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Prison City Pub & Brewery, of Auburn, took gold in the American IPA Variations category for Elegant Pride, a pale ale with lemon zest and mango tea. And Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co., of Weedsport, took gold in the Pale Ale category for its Exit 40 Pale Ale.

Lunkenheimer also won a silver in NYS Ingredient Beer (any beer made with 60% or more ingredients sourced from within the state) for Exit 40 Pale Ale, and a bronze in Fruit and Spice Beer (Non-sour) for its Elderberry Kolsch.

Both breweries could still win more awards at the competition, too: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, only 12 of the competition's 25 categories were able to be judged as scheduled on March 14 in Rochester. The remaining categories — whose flavors won't change so much with the passage of time — will possibly be judged at a later date. 

The awards were announced at a virtual ceremony on Facebook Live and YouTube Thursday night. 

"While we cannot celebrate together in person, we still wanted to honor the high-quality beers coming out of New York state," said Paul Leone, executive director of the New York State Brewers Association, in a news release. "The virtual ceremony allowed us to not only connect with breweries across the state but also consumers, who normally don't get to see the awards being announced. We hope it will further encourage consumers to support these and other New York State breweries."

The biggest award of the competition, the Governor's Craft Beer Cup recognizing the best overall beer, went to Big aLICe Brewing Co., of Long Island City, for The Many Lives of Our Lives, a mixed-culture blended sour aged in red wine barrels and neutral oak with New York state cherries and blueberries.

The cup went to Auburn's Prison City last year, for its bourbon barrel-aged Wham Whams, an imperial stout with toasted coconut and vanilla beans. The State Street brewpub took a total of four awards at that competition, and Lunkenheimer took three.

The competition is held by the state Brewers Association with assistance from the , and sponsored by 1886 Malt House. Beers are blind-judged by a panel of figures from the state beer industry. For more information, including a full list of winners, visit .