San Diego Craft Breweries Win 3 Gold Medals And 12 Total At 2023 World Beer Cup

The Capital of Craft, San Diego, took home three Gold Medals – and 12 overall – in the 2023 World Beer Cup. Winning Gold Medals were AleSmith Brewing of Miramar, BattleMage Brewing of Vista, and North Park Beer Co.

Local breweries also won two Silver Medals and seven Bronze Medals. Pizza Port and Eppig Brewing were the only San Diego County breweries to win multiple medals with two apiece.

Held in Nashville, TN, the World Beer Cup international beer competition is often called :the Olympics of Beer Competitions.” The World Beer Cup Competition Manager selects judges from a list of internationally recognized brewers, consultants, industry suppliers, and writers. Judging is blind, with no brand knowledge of any kind provided to judges. Beer entries are judged solely on their merits.

It is part of the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America and featured more than 10,000 beers from nearly 2,400 breweries spanning 51 countries. The Brewers Association, which is a not-for-profit trade association that promotes and protects American craft brewers, hosts the competition that included 103 different categories.

Here is the list of all winning San Diego beers:

GOLD

• AleSmith Brewing Co.: Olde Ale, “Old Ale or Strong Ale” category

• BattleMage Brewing: Summon Ifrit, “American-Style Amber/Red Ale” category

• North Park Beer Co.: NZ-Fu!, “International IPA” category*

SILVER

• Eppig Brewing (Vista): Meister, “American Wheat Beer” category

• Mother Earth Brew Co. (Vista): Boo Koo, “International Pale Ale” category

BRONZE

• 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

• North Park Beer’s NZ-Fu! also won Gold at last October’s Great American Beer Festival, which is the United States predecessor to World Beer Cup.

A list of all winners can be found at https://www.worldbeercup.org/winners/current-winners/. The World Beer Cup was developed by the Brewers Association in 1996 to celebrate the art and science of brewing.

San Diego County has  more than 150 craft brewery locations.