Last week, winning beers from the 2025 edition of the California State Fair’s Commercial Brewing Competition were announced. The annual contest awarded gold, silver and bronze medals (plus honorable mentions) in more than 50 different beer-style categories.
This year, seven San Diego County operations earned 14 medals. That total was down slightly from 2024, when 11 local breweries brought home 18 medals. That downtick can be attributed to less local businesses entering the state-level competition, as three of last year’s winning breweries have either shut down on a permanent or temporary basis or are in the process of doing so.
But on to the good news. While the total medal count was lower this year, San Diego brewing concerns amassed more golds, going from three last year to five this year. Local operations also came one beer shy of sweeping two different style categories, Irish Red Ale (gold and bronze) and American Amber & Brown Ales (silver and bronze).
The local companies that won the most medals were North Park Brewery Igniter tenants Barley & Sword Brewing, with two golds and a bronze, and Vista’s BattleMage Brewing, with two silvers and a bronze. Once again, Pizza Port’s pub brewers combined to haul in hardware, with its Ocean Beach location garnering a gold and a silver, and its Imperial Beach and Carlsbad Village spots taking a silver and a bronze, respectively. (Pizza Port’s San Clemente brewpub also earned a gold.) Carlsbad-based Burgeon Beer Co. also scored a gold, while a bronze apiece went to Booze Brothers Brewing, Hodad’s Brewing and TapRoom Beer Co.
A number of the winning beers were repeat medalists, either at this event or other high-profile competitions. Barley & Sword’s Irish-style red ale, Beoir Dearg, earned gold at the California State Fair for the second straight year, while also taking first place at this year’s San Diego County Fair Craft Brew Competition (SDCFCBC). Pizza Port’s Paloma sour ale took silver at the state level and gold at the SDCFCBC, while its Junk in da Trunkel German-style dunkel got gold in this competition after earning a gold and a bronze in the past two years at the “Olympics of Beer”, the World Beer Cup (WBC). Similarly, BattleMage’s red ale, Summon Ifrit, swiped a silver at the State Fair after consecutive medal-winning performances at the WBC in 2023 (gold) and 2024 (silver), not to mention a silver at this year’s SDCFCBC.
The following is a complete list of local winners from this year’s competition…
GOLD MEDALS (5)
American Pale Ale: Party of One, Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad)
Bohemian-style / Czech-style Pilsner: Liberation!, Barley & Sword Brewing (North Park)
German-style Wheat Ale: Junk in da Trunkel Dunkel, Pizza Port (Ocean Beach)
Irish Red Ale: Beoir Dearg, Barley & Sword Brewing (North Park)
Trappist Style Ale: Faceplant, Pizza Port (San Clemente) *
SILVER MEDALS (4)
American Amber & Brown Ales: Summon Ifrit, BattleMage Brewing (Vista)
American-style Fruit Beer: Paloma, Pizza Port (Ocean Beach)
Belgian Strong Ale: Snow White, Pizza Port (Imperial Beach)
British Strong Ales: Hooded Assassin, BattleMage Brewing (Vista)
BRONZE MEDALS (6)
American Amber & Brown Ales: Green Eyed Amber, Booze Brothers Brewing (Vista)
American-style India Pale Ale: White Wolf, BattleMage Brewing (Vista)
Classic Irish-style Dry Stout: Wheeler’s Patent, Barley & Sword Brewing (North Park)
International Lager: Surf Punk, Hodad’s Brewing (Serra Mesa)
Irish Red Ale: Irish Hello, Pizza Port Carlsbad Village (Carlsbad)
Standard British Ales: A Usual Brown, TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park)
* Non-local brewpub’s parent company is based in Carlsbad
The full list of winners from this year’s competition can be viewed online