The CBMAS (Craft Beer Marketing Awards), created by EGC Group, just completed its annual presentation. Although this was the fourth year, there were many “firsts.”
The CBMAS recognizes and honors the best achievements in craft beverage marketing throughout the world. And the term “worldwide” truly stood out this year. In addition to the United States, Australia and Canada tied for the most wins—17 each—of “Crushie” awards, the official trophy of the CBMAS.
With the guarded lift on the restrictions imposed for the last several years by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2023 was the first fully live presentation of the CBMAS. Fittingly hosted at the annual Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville, TN, attendees were finally able to attend and enjoy the event in person, where they saw, heard—and in some cases won—the entire roster of categories.
Perhaps most notable for this year’s CBMAS was the introduction of a charity fundraiser category—“Show Us Your Favorite Tattoo”—which was created to benefit the Michael J Jackson Foundation (MJF) in the funding of scholarships for black, indigenous, and people of color within the brewing and distilling trades. An impressive $6,500 was raised. The proceeds raised were presented on stage to Garrett Oliver, Founder & Chair of MJF, and Brewmaster of The Brooklyn Brewery. The winning tattoo was entered by Chris Jacobs from Beer Zombies Brewing Company in Las Vegas, NV and was drawn by tattoo artist Aaron Jackman, from Ghost Tattoo (Las Vegas, NV).
This was indeed a banner year for the CBMAS, and all involved give a special shout out to their main presenting sponsor, BevPros, experts in the keg management and beverage supply industry.
A total of 305 award wins were presented to winning brewers, designers, and marketing agencies. This year, there were 89 Platinum Crushie wins, 160 Gold Crushie wins and 56 Global Crushie wins.