San Diego County Breweries won big at the 2025 Brewers Cup Of California.
Seven won Gold Medals at the fifth annual statewide brewing competition put on by The Sacramento Area Brewers Guild in partnership with San Diego Brewers Guild and other brewers guilds. The competition was held the last weekend in April.
“From Carlsbad to El Cajon, craft breweries across San Diego County showed well once again in our state capital,” said Brewers Guild Executive Director Erik Fowler. “Even with some overall industry struggles the last few years, the quality of San Diego craft beer has never wavered. I am proud of our local breweries that continue to add to their trophy cases.”
The Gold Medal winning breweries are: Burning Beard Brewing (El Cajon), Fall Brewing Company (Miramar), Hodad’s Brewing Company (Serra Mesa), Pizza Port Brewing Company (Carlsbad), Pure Project (Vista brewery), Taproom Beer Co. (North Park) and Tarantula Hill Brewing Co. (San Marcos).
Burning Beard won for “In Praise of Bacchus” in the Sour/Brett/Other Yeast category, Fall Brewing won for “Sweet Resistance” in the New Zealand-Style IPA category, Hodad’s won for “Throwback” in the American-Style Brown Ale, and Pizza Port won for “Irish Hello” in the Irish-Style Red Ale category, Pure Project won for its “Double Dust” in the Imperial Hazy IPA category, TapRoom won for “True Dark” in the Specialty Stout category and Tarantula Hill won for its Cali Day in the International-style Pilsener category
San Diego craft breweries took home 15 medals overall, including four Silver and five Bronze. There were two Honorable Mention accolades given out as well.
TapRoom led all San Diego breweries with three medals overall. Pizza Port’s San Clemente brewery won a Bronze Medal for “Dusk Til Dawn” in the Coffee-Flavored Beer category, giving the San Diego-based company a competition total of three
Silver
Brewery Beer Category
BLACK PLAGUE Brewing (Oceanside) Medusa Specialty Stout
Kairoa Brewing Company (University Heights) Boots and Stubbies Schwarzbier
Protector Brewery (Miramar) Rancho West Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage
TapRoom (North Park) The Chocolate Klub Chocolate Beer
Tarantula Hill (San Marcos) Cali Day International Pale Ale
Bronze
Brewery Beer Category
Ketch Brewing (Kearny Mesa) Dr. Billheimers Magic Pilsner Kellerbier
Mike Hess Brewing (North Park) Lone Pine IPA Experimental IPA
Mike Hess Brewing (North Park) EZ Drankin Honey Beer
Pizza Port Brewing (Carlsbad) Pine Park Porter Porter
TapRoom (North Park) North Park Haze Hazy IPA
Honorable Mention
Brewery Beer Category
Puesto Cerveceria (Mission Valley) Puesto IPA American-Style Pale Ale
San Diego Brewing Company (Grantville) San Diego Hazy IPA Hazy IPA
This year’s Brewers Cup of California received 1,360 entries from 203 independent craft breweries. Winning beers were determined by a panel of expert judges, who determined the winning beers in 64 categories.
A list of all winners can be found at https://brewerscupofca.com/2025-winners
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