Organized by U.S. trade organization, the Brewers Association (BA), the World Beer Cup is the largest international brewing competition in the world. Since its inception in 1996, the “Olympics of beer” has been held every even-numbered year as part of the country’s largest brewing-industry convention, the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC). That cycle was broken in 2020 when the COVID 19 pandemic shut down CBC altogether. When the World Beer Cup made its return last year, the BA announced it would be held on an annual basis moving forward.
San Diego County brewing companies have a stellar World Beer Cup track record. In 2022, local interests earned a remarkable 17 total awards (four gold, six silver and seven bronze). Prior to that, San Diego brewing companies combined to bring home seven awards in 2018, 14 in 2016 and 11 in 2014.
Winners of the 2023 World Beer Cup were announced this afternoon. CBC and its companion competition took place in Nashville, Tennessee, where 10,213 beers from 2,376 breweries in 51 countries were judged in 103 style categories by a total of 272 certified judges out of 26 countries.
A dozen beers brewed in San Diego County earned medals. Three were gold, two were silver and seven were bronze. Gold medalists included Olde Ale from Miramar’s AleSmith Brewing in the Old Ale or Strong Ale category, Summon Ifrit from Vista’s BattleMage Brewing (a first-time World Beer Cup winner) in American-style Amber/Red Ale category, and NZ-Fu! from North Park Beer Co. in International India Pale Ale (IPA). The latter also took gold at last year’s Great American Beer Festival, the U.S. predecessor to and equivalent of the World Beer Cup.
Local brewing interests to bring home multiple medals with two apiece were Vista’s Eppig Brewing, which took silver for American Wheat Beer and bronze in Export Stout, and Pizza Port Brewing, whose Ocean Beach brewpub nabbed bronze for its Paloma Sour in the Specialty Berliner-style weisse category, while its Carlsbad Village location garnered a bronze in Australian-style Pale Ale for Oceano.
The following is a full list of the local beers that won awards at this year’s WBC…
GOLD
- American-style Amber / Red Ale: Summon Ifrit, BattleMage Brewing (Vista)
- International India Pale Ale: NZ-Fu!, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
- Old Ale or Strong Ale: Olde Ale, AleSmith Brewing (Miramar)
SILVER
- American Wheat Beer: Meister, Eppig Brewing (Vista)
- International Pale Ale: Boo Koo, Mother Earth Brew Co. (Vista)
BRONZE
- American-style Brown Ale: Stone Lifeblood, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station (Point Loma)
- American-style India Pale Ale: Old West, Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (Oceanside)
- Australian-style Pale Ale: Oceano, Pizza Port Brewing (Carlsbad)
- Export Stout: Sinister Path, Eppig Brewing (Vista)
- Honey Beer: Basic Batch, My Yard Live (San Marcos)
- International India Pale Ale: Tight Focus, Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad)
- Specialty Berliner-style Weisse: Paloma Sour, Pizza Port Brewing (Ocean Beach)