SAN DIEGO — San Diego’s craft beer scene has gained much notoriety over the last few years, becoming known among beer enthusiasts as “The Capital of Craft.”
That nickname held true during the 2023 World Beer Cup, which is the largest international beer competition, with San Diego brewers taking home multiple trophies for their exceptional beer.
A dozen medals at the “Olympics of Beer Competitions” went to breweries in America’s Finest City, including three gold, two silver and seven bronze.
The three gold medal winners were AleSmith Brewing Company in Miramar, BattleMage Brewing in Vista and the North Park Beer Company.
AleSmith took home the gold in the “Old Ale or Strong Ale” category for its “Olde Ale” brew, while BattleMage snagged it for their amber ale, “Summon Ifrit,” in the American-Style Amber or Red Ale catergory. North Park Beer Company came out on top for its NZ-FU! IPA in the International category.
North Park Beer’s winner also took hold the gold in last October’s Great American Beer Festival — the precursor to the World Beer Cup.
Two other San Diego County breweries — Pizza Port and Eppig Brewing — were among the few to win multiple medals for their beers, each earning two apiece.
Pizza Port grabbed two bronze medals in the “Honey Beer” and “Australian-Style Pale Ale” categories. Eppig Brewing, on the other hand, was awarded with a silver medal for an American-style IPA and a bronze medal in the “Export Stout” catergory.
The full list of San Diego County winners can be found below:
Gold Medal Winners
- AleSmith Brewing Co. (Miramar): Olde Ale, “Old Ale or Strong Ale” category
- BattleMage Brewing (Vista): Summon Ifrit, “American-Style Amber/Red Ale” category
- North Park Beer Co. (North Park): NZ-Fu!, “International IPA” category
Silver Medal Winners
- Eppig Brewing (Vista): Meister, “American Wheat Beer” category
- Mother Earth Brew Co. (Vista): Boo Koo, “International Pale Ale” category
Bronze Medal Winners
- Burgeon Beer Co. (Carlsbad): Tight Focus, “International IPA” category
- Craft Coast Beer & Tacos (Oceanside): Old West, “American-Style IPA” category
- Eppig Brewing (Vista): Sinister Path, “Export Stout” category
- My Yard Live Beer Co. (San Marcos): Basic B@tch, “Honey Beer” category
- Pizza Port (Carlsbad): Oceano, “Australian-Style Pale Ale” category
- Pizza Port (Ocean Beach): Paloma Sour, “Specialty Berliner-Style Weisse” category
- Stone Brewing (Liberty Station): Stone Lifeblood, “American-Style Brown Ale” category
The World Beer Cup competition took place in Nashville as part of the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America, featuring more than 10,000 beers from nearly 2,400 breweries across 51 countries.
The competition, first held in 1996, included 103 different categories for each kind of brew. The entire list of winners can be found here.
The winners in the World Beer Cup are selected by a panel of judges, including brewers, consultants, industry suppliers and writers. The panel tastes each beer blind with no brand knowledge to judge each entry based on their merits.
