EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated after Stone Brewing’s bronze medal for smoked beer was changed to “honorable mention” by the LAIBC.
REGION — Twenty-five San Diego breweries won 71 of the 287 awards given at the 2019 Los Angeles International Beer Competition (LAIBC) on April 13 and 14 at the Fairplex in Los Angeles.
That’s roughly a quarter of all awards going to San Diego breweries, including 26 of the 97 gold medals awarded.
San Diego County has 158 breweries, or about 16% of California’s approximately 980 breweries.
Eight North County breweries together won 24 awards.
San Diego breweries won at least one award in 54 of the 100 beer style categories in the competition.
Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were available in each category, but the judges decided that some categories did not have three medal-deserving beers according to competition style guidelines. Three categories added an Honorable Mention for a beer that was very close to medaling.
San Diego breweries brought home 55 LAIBC awards in 2018, 60 in 2017, and 43 in 2016. This year features the best collective performance to date at this competition hosted by the LA County Fair.
Especially notable results are San Diego clean-sweeps of all three medals in both the Rye Beer and the American-Style Stout categories, and six medals for Deft Brewing (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze).
Three San Diego County Pizza Port locations combined for ten medals (5 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze); the Pizza Port location in San Clemente (just outside the boundaries of San Diego County) added two more silver medals.
Only two other breweries in the competition won 6 medals: Figueroa Mountain Brewing of Buellton, CA (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), and Garage Brewing of Temecula, CA (1 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze). Both Figueroa and Garage and considerably older and larger than Deft.
Breweries who make their home in San Diego Brewery Ignitor locations did very well. Papa Marces, their Carlsbad neighbor Rouleur, and their North Park cousin Eppig won 13 awards among them (3 gold, 2 silver, 7 bronze and 1 honorable mention).
San Diego’s winners are listed below by category number and category name:
American-Style Wheat Beer
Gold Medal: Eppig Brewing, Meister N. German Wheat Beer
Field Beer
Bronze Medal: Smoking Cannon Brewery, Paxton
Pumpkin Spice Beer
Silver Medal: Papa Marces Cerveceria, Pumpkin: The Musical
Chocolate or Cocoa Beer
Gold Medal: Belching Beaver Brewery, Mexican Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout
Specialty Beer
Gold Medal: Eppig Brewing, Count Maltula Cereal Imperial Milk Stout
Silver Medal: Indian Joe Brewing, Ham for the Holidays
Rye Beer
Gold Medal: Pizza Port – Carlsbad, Palapa
Silver Medal: Papa Marces Cerveceria, Ryesilience
Bronze Medal: Burning Beard, Roggen the Lightning
Honey Beer
Gold Medal: Booze Brothers Brewing Co., Honey Bloom
Session Beer
Gold Medal: Burgeon Beer Company, Clever Kiwi
Silver Medal: Pizza Port – San Diego, Guillaume
Session India Pale Ale
Gold Medal: Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Mosaic Session IPA
Bronze Medal: Pizza Port – Carlsbad, Ponto
Fresh Hop Beer
Silver Medal: Deft Brewing, Patio Hops & Geysers
Historical Beer
Gold Medal: Deft Brewing, DoubleDeft Secret
Silver Medal: South Park Brewing, Skol
American-Belgo-Style Ale
Gold Medal: Rouleur Brewing Company, PUNCHEUR Pale Ale
Silver Medal: Rock Bottom – La Jolla, Epic Joyride WIPA
Brett Beer
Bronze Medal: Papa Marces Cerveceria, The Funk For Red October
Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer
Gold Medal: 3 Punk Ales, Barley Legal
Silver Medal: AleSmith Brewing Company, Cinnamon Vanilla Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout
Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout
Silver Medal: Pizza Port – Carlsbad Village, 2018 Strong Ale
Smoke Beer
Gold Medal: South Park Brewing, Bread & Smoke
Honorable Mention: Stone Brewing Co. – Liberty Station, Rogalian
International-Style Pilsner
Bronze Medal: Eppig Brewing, Eppig Special Lager
American-Style Lager or Ice Lager or Malt Lager
Bronze Medal: Thorn Brewing Company, Barrio Lager
American-Style Cream Ale
Bronze Medal: Ballast Point, Ballast Point Lager
Bohemian-Style Pilsner
Silver Medal: Thorn Brewing, Golden Hills Pils
Munich-Style Helles
Gold Medal: 2kids Brewing Company, Five Finger Discount
Bronze Medal: Green Flash Brewing, Baja Bound
Vienna-Style Lager
Gold Medal: Rip Current Brewing Company, Corriente Negra Mexican Lager
German-Style Maerzen
Bronze Medal: Thorn Brewing Company, Marty Zen
Bock
Gold Medal: Rip Current Brewing Company, Breakline Bock
Golden or Blonde Ale
Bronze Medal: Deft Brewing, Bay Park Blonde
German-Style Kolsch
Silver Medal: Mike Hess Brewing, Claritas
English-Style Summer Ale
Gold Medal: Deft Brewing, DeftHopt Golden
Silver Medal: Rock Bottom – La Jolla, San Diego Sunset Blonde
English-Style India Pale Ale
Silver Medal: South Park Brewing, In the Meantime
International-Style Pale Ale
Bronze Medal: Burgeon Beer Company, Canopy Tour
American-Style Strong Pale Ale
Gold Medal: Burgeon Beer Company, Treevana
Bronze Medal: Thorn Brewing Company, Relay IPA
American-Style India Pale Ale
Bronze Medal: Burning Beard, Dankness Visible
Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale
Honorable Mention: Rouleur Brewing Company, DOPEUR Juicy IPA
Double Hoppy Red Ale
Gold Medal: Pizza Port – Carlsbad, Sharkbite Red
English-Style Mild Ale
Gold Medal: Pizza Port – San Diego, Skidmark
Ordinary or Special Bitter
Gold Medal: South Park Brewing, Robert Smith’s Smooth
Extra Special Bitter
Silver Medal: 2kids Brewing Company, Poppycock ESB
Scottish-Style Ale
Bronze Medal: Eppig Brewing, Granite City Scottish Export
English-Style Brown Ale
Silver Medal: Pizza Port – Carlsbad Village, shagadellic brown
German-Style Sour Ale
Gold Medal: Mike Hess Brewing, Peach My Other Vice
Bronze Medal: Papa Marces Cerveceria, Zest Of Friends
German-Style Altbier
Gold Medal: Stone Brewing Co. – Liberty Station, Space Bar Friends
South German-Style Hefewizen
Gold Medal: Pizza Port – San Diego, Flying Hawaiian
Silver Medal: Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Windansea Wheat
German-Style Wheat Ale
Silver Medal: Pizza Port – San Diego, Junk In Da Trunkel Dunkel
Belgian-Style Blonde Ale or Pale Ale
Gold Medal: Pizza Port – Carlsbad Village, Twerp
Classic French and Belgian-Style
Silver Medal: 2kids Brewing Company, Rocket Powered Geese
Specialty Saison
Bronze Medal: Papa Marces Cerveceria, Is It Bretty Yet?
Belgian and French-Style Ale
Bronze Medal: Chula Vista Brewery, Sin Paredes
Belgian-Style Tripel
Bronze Medal: Burning Beard, Panic at the Nunnery
Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale
Silver Medal: Thorn Brewing, Fornication
Bronze Medal: Rouleur Brewing Company, SOLOIST Golden Strong Ale
Brown Porter
Gold Medal: Deft Brewing, Dawn of the Deft
Export Stout
Silver Medal: Stone Brewing Co. – Liberty Station, Brut(ish) Imperial Stout
American-Style Stout
Gold Medal: Stone Brewing Co. – Liberty Station, Cimmerian Portal
Silver Medal: Smoking Cannon Brewery, Coehorn
Bronze Medal: Papa Marces Cerveceria, Astout Observation
Oatmeal Stout
Silver Medal: Deft Brewing, Day of the Deft
Imperial Stout
Gold Medal: Rip Current Brewing Company, Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout
Old Ale or Strong Ale
Silver Medal: AleSmith Brewing Company, AleSmith Private Stock Ale
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