California Dominates World Beer Cup!

California craft brewers bring home most awards of any country at world’s largest international brewing competition

California craft brewers absolutely dominated the 2010 Brewers Association World Beer Cup—the world’s largest-ever commercial beer competition. Brewers from six continents earned awards from an elite international panel of judges in the eighth bi-annual competition, held in Chicago this last Saturday. Awards were given to brewers from 19 countries ranging from Australia and Italy to Iceland and Japan.

California brewers took home a total of 45 medals, by far the most of any other country or state. The runner up was Germany with a total of 16 medals followed by Oregon with 14.

Ballast Point Brewing Co. from San Diego tied with a Japanese brewery for taking home the most gold medals, a total of four.

The competition also bestows Champion Brewery and Champion Brewmaster awards in each of five brewery categories based on the awards won by each brewery. Of these five, an unprecedented two came from California; Firestone-Walker Brewing Company in Paso Robles won Mid-Size Brewing Company Category while the Small Brewing Company Category went to Ballast Point Brewing Company in San Diego.

This year, 642 breweries from 44 countries and 47 U.S. states vied for awards with 3,330 beers entered in 90 beer style categories. The entries in each category were eligible for gold, silver and bronze awards. Judges presented a total of 268 awards.

Judges from 26 countries worked in teams to conduct blind tasting evaluations of the beers and determine the awards. Drawn from the ranks of professional brewers and brewing industry experts, these 179 judges came mostly from international breweries, with some 62 percent from outside the United States.

The following are the California brewers who brought home the metal.

Specialty Honey Beer, 27 entries
Bronze: Cable Car Amber Ale, World Brews, Novato, CA

Session Beer, 28 entries
Silver: Firestone Extra Pale Ale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Bronze: Guppie Pale Ale, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Chandler, Huntington Beach, CA

Other Strong Beer, 44 entries
Gold: Imperial Jack, 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, CA
Silver: Green Flash Stout, Green Flash Brewing Co., Vista, CA

Experimental Beer, 51 entries
Gold: 100% Brett Autumn Maple, The Bruery, Placentia, CA

Out of Category – Traditionally Brewed Beer, 47 entries
Gold: Fathom IPL, Ballast Point Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Silver: Hot Rocks Lager, Port Brewing Co., San Marcos, CA

Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer, 32 entries
Gold: Bourbon Barrel Aged Piper Down, Ballast Point Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

German-Style Pilsener, 69 entries
Gold: Pilsner, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Silver: Trumer Pils, Trumer Brauerei, Berkeley, CA

German-Style Märzen, 28 entries
Gold: Rocktoberfest, Rock Bottom Brewery – Long Beach, Long Beach, CA

German-Style Schwarzbier, 38 entries
Silver: TAPS Schwarzbier, TAPS Fish House & Brewery – Corona, Corona, CA

German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock, 43 entries
Gold: Broken Skeg, Breakwater Brewing Co., Oceanside, CA

Baltic-Style Porter, 28 entries
Bronze: Token, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA

Belgian-Style Flanders/Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale, 20 entries
Gold: Oude Tart, The Bruery, Placentia, CA
Silver: Red Poppy, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA

Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale, 33 entries
Silver: Revelations, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter, 24 entries
Gold: Steep Trail Amber Ale, Black Diamond Brewing Co., Concord, CA

English-Style Mild Ale, 23 entries
Silver: London Tavern Ale, Valley Brewing Co., Stockton, CA

English-Style Brown Ale, 46 entries
Silver: Longboard Brown, Rock Bottom Brewery – La Jolla, La Jolla, CA

Robust Porter, 64 entries
Gold: Pier Rat Porter, Pizza Port San Clemente, San Clemente, CA
Bronze: Russian River Porter, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA

Oatmeal Stout, 34 entries
Silver: Velvet Merkin, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Bronze: Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, Anderson Valley Brewing Co., Boonville, CA

Scotch Ale, 38 entries
Gold: AleSmith Wee Heavy, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Bronze: Reed’s Wee Heavy, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

South German-Style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier, 66 entries
Gold: Hefeweizen, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

South German-Style Weizenbock/Weissbock, 27 entries
Bronze: AleSmith Decadence 2009, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA

Irish-Style Red Ale, 26 entries
Gold: Red Trolley Ale, Karl Strauss Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Bronze: Ragtop Red, Rock Bottom Brewery – La Jolla, La Jolla, CA

Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout, 22 entries
Silver: Port Truck Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Golden or Blonde Ale, 50 entries
Bronze: Aud Blonde, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA

American-Style Pale Ale, 77 entries
Gold: Pale 31, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
Silver: Drakes 1500 Pale Ale, Drakes Brewing Co., San Leandro, CA
Bronze: Mission Street Pale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

American-Style Strong Pale Ale, 59 entries
Gold: O’Brien’s IPA, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA

American-Style India Pale Ale, 104 entries
Bronze: Duet, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA

American-Style Amber/Red Ale, 66 entries
Gold: Rudolph’s Red, Rock Bottom Brewery – La Jolla, La Jolla, CA
Silver: Red Rock, Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse, Berkeley, CA

Imperial Red Ale, 32 entries
Bronze: Shark Attack, Pizza Port Solana Beach, Solana Beach, CA

American-Style Stout, 31 entries
Gold: Black Magic Stout, Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co., San Clemente, CA
Silver: Sticky Stout, Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA

Gold: Sculpin IPA, Ballast Point Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Bronze: P.L. IPA, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA