Big Ditch Wins A Silver Medal With Their NA Burner

The U.S. Open Beer Championships have given out thousands of medals since they first began the competition in 2009. The contest hosts 8,000 different entries from around the country to rank in over 150 categories. The majority of the categories are all alcoholic beer, but there are a few non-alcoholic categories, and even two root beer categories and one for hop water.

This year there were six categories related to non-alcoholic beer with 18 total medals given out for near beers.

Western New York earned some bragging rights though when Big Ditch Brewing out of Buffalo was awarded a Silver Medal for Best Non-alcoholic IPA.

Big Ditch’s NA Burner

In November 2024 the Buffalo-based brewery released their NA Burner nonalcoholic IPA. Coming in at under 0.5% ABV it’s a “near beer” version of their popular Hay-Burner IPA.

Available in cans from the brewery and in stores all over Upstate New York, the NA Burner IPA has become a local favorite for good reason.

There aren’t a lot of nonalcoholic beers in Upstate New York so having one from our own backyard take home a Silver Medal is pretty cool!