Held every other year as the highlight of annual brewing-industry event, the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC), the World Beer Cup is the largest and most prestigious beer competition on the planet. As such, the biennial arrival of the “Olympics of Brewing” is highly anticipated. Unfortunately, COVID-19 scrapped both the CBC and WBC in 2020, making this year’s competition an even bigger deal than usual.
Historically, San Diego County breweries have performed admirably at the WBC. Local interests earned seven total awards (three gold, four silver) in 2018, 14 awards (five gold, four silver, five bronze) in 2016 and 11 (four gold, four silver, three bronze) in 2014, the same year Coronado Brewing was named the Best Medium-sized Brewing Company.
The 2022 WBC was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and saw a total of 10,542 beers submitted by almost 2,500 breweries spanning 57countries. Those entries were assessed by 226 certified beer judges from 28 countries. Winners from this year’s competition were announced this evening with gold, silver and bronze awarded in 103 different beer-style categories.
Local breweries were awarded 17 awards, broken down between four golds, six silvers and seven bronzes. Pizza Port Brewing garnered the most hardware, with its Bressi Ranch production facility nabbing a gold and a silver, and its Carlsbad Village, Ocean Beach and San Clemente brewpubs meriting a medal apiece. Oceanside brewpub Craft Coast Beer & Tacos was the only other operation to earn multiple awards with two bronzes.
Of the singular wins, none was bigger than North Park Beer Co. winning in the category with the most entries, American-style India Pale Ale, for its flagship Hop-Fu! IPA. Karl Strauss Brewing also pulled out a win in that hotly contested category for its Aurora Hoppyalis IPA. Other first-place winners included Dieguito (American-style Pilsener) from Pizza Port Bressi Ranch, Wee Heavy (Scotch-style Ale) from AleSmith Brewing and Schlenkerlish (Smoked Beer) from Ballast Point Brewing.
A good number of this year’s winners have previously medaled at WBC or its American-only sister competition, the Great American Beer Festival, before, including Kilowatt Brewing’s OB Bubble Dubbel, SouthNorte Beer Co.’s Agavamente, and Pizza Port Ocean Beach’s Guillame.
In addition to the winners, another big WBC announcement was made. From now on, the competition will be held annually. The 2023 WBC will be held in conjunction with next year’s CBC, which will take place in Nashville, Tennessee.
The following is a full list of the local beers that won awards at this year’s WBC…
GOLD
- American-style India Pale Ale: Hop-Fu!, North Park Beer Co. (North Park)
- American-style Pilsener: Dieguito, Pizza Port – Bressi Ranch (Carlsbad)
- Coffee Stout or Porter: Dusk til Dawn, Pizza Port Brewing (San Clemente) *
- Scotch-style Ale: Wee Heavy, AleSmith Brewing (Miramar)
- Smoked Beer: Schlenkerlish, Ballast Point Brewing (Little Italy)
SILVER
- American-style Pale Ale: Cruisin’, Pizza Port – Bressi Ranch (Carlsbad)
- Belgian-style Abbey Ale: OB Bubble Dubbel, Kilowatt Brewing (Kearny Mesa)
- Hazy or Juicy Imperial India Pale Ale: Houblon Deluxe, Pure Project Brewing (Vista)
- International Light Lager: Invita, Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad)
- International Pale Ale: Locals Only, Pizza Port Brewing (Carlsbad)
- Specialty Beer: Agavamente, SouthNorte Beer Co. (Chula Vista)
BRONZE
- American-style India Pale Ale: Aurora Hoppyalis IPA, Karl Strauss Brewing (Pacific Beach)
- Belgian-style Tablebier or Belgian-style Session Ale: Guillaume, Pizza Port Brewing (Ocean Beach)
- International Pilsener or International Lager: Oscura, Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (Oceanside)
- Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale: Haze in the Park, Kings & Convicts Brewing (Miramar)
- Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ale: Shootz Mahalo, Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (Oceanside)
- Kellerbier or Zwickelbier: Pils Bitte, Attitude Brewing (Barrio Logan)
- Old Ale or Strong Ale: King of Tyre, The Lost Abbey (San Marcos)
* Winning beer was produced at a San Diego-owned brewhouse outside of the county