It would appear awards season is officially on for the brewing industry. On a local level, the fifth-annual San Diego Beer News Awards went down last week and winners are being tabulated for the San Diego County Fair Craft Brew Competition (formerly the San Diego International Beer Competition). And next month, winners from the “Olympics of Beer”, AKA the World Beer Cup, will be announced at the Craft Brewers Conference in Indianapolis. In addition to those initiatives, an international competition based out of Bend, Oregon, recently took place.
Dubbed the Best of Craft Beer Awards, it’s an 11-year-old initiative that, despite receiving less entries from San Diego breweries than other competitions, typically includes the names of numerous local breweries on its winners lists. This year’s Best of Craft Beer Awards included more than 1,200 entries (down from nearly 2,000 in 2024) in 61 categories and subcategories. In the end, 135 medals were awarded to 87 winning breweries, four of which hail from San Diego County.
The biggest winner of them all was non-alcoholic beer producer Athletic Brewing, which not only came one beer shy of sweeping two different categories – Non-alcoholic Hop-forward Beers and Non-alcoholic Other Beers – but was also named Large-size Brewery of the Year. TapRoom Beer Co. also had an impressive showing, earning three silver medals for beers in the Bock, Classic & Specialty Saisons & Farmhouse Beers, and Hazy or Juicy Imperial IPA categories, while fellow North Park operation Barley & Sword Brewing received a silver in English & Scottish Ales, and Miramar-based Fall Brewing nabbed a gold in Collaboration Beers for their work with Washington’s Varietal Beer Co.
The following is a list of this year’s winning beers from local brewing companies…
Champion
Large-size Brewery of the Year: Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
Gold Medals
Collaboration Beers: Self Destruct, Fall Brewing (Miramar) with Varietal Beer Co.
Non-alcoholic Hop-forward Beers: Run Wild IPA, Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
Non-alcoholic Other Beers: Raspberry Espresso Stout, Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
Silver Medals
Bocks: Night of Several Sleeps, TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park)
Classic & Specialty Saisons & Farmhouse Beers: Ethereal Gaze, TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park)
English & Scottish Ales: Orkney Ale, Barley & Sword Brewing (North Park)
Hazy & Juicy Imperial IPA: Infilitration, TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park)
Bronze Medals
Non-alcoholic Hop-forward Beers: Freewave Hazy IPA, Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
Non-alcoholic Other Beers: Soul Sour, Athletic Brewing (Miramar)
A full list of winners from the 2025 Best of Craft Beer Awards is available online