Bay Area breweries dominated in two major beer competitions that took place in recent weeks: The Brewer’s Cup of California and World Beer Cup. Among the standouts? Morgan Territory Brewing and Ghost Town Brewing. Here’s what to know.
Brewer’s Cup of California
The California State Fair competition, also known as the Brewer’s Cup of California, pits all California breweries against each other in Sacramento. Organized by the Sacramento Area Brewers Guild with the support of other state guilds,1,360 beers from 203 California breweries faced off in 64 style categories this year.
Russian River Brewing won a gold medal and a silver one at this year’s World Beer Cup. (Courtesy Brewers Association)The winners were announced April 25, and Bay Area breweries took home about one in five of the awarded 191 medals. Within the Bay Area, the East Bay dominated with eight breweries winning 19 medals, followed by the South Bay, where nine breweries accounted for 14 medals. Overall, the big individual winner was Morgan Territory Brewing, which was named Brewery of the Year for the second time in three years, and brought home a staggering seven medals, including four golds.
Morgan Territory Brewing, a Tracy-based brewery, recently opened a new taproom in Pleasant Hill. The expansion is aimed at introducing the brewery’s offerings to a Bay Area audience. (Photo courtesy Cassandra Santos/Morgan Territory Brewing.)In the East Bay, beyond Morgan Territory’s seven, Fieldwork Brewing won four medals, including two golds (for “Wrapt in Warm Flannel” and their N/A “Day Money”) and two silvers. Ghost Town Brewing won a silver and a bronze and Mike Hess Brewing won two bronze medals.
In the South Bay, Alvarado Street picked up three medals including a gold for “Bistro Hef,” and Fruition, Half Moon Bay, and Hop Dogma each won two medals.
San Francisco’s Black Hammer Brewing won two medals, and in the North Bay, Pond Farm Brewing brought home a silver medal for their “Daily Brot.”
World Beer Cup
Just the next week, Bay Area’s breweries took to the international ring, competing head-to-head against every brewery on the planet in the World Beer Cup.
This year’s competition, held in Indianapolis, included the judging of 8,375 beers from 1,761 breweries and cideries from 49 countries in 112 beer categories and five cider categories. There were 265 tasters from 37 nations, including yours truly, who judged the beers over a seven-day period. The awards were announced May 1.
The biggest Bay Area winner was Oakland’s Ghost Town Brewing, which was one of only two breweries in the world to win five medals — and four of them were gold. They won gold for “Mordanr,” “Necrocat,” “Ossuary” and “Perverse Inverse,” with a silver for the wonderfully named “Chasmic Absorption Through Whirlpools of Disarray.”
Alvarado Street Brewery brought home three medals between their Salinas and Monterey locations, including a gold medal for “Howzit Punch.” Five Bay Area breweries each won a pair of medals, including Danville Brewing (with two bronze medals), Morgan Territory (both gold medals), Original Pattern (including one gold and a bronze), Russian River Brewing (also with one gold medal plus a silver), and 21st Amendment Brewing (with a silver and a bronze).
Fieldwork Brewing took home one medal from the World Beer Cup and four from the Brewer’s Cup of California this year. (Courtesy Brewers Association)Three more local breweries won a single gold medal each, and they were Drake’s Brewing (for “Bold Rush”), Hop Dogma (for “Pyro’s Prost”), and Pond Farm Brewing (for “Imperial Dark Mast”). The other single award winners were Alameda Brewing, Bartlett Hall, Fieldwork Brewing and Old Caz Brewing.
Although entries were down slightly over last year, possibly due to economic and political factors, there was still good representation from abroad. Despite that, the U.S. dominated the awards, winning 301 of the 349 medals awarded. The next-closest country was Japan, with 13, followed by nine from Canada. Of the U.S. medals, California breweries brought home a whopping 76 medals, with Oregon in second with 35, followed by Washington, with 24 medals.
Unsurprisingly, once again, the category with the most entries was Juicy or Hazy IPA, with 290 entered, followed by West Coast-Style IPA with 253. American-Style IPA came in third, with 208 entries, with lagers in the final two of the top five. At number four was German-Style Pilsner, with 186 entries, followed by Hoppy Lager, with 155 entries.
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Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.
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