Costco's Kirkland Lager Is One Of World's Best Beers, Say Competition Judges

Forbes

21-06-2025

Costco's Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager has earned top medals at two of the world's most prestigious beer competitions. Most recently it took home silver at the World Beer Cup Phealan Robinson
One of the best helles lagers anywhere on Earth is Costco's Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager, judges at the World Beer Cup ruled recently, and it's not the first prestigious award the beer has won.
The Kirkland Signature Hellles is brewed by Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. Though Deschutes is one of the largest craft breweries in the U.S., its Helles-style lager was not traditionally one of its better-known beers. In fact, the lager, which was then called Prinz Crispy, was an obscure small-batch offering until it won gold at the 2023 Great American Beer Festival. That win helped lead to a collaboration between Costco and Deschutes to ramp up production of the beer and rename it, but the recipe remained unchanged. Today, the beer's combination of light, malt-forward character and approachability is continuing to earn impressive awards. The lager took home the silver medal in the highly competitive Helles Lager category at this year's World Beer Cup. As Peter Skrbek, Deschutes' CEO, told me in a video call, it is one thing to win an award for a beer brewed on a small scale but 'it's another thing when you have a scaled-up production beer that's also taking down medals.'
The Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup are the two most prestigious beer competitions in the U.S. and, arguably, the world. Many of the beers that medal at each festival have limited distribution and are sometimes only available at the taproom at the brewery where they were produced. Kirkland Lager on the other hand, is an award-winning beer that is sold at every Costco that can legally sell private-label beer. It costs $13.99 per 12-pack.
Costco's Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager has won two of the most coveted competition medals in craft beer. Phealan Robinson
A few years back, Robin Johnson, Deschutes' head brewer, was looking for a beer to enter into the Great American Beer Festival. 'He's like, 'What if we really went after lager and really went competitive on lager?' Skrbek said. 'So he spent a ton of time developing this Helles recipe.'
The initial beer was brewed at Deschutes' 10-barrel brewing system at its Bend brewpub. The goal was a limited-edition beer for competitions, not wide distribution. 'There was never an intent of this beer being a commercial beer, in part because, ironically, the cost of making it, because of the raw ingredients, was extremely high,' Srkbek said.
Costco has carried Deschutes beer for years. In a meeting between the Deschutes team and Russ York, a Costco buyer, they began to discuss doing something for the Kirkland Signature brand. 'I said that we would like to do something that was NOT an IPA,' York explains in an email to me. 'I felt our members needed something more sessionable and refreshing. IPAs are everywhere, and everyone has their favorite.'
Srkbek had just the right beer in mind. 'I was like, 'Well, man, you know, we just won this gold medal for this beer that we have really no big plan for commercially. How awesome would it be to introduce this gold medal-winning beer to members?'
York liked the idea and was completely sold as soon as he tasted the beer. 'I loved it because it had the refreshing taste of a light beer, but it had substance,' York wrote. 'With standard domestic light beers, it just quenches your thirst, not leaving an impression. But the lager does both.' A Craft Beer Available in Bulk
To brew the rebranded Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager, Deschutes moved production of Prinz Crispy from its 10-barrel system to its 150-barrel production brewery. Producing such large quantities of beer itself wasn't difficult, Srkbek said, but sourcing ingredients and handling the distribution logistics at the scale necessary wouldn't have been possible without Costco's help.
York declined to share sales numbers. 'I can say that it is selling quite well and actually did more than we anticipated, given it launched in the off-season for this style of beer—winter,' he wrote.
Srkbek couldn't offer any sales numbers either but did say the beer has impacted overall U.S. demand for Tettnang hops, which are a key part of its recipe. 'We basically consumed the entire domestic Tettnang crop last year, which is an insane thought. And as a result, we have more farmers planting Tettnang,' Srkbek said.
Despite that scale, Srkbek is proud that the quality of that beer has not slipped: a view that was validated when the beer took home silver at the World Beer Cup. 'The cool thing there is that it is the production beer. It's not a different batch. It's right out of the same batch that went to members and into the warehouses at Costco.' More From Forbes Forbes The World's Best IPA—According To The International Beer And Cider Awards By Erik Ofgang Forbes The Best Lagers Of 2025—According To The World Beer Cup By Erik Ofgang