NoVA Brewery's American-Style Brown Ale Snags World Beer Cup Gold

FAIRFAX, VA — Caboose Brewing Co., which operates Caboose Tavern in Vienna and Caboose Commons in Fairfax, has won a gold medal at the 2026 World Beer Cup for its Boxcar Brown Ale in the American-Style Brown Ale category, according to a company release.

The award follows a bronze medal at the 2025 World Beer Cup for the same beer. The release says the result reflects the brewery’s year-over-year progress with Boxcar Brown Ale.

“Taking home gold this year after earning bronze last year with the same beer is incredibly rewarding,” said Matt Smith, head brewer at Caboose Brewing Co. “It reflects the constant work our team puts into dialing in every detail and pushing ourselves to improve with each batch.”

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Boxcar Brown Ale has notes of chocolate and dark fruit and has been a regular entry in competitions, according to the release. The brewing team continued refining the recipe over the past year before receiving the 2026 award.

The World Beer Cup draws entries from breweries around the world and the competition as one of the beer industry’s top honors, according to Caboose Brewing.

Caboose Brewing Co. also received several awards in 2025, according to the announcement. Those included a gold medal at the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild Awards in the Brown Ale category for Boxcar Brown Ale, a gold medal at the U.S. Open Beer Championship in the Vienna-Style Lager category for Vienna VA Lager, and a gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest for Ctrl Atl Delete Altbier.

Caboose Tavern is located at 520 Mill Street Northeast in Vienna. Caboose Commons is located at 2918 Eskridge Road in Fairfax.