing Co. and Roxborough’s New Ridge Brewing Co. combining for three medals Wednesday night at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Attic won gold in international dark lager for their brew Common Nightjar. New Ridge — shuttered since January after a fire but able to save their entries in cold storage — won gold in American-style amber lager for their Just Like Himmel and added a bronze in brown porter for London Porter.
The awards ceremony closed out this year’s Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America at the Convention Center in Philadelphia.
Williamsport’s New Trail Brewing won silver for Crisp in contemporary American-style lager and bronze for Barrel Aged Double Zombies in pumpkin/squash beer.
In South and Central Jersey, Vineland’s Wander Back Beerworks won gold for Wander Back Lager in the Munich-style Helles category; Wildwood’s MudHen Brewing took silver for Captain Doug’s Porter in robust porter; Florence’s Subculture Artisan Ales won bronze for Burton Reynolds in historical beer; and Stockton’s Odd Bird Brewing won bronze for House Red in experimental beer.
The Philadelphia results were a testament to the maturity of two neighborhood breweries that opened within months of each other in 2020.
Attic, at 137 W. Berkley St. in Germantown, grew out of Laura and Todd Lacy’s homebrewing hobby after Laura left a retail executive job in 2016. They launched the brewery in a former pencil factory after years of planning, training, and industry experience, opening a 10-barrel brewery and taproom across from Wayne Junction.
Months after its debut, Attic won silver at the Great American Beer Festival for its Bloodhound Brown Ale, in the English-style brown ale category. Attic is also known for its hot dog truck, Bad Nina’s, parked outside the brewery on weekends.
New Ridge opened at 6168 Ridge Ave. in Roxborough in 2020 after a three-year build-out. Brothers Eric and Chris Endrikat, who grew up nearby, turned a former carpet store into a 10-barrel brewhouse, bar, and restaurant known for one of Philadelphia’s finest burgers. The brothers’ partners now include their father, Fred, and Nick Duvally; both are firefighters — Endrikat in Philadelphia and Duvally in Los Angeles County.
Chris Endrikrat said Wednesday that all the New Ridge entries for World Beer Cup had been packaged before the Jan. 29 fire and kept in cold storage at Love City Brewing. “We were able to save some batches of beer that weren’t affected by the fire,” he said. “Literally every brewery in the area reached out immediately, offering help in any way they could,” including Love City and Dock Street, which cleaned kegs. “We’re very lucky and humbled despite the overall circumstances,” he said.
A few weeks ago, Chris Endrikat and lead brewer Ben Schamberg began brewing at Sacred Vice, allowing New Ridge to serve Just Like Himmel at forthcoming street festivals, including Flavors on the Avenue in South Philadelphia on Sunday, the Chestnut Hill Home & Garden Festival on May 3, and Roxborough Spring fest on May 9.
Chris Endrikat said, the fire caused heavy smoke damage and destroyed the cooling system for the tanks. “The restaurant was mostly unaffected, but all the walk-in refrigeration was knocked out when the condensers burned up,” he said, adding that the insurance claim is moving “at a snail’s pace.” He could not provide a reopening timeline.
This year marked the 30th anniversary of the World Beer Cup. According to competition statistics, 255 judges evaluated 8,166 entries from 1,644 producers over 14 judging sessions across seven days.
The Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade group for small and independent American craft brewers, organizes both the World Beer Cup and the Craft Brewers Conference.
