Local 2023 NHC Winners

Last Thursday through Saturday, the largest annual amateur-brewing event in the country was held in America’s Finest City. Presented by the American Homebrewers Association, that convention goes by the name Homebrew Con, and featured three days of camaraderie and beer at Mission Valley’s Town & Country Resort. It was also packed with educational seminars, many of which were led by local experts. Among them were White Labs’ Head of Education Erik Fowler, Lost Cause Meadery owner Billy Beltz, and Pure Project Brewing co-founder Winslow Sawyer and Education Program Manager (and San Diego Beer News columnist) Chris Leguizamon.

Each year, the highlight of Homebrew Con is the announcement of winners from the National Homebrew Competition. Held in tandem with the convention, it is the most high-profile amateur beer competition in the world. This year’s edition weighed the merits of 4,335 beers from 1,708 homebrewers in 40 style categories (including mead and cider). Those entries hailed from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 13 countries.

As in years past, San Diego County brewers fared very well, particularly those associated with local homebrew clubs. Of the nine locals that brought home medals, seven belong to the county’s largest club, QUAFF (Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity). That group included two San Diego Beer News Homebrew Summer alums, Brandon Holt and Lucas Orr, who took gold in the American Pale Ale and Strong British Ale categories, respectively, as well as American Wild Ale gold-medalists Billy and Theresa Wilks, who were part of last year’s Homebrew Summer via the San Diego Estate Beer Project. Other gold-medal recipients included Travis Hammond in Spice Mead (pictured below) and Robert Knipper of North County’s Society of Barley Engineers for Specialty IPA, a category San Diegans almost swept thanks to a silver from QUAFF’s Kevin and Kazuo Masaryk (pictured above, photo credits: Brewers Association).

QUAFF racked up an eighth medal care of San Diego transplant Bryce Hunter, who retained his club affiliation despite moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan. He took gold in the American Blonde Ale category. That victory gave QUAFF 40 total points in the competition. Any other year, that would have been enough to win Homebrew Club of the Year, but QUAFF was edged out by the Kansas City Bier Meisters, which scored 42 points. A number of those points came via three medals in cider and mead categories. To put things in perspective, this year’s third-place homebrew club scored a total of 10 points.

San Diegans earned two silvers and a bronze, including QUAFF’s Christopher Johnson, who nabbed second place in Irish & British Stout, the category with the fourth-highest number of entries behind Pilsner (211), Hazy IPA (168) and European Sour Ale (162).

The following are all of this year’s local NHC winners…

GOLD

• American Brown Ale (71 entries): Bryce Hunter, Grand Rapids, MI (QUAFF)
• American Pale Ale (123 entries): Brandon Holt, San Diego (QUAFF)
• American Wild Ale (91 entries): Billy & Theresa Wilks, San Diego
• Specialty IPA (115 entries): Robert Knipper, San Marcos (Society of Barley Engineers)
• Spice Mead (49 entries): Travis Hammond, Santee (QUAFF)
• Strong British Ale (77 entries): Lucas Orr, San Diego (QUAFF)
• Wood-aged Beer (103 entries): David Moore with Doug Brown, Carlsbad (QUAFF)

SILVER

• Seasonal Spiced Beer (39 entries): Scott Rauvola, San Diego (QUAFF)
• Specialty IPA (115 entries): Kevin & Kazuko Masaryk, San Diego (QUAFF)

BRONZE

• Irish & British Stout (161 entries): Christopher Johnson, San Diego (QUAFF)