Food & Wine Names Denver's Ashleigh Carter Brewer of the Year

Ashleigh Carter, co-founder and head brewer at Denver's Bierstadt Lagerhaus, has been named 2026 Brewer of the Year by Food & Wine magazine's Drinks Visionary program. The recognition, announced this month, follows a gold medal for the brewery's Japanese rice lager, brewed in collaboration with Wayfinder Beer, at the recent Great American Beer Festival.

Now in its second year, the Drinks Visionaries program recognizes figures in the beverage world nominated by industry leaders and selected by the magazine. Food & Wine's feature on Carter points to Bierstadt's Slow Pour Pils, a lager that takes seven minutes to pour, and describes her as one of the most gracious mentors in the business. The magazine also noted that many in the industry consider her brewery on Blake Street, down the road from Coors Field, the official center of the craft beer universe.

"It means so much to me to receive any honor, but it's even more impactful to be recognized by my industry peers," Carter said. "Since our opening, we've made it a point to brew traditionally-inspired beers and leave the pressure of following trends behind, honoring both the timeless styles and still exploring what lager means to us."

Carter has spent her career working with lagers and has judged competitions, consulted and spoken publicly at brewing events internationally. In Food & Wine's profile, she described her approach to recipe development. "I only want to be really good at a couple of things," Carter said. "I wasn't enamored with trying to come up with a new recipe every week. I don't like the idea of not being able to dial something in. I like doing the same thing over and over and over again, and lager lends itself to that."

Bierstadt Lagerhaus opened 10 years ago and operates a 35-barrel all-copper German brewhouse built in 1932 that was flown in from Germany. The brewery occupies space at 2875 Blake St. in Denver's RiNo neighborhood.

The brewery is open 2 to 10 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; noon to midnight Friday and Saturday; and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. More information is available at bierstadtlager.com.