The Finest’s finest

San Diego’s standout craft-beer industry is regularly traced back to the county’s incredible homebewing culture. Many of the region’s professional brewers cut their teeth on a recreational level, cooking up beers in their kitchens or garages with amateur-brewing friends and colleagues met through local clubs. The largest of those factions is QUAFF, the Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity, which has won Homebrew Club of the Year numerous times at the American Homebrewers Association’s National Homebrew Competition. But QUAFF’s not all about entering competitions. The club also hosts the America’s Finest City Homebrew Competition, which has taken place annually since 1994.

Typically held in February, this year’s AFC Competition took place at the tail end of August, with winning beers and homebrewers being announced last night. Those winners were determined by more than 40 highly qualified judges, including three BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) Grand Masters, AleSmith Brewing owner Peter Zien, Oleg Shpyrko and Travis Hammond.

This year’s competition featured 364 entries in 33 beer, four mead and two cider categories. Of the 130 participants, 40 combined to win 103 medals. (A trio of gold, silver and bronze medals was not awarded in every category.) While the vast majority of entrants hail from San Diego County, entries were submitted from Texas (16), Georgia (10), Colorado (5), Massachusetts (2), New York (1) and Baja California (1).

The homebrewers who hoisted the most hardware were Doug Brown with 15 medals, Scott Rauvola with 10, and Jeff Case and Bill Boyer with six apiece (the latter’s half-dozen were won exclusively in mead and cider categories).

The following is a complete list of all of the winners from this year’s AFC Competition.

BEST OF SHOW WINNERS

Beer

• First Place: Owd Brown Oud Bruin, Karl Kahleck (El Cajon)
• Second Place: Supermolly American IPA, Doug Brown (San Diego)
• Third Place: The Only Affordable Aged Wheatwine, Scott Rauvola (San Diego)
• Honorable Mention: Pucker Up Guava Cup Wild Specialty Beer, Jeff Case (San Diego)

Mead & Cider

• First Place: Lagertha’s Mead, Matthew Williamson (Bakersfield)
• Second Place: Cider #17, Todd Parr (San Diego)
• Third Place: Carol’s Mullef Mead, Carol Rutherford (San Diego)

BEER CATEGORY WINNERS

Standard American Beer

• Gold: Poser Cream Ale, Matt Castellano
• Silver: I Like Lagers American Lager, Matt Castellano
• Bronze: Slow Pitch Gabe American Lager, Jason Justeson

International Lager

• Gold: Not Negra Modelo International Dark Lager, Jason Justeson
• Silver: Little Perrito International Pale Lager, Chris Van Hamersveld
• Bronze: Cedros Mexican-style Lager, Ben Wilson

Czech Lager

• Gold: Ain’t No Sunshine Schwarzbier, Doug Brown
• Silver: A Smashing Pils Czech-style Pilsner, Jordan Reed
• Bronze: Future Observing Gypsy Munich-style Helles, Rocky Evans

Pale Malty European Lager

• Gold: Golden Age Helles Lagerbier, Doug Brown
• Silver: Helles Real Helles Lagerbier, Patrick Leon
• Bronze: To Helles and Bock Helles-style Bock, Joe St. John

Pale Bitter European Beer

• Gold: All Day Slay Kölsch, Ryan Fowler
• Silver: Budvar Light German-style Leichtbier, Jon Silvertooth
• Bronze: Sunday Shenanigans German-style Exportbier, Ryan Fowler

Amber Malty European Lager

• Gold: Quafftoberfest Märzen, Doug Brown
• Silver: Bog Body Rauchbier, Scott Rauvola
• Bronze: Märzen Buddha, Tim Wang

Amber Bitter European Beer

• Gold: Golden Age Helles Kellerbier, Doug Brown
• Silver: Vampire Moon Vienna-style Lager, Eli Palma

Dark European Lager

• Gold: A Dark Beer Schwarzbier, Todd Slater
• Silver: Friday Tonight! Munich-style Dunkel, Todd Slater
• Bronze: Night Harvest Munich-style Dunkel, Eli Palma

Strong European Beer

• Gold: Eisbock, Jon Silvertooth
• Silver: Goats in a Tree Doppelbock, Doug Brown
• Bronze: Bridenbrau Baltic Porter, Robert Bridenbecker

German Wheat Beer

• Gold: Ask Me About My Weizenbock, Doug Brown
• Silver: Kaiser Weizenbock, Scott Rauvola

British Bitter

• Gold: Because I Have the Scaries Best Bitter, Jeff Klatt
• Silver: Best Bitter, Guillermo Velasco
• Bronze: Craictastic Ordinary Bitter, Patrick Leon

Pale Commonwealth Beer

• Bronze: Beach Blanket Dingo Australian-style Sparkling Ale, Jeff Case

Brown British Beer

• Gold: Improper English-style Porter, Patrick Leon
• Silver: Dapper Dog Dark Mild, Jared Rowley
• Bronze: Memoir English-style Brown Ale, Jeremiah Peterson

Irish Beer

• Gold: Darth Vader was a Leprechaun Irish-style Extra Stout, Jeff Case
• Silver: Killion’s Irish Red Ale, Gerard Killion
• Bronze: Irish Red 1.0 Irish-style Red Ale, Brew Mutt

Dark British Beer

• Gold: Foreign Extra Stout, Bryce Hunter
• Silver: Breakfast in a Bottle Oatmeal Stout, Allan Polk
• Bronze: Sweet Oatmeal Stout, Doug Brown

Strong British Ale

• Gold: Stand Still Laddy British-style Strong Ale, Chris Van Hamersveld
• Silver: Man’s Continuing Dilemma Old Ale, Scott Rauvola
• Bronze: Old Man Strong British-style Strong Ale, Doug Brown

Pale American Ale

• Gold: Rose Park Blonde “ale-Jandro” Blonde Ale, Tom Fontes
• Silver: First Mate Blonde Ale, Chris Van Hamersveld
• Bronze: Supermolly American Pale Ale, Doug Brown

Amber & Brown American Beer

• Gold: Biscuit Brown American Brown Ale, Todd Parr
• Silver: Kalifornia Steamin California Common, Scott Rauvola
• Bronze: Anchorrs Aweigh! California Common, Joe St. John

American Porter & Stout

• Gold: Vegemite Sanga Imperial Stout, Brian Young
• Silver: Son’s of Liberty Porter, Scott Rauvola
• Bronze: American Porter, Bryce Hunter

IPA

• Gold: Supermolly American IPA, Doug Brown
• Silver: Fki American IPA, Ralph Carrasquillo
• Bronze: Amalgamish American IPA, Tom Fontes

Strong American Ale

• Gold: The Only Affordable Aged Wheatwine, Scott Rauvola
• Silver: Hop Face Double IPA, Jeff Case
• Bronze: Imperial Red II American Strong Ale, Guillermo Velasco

European Sour Ale

• Gold: Owd Brown Oud Bruin, Karl Kahleck
• Silver: Gueuze 2018, Brian Trout
• Bronze: Lambic-Esque 2019, Brian Trout

Belgian Ale

• Gold: Dim Witted Witbier, Joe St. John
• Silver: One Day in Bruges Belgian-style Pale Ale, Jeff Case
• Bronze: Oui Frère Biere de Garde, Doug Brown

Strong Belgian Ale

• Gold: Small Farmhouse Methode Saison, Steven Severn
• Silver: Lucifer’s Hand Belgian-style Golden Strong Ale, Jeff Case
• Bronze: Saison Du Savannah Lynn, Doug Brown

Trappist Ale

• Gold: Brother Theodore’s Belgian Singel, Ben Frymark
• Silver: Field Hammer Belgian-style Tripel, Chris Van Hamersveld
• Bronze: Optimist Belgian-style Dark Strong Ale, Curtis Ritter

Historical Beer

• Gold: Rose Park Gose, Tom Fontes
• Silver: Please Don’t Take My Slow Pitch Away Pre-Prohibition Lager, Ralph Carrasquillo
• Bronze: Zungen Brecher Lichtenhainer, Scott Rauvola

American Wild Ale

• Gold: Pucker Up Guava Cup Wild Specialty Beer, Jeff Case
• Silver: Pandemic Porter Wild Specialty Beer, Jeremy Stacy
• Bronze: The Tartening Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer, Curt Wittenberg

Fruit Beer

• Gold: Fruit Beer, Jeremy Stacy
• Silver: Razzmatazz Fruit Beer, Jordan Reed
• Bronze: Fruit Beer, Masahiro Kitano

Spiced Beer

• Gold: La Costa Koco Stout, Tim Wang
• Silver: Autumnal Bear Wit’ness Autumn Seasonal Beer, Doug Brown
• Bronze: The Intransigent Elf Winter Seasonal Beer, Scott Rauvola

Alternative Fermentable

• Gold: P90 Rye Pale Ale, Jared Rowley

Wood Beer

• Gold: Wood Aged, Eli Palma
• Silver: The Chupacabra Specialty Wood-aged Beer, Scott Rauvola

Specialty Beer

• Gold: Pandemic Porter Clone Beer, Jeremy Stacy
• Silver: Scorval Clone Beer, Scott Rauvola
• Bronze: Sami Clone, Doug Brown

CIDER CATEGORY WINNERS

Standard Cider & Perry

• Gold: Cider #17, Todd Parr
• Silver: Outrage Truffles, Doug Brown
• Bronze: Being There – Kveik Variant, Bill Boyer

Specialty Cider & Perry

• Gold: Black is Beautiful – Cider, Bill Boyer
• Silver: County Fair – Peanut Brittle, Bill Boyer
• Bronze: Hot Stuff, Ben Frymark

MEAD CATEGORY WINNERS

Traditional Mead

• Gold: Lagertha’s Mead, Matthew Williamson
• Silver: Carol’s Traditional Mead, Carol Rutherford

Fruit Mead

• Gold: Hilde’s Mead, Matthew Williamson
• Silver: Tim the Enchanter, Bill Boyer
• Bronze: Black is Beautiful – Semi-sweet Standard, Bill Boyer

Spiced Mead

• Gold: Carol’s Mullef Mead, Carol Rutherford
• Silver: Gelos Mead, Matthew Williamson
• Bronze: Bring Out Your Dead, Bill Boyer