San Diego’s performance at the 2024 U.S. Open Beer Championship was incredibly memorable, with the county’s breweries earning an all-time high medal count of 20, 11 of which were gold. The same could not be said for 2025, when local beermakers failed to amass even half that total. Many deemed that poor outing a fluke, and going by the results of this year’s competition ‒ which were announced earlier this week ‒ they were correct.
San Diego County brewing companies brought home 17 medals at the 2026 U.S. Open Beer Championship, which was held in Oxford, Ohio. Nine of those medals were gold, six were silver and two were of the bronze variety.
The biggest winner was Stone Brewing, which nabbed two golds and two silvers in varied categories: Light / Session IPA, Golden / Blonde Ale, American Stout and American Brown Ale. They were joined in the latter category by Tarantula Hill Brewing, a Thousand Oaks-based business which operates a production facility at Draft Republic’s San Marcos location. That company collected two golds and two silvers. That included a gold and silver in different categories for an IPA called Dankerman that was brewed in collaboration with local ops Artifex Brewing, Burgeon Beer Co. and Craft Coast Brewing. Burgeon also took four medals, including golds in the International-style Pilsner and Session Beer categories.
Athletic Brewing, a Miramar-based company and the nation’s largest producer of non-alcoholic beer, earned two golds and A silver. Meanwhile, Fall Brewing notched a gold for a collaboration lager brewed with Normal Heights’ BLAH Brewing, and Julian Beer Co. brought home a bronze.
Based on total medals won, this year’s Brewery of the Year were Alvarado Hill Brewery (a Monterey, California business started by the co-founder of San Diego’s since-closed Amplified Aleworks) in the 15,001-plus barrels production category, Alstadt Brewery (5,001-15,000 barrels), Third Eye Brewing (2,001-5,000 barrels), River North Brewery (1,001-2,000 barrels), Wild Heart Brewing (501-1,000 barrels), Forgotten Road Ales (251-500 barrels) and Sandy Springs Brewing (1-250 barrels). Cincinnati, Ohio’s Third Eye Brewing was named the 2026 Grand National Champion.
The complete list of local winners from the 2026 U.S. Open Beer Championship is as follows…
GOLD (9)
American Brown Ale: Lifeblood, Stone Brewing (Point Loma)
Berliner Weisse: Dazzle Berry, Tarantula Hill Brewing (Thousand Oaks) *
Collaboration Beer – IPA: Dankerman IPA, Tarantula Hill Brewing with Artifex Brewing, Burgeon Beer Co. & Craft Coast Brewing (Thousand Oaks) *
Collaboration Beer – Lager: Park Life, Fall Brewing with BLAH Brewing (Miramar)
International-style Pilsner: Copa, Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad)
Light / Session IPA: DayFest, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station (Point Loma)
Non-Alcoholic – Fruit & Spices: Ripe Pursuit, Athletic Brewing (Milford, Connecticut) *
Non-Alcoholic – Golden / Blonde: Upside Dawn, Athletic Brewing (Milford, Connecticut) *
Session Beer: Clever Kiwi, Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad)
SILVER (6)
American Brown Ale: Who’s That? Brown!, Tarantula Hill Brewing (Thousand Oaks) *
American IPA: Treevana, Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad)
American Stout: Cimmerian Portal, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station (Point Loma)
Golden or Blonde Ale: Liberty Cliche, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station (Point Loma)
New Zealand-style IPA: Dankerman IPA, Tarantula Hill Brewing (Thousand Oaks) *
Non-Alcoholic – Amber Ale: Atletica, Athletic Brewing (Milford, Connecticut) *
BRONZE (2)
American-style Pilsner: Anatomical Blonde, Julian Beer Co. (Julian)
International-style Pale Ale: Coast is Clear, Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad)
* Company based outside the county, which operates a brewing facility in San Diego County