There’s a popular joke among professionals in the brewing industry that “nobody likes West Coast IPAs”. But don’t crack that one around board members for the Oregon Brewers Guild. Those hop-obsessed crusaders for clear (and tastefully unfiltered) beers have developed a brewing competition exclusively weighing the merits of various West Coast IPAs. Hazies, smoothies and bruts (if that’s still a thing) need not apply, and even session and imperials are precluded from the sudsy scrum. Singles only, between six and eight percent. Adoration for a beer style has never known such specificity.
Dubbed the Best of the West Coast India Pale Ale National Throwdown, the second annual edition of this lupulin-laced melee took place over the weekend. Brewing companies from 13 different states submitted a total of 181 entries (up more than 100 from the previous year), which were assessed by 30 judges from five states, including California.
Breweries were limited to a total of three entries each, which could be submitted in six distinct categories: Traditional American India Pale Ale (IPA), West Coast IPA below 6.7%, West Coast IPA above 6.7%, International West Coast IPA (significantly influenced by hops grown outside the U.S., particularly those from New Zealand and Australia), Flagship IPA and “Oregon-Hop” IPA (beers for which the hop bill is 80% or more in terms of hops grown in Oregon). Judges were able to award gold medals to multiple beers in each category. Those “top tier” IPAs were then judged to see which would be named the champion in their individual categories.
Just like last year, local operation North Park Beer Co. (NPBC) brought home three medals, upping its gold count from one to two while also nabbing a silver. The latter went to the company’s flagship, Hop-Fu! Double dry-hopped and brewed with Chinook, Simcoe, Citra, Citra Cryo, Citra Incognito, Amarillo, Mosaic Cryo, Mosaic and Columbus Cryo, it’s earned numerous accolades at national and international brewing competitions, as well as prestigious homebrew competitions prior to NPBC owner and Brewmaster Kelsey McNair going pro in 2016.
The company’s gold-garnering creations were The Coast with the Most, a double dry-hopped West Coast IPA brewed with Citra DynaBoost, Citra, Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo and Simcoe, and Get On My Lawn, a double dry-hopped West Coast IPA featuring classic varietals, Amarillo, Simcoe, Columbus and Simcoe.
Unlike last year, NPBC had company on the medal stand, with TapRoom Beer Co. earning a silver medal for its New Zealand-hopped West Coast IPA, Modern Love. This was the first year the North Park brewpub entered the competition and the latest in a long string of brewing competition wins spanning the past year or so.
The breweries that took top honors in individual categories were Beachwood Brewing (Flagship IPA), Ghost Town Brewing (Oregon-Hop), Grains of Wrath Brewing (Below 6.7%), Hop Dogma Brewing (International), McMenamins (Traditional) and Riip Beer Co. (Above 6.7%). Champions were also named in classes based on annual production. Those winners were Brujos Brewing (under 1,000 barrels), Trap Door Brewing (1,000-3,000 barrels), Cerebral Brewing (3,000-10,000 barrels), Pinthouse Brewing (10,000-25,000 barrels), Breakside Brewery (25,000-50,000 barrels) and Boneyard Beer (over 50,000 barrels). This year’s Grand Champion IPA was Riip’n Greens from the Riip followed by runner-up Destination Funeral by Grapes of Wrath.