In 1982, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) held the first-annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF). That inaugural affair, which was held in conjunction with the AHA’s national conference at the Harvest House Hotel in Boulder, Colorado, saw 800 attendees marvel over the fact they could consume 47 beers from 24 breweries in one place. Over time, GABF has grown considerably. It is now held in Denver’s Colorado Convention Center over three days and draws tens of thousands of attendees to sample thousands of beers from hundreds of participating brewing companies.
In 1987, GABF introduced a professional brewing competition, in which beers are placed in various categories (e.g., American-style India Pale Ale, German-style Pilsener, Imperial Stout) and judged on how closely they adhere to established style guidelines. This industry-focused sister-event has also grown to become the largest and most prestigious brewing competition in the country. Winning a gold, silver or bronze medal at GABF is as big as it gets as far as brewing-industry bragging rights go.
San Diego County breweries have amassed quite the awards case over the years. Last year, local beers earned 18 medals (five of which were gold) matching the same impressive total reached in 2021, 2019 and 2016. For the record, San Diego breweries earned 15 medals in 2022, 13 in 2020, 16 in 2018 and 14 in 2017. That level of excellence is something brewers rightfully hang their hats on, and which their fans applaud them for.
Winners from the 2024 GABF competition were announced this morning, and this year San Diego County breweries brought home 12 medals. Five of them were gold, four were silver and three were bronze.
Non-alcoholic beer company Athletic Brewing‘s Miramar brewhouse was the only single location to earn multiple medals with a pair of silvers, though Pizza Port Brewing had the most medal-winning beers of any local business with three, each coming from a different link in their chain of brewpubs. That included gold medals in the Imperial Stout and Coffee Stout or Porter categories, plus another in a long line of medals for its Belgian-style table beer, Guillame.
Other gold-medal winners included Pizza Port alum operation Craft Coast Beer & Tacos for its International Pils, Chillzner, and a citrus-laced Gose from Culture Brewing. Two vets also struck gold, with the county’s foremost lager brewer, Doug Hasker, ascending the medal stand with Puesto Cerveceria’s dark Mexican-style lager, and Jeff Bagby earning Green Cheek Beer Co. bragging rights for the Baltic porter recipe he carried over from his former operation, Bagby Beer Co.
Silver winners included Rouleur Brewing’s Domestique Belgian-style blonde ale, which medaled at GABF for the third straight year, and Pure Project Brewing’s Mount Eden saison, while bronzes were collected by Kilowatt Brewing and Stone Brewing’s Liberty Station brewpub. An additional gold and silver were awarded to out-of-county locations for locally businesses, Mother Earth Brew Co. and Pizza Port, while beers from other breweries with local ties, including Tarantula Hill Brewing and Green Cheek’s Orange County facilities, also medaled.
The 2024 edition of the GABF competition had 9,200 entries (including ciders for the first time in the competition’s history) in more than 100 style categories from 1,838 U.S. breweries and cideries. Those entries were judged by 285 certified judges and experienced veterans from the brewing industry, including individuals from various San Diego County beer companies.
The following is a full list of beers from San Diego County breweries that medaled at this year’s GABF competition…
Gold Medals
Coffee Stout or Porter: Dusk Til Dawn, Pizza Port Brewing (San Clemente) *
Contemporary Gose: 3 Citrus Gose, Culture Brewing (Solana Beach)
Imperial Stout: Indie Roo, Pizza Port Brewing (Imperial Beach)
International Dark Lager: Puesto Negra, Puesto Cervecería (Mission Valley)
International-style Pilsener: Chillzner, Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (San Marcos)
Strong Porter: Jeff’s Baltic Porter, Green Cheek Beer Co. (Oceanside)
Silver Medals
Belgian-style Ale or French-style Ale: Domestique Blonde Ale, Rouleur Brewing (Carlsbad)
International Light Lager: Wakumi, Mother Earth Brew Co. (Nampa, Idaho) **
Pale Non-Alcohol Beer: Free Wave Hazy IPA, Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
Specialty Non-Alcohol Beer: Tropical Sour, Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
Specialty Saison: Mount Eden, Pure Project Brewing (Vista)
Bronze Medals
Dessert Stout or Pastry Stout: Peanut Butter & Jelly Tiempo, Kilowatt Brewing (Kearny Mesa)
Other Strong Beer: Stone Lifeblurred, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station (Point Loma)
Session Beer or Belgian-style Table Beer: Guillaume, Pizza Port Brewing (Ocean Beach)
* Beer was brewed at out-of-county location for local company
** Beer was brewed at out-of-state location for local company
A complete list of winners from the 2024 Great American Beer Festival is available online