San Diego Craft Breweries Brought Home 18 Medals from 2016 GABF
Now in its 35th year, the Great American Beer Festival was hosted last weekend in Denver, CO. This year’s competition (30th annual) smashed all previous participation records, with 7,227 total entries, 580 more than 2015’s record-breaking level.
San Diego breweries brought home 18 medals in total from the competition. Although Pizza Port was founded in San Diego, their San Clemente location won a silver for Dusk ’til Dawn, but maybe you could still argue for 19 awards? Out of the 18 medals, the breakdown was 7 bronze, 3 silver, and 8 golds.
One of the top overall performers at 2016 GABF was San Diego’s own Karl Strauss Brewing Company. As we like to call them, “The Masters of Mosaic”, took home 4 awards between their San Diego and La Jolla locations, including a bronze for their stellar Mosaic Session IPA.
Karl Strauss added to their GABF accolades by getting crowned the “Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year.” Under a strange set of circumstances, they were first awarded the “Mid-Size Brewpub of the Year”, but after the awards ceremony, GABF competition staff realized Strauss should have been classified as a production facility under guidelines. The results were then re-calculated, giving them top honors in the brewing company category.
Coming off Tabula Rasa’s Sore Eye Cup win for best local independent beer over the summer, Second Chance Beer Co netted a gold in the Robust Porter category. Marty Mendiola has won countless Great American Beer Festival awards, but this year marked his first as a brewery owner.
Another first time winner was Pure Project, who took home a bronze for their special limited release Roes Red. With a bronze, New English Brewing has now won consecutive GABF medals for Zumbar Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout, one of the best stouts in town.
Our most important question to come out of Great American Beer Festival — did the competition judges know that Alpine’s winning beer HFS was an acronym for Holy F*cking Sh*t?
| Medal | Brewery | Beer Name | Style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Alesmith Brewing Co. | Old Numbskull | Barley Wine-Style Ale |
| Bronze | Alpine Beer Company | HFS | American-Style Strong Pale Ale |
| Gold | Bagby Beer Co. | Sweet Ride | Bohemian-Style Pilsener |
| Silver | Benchmark Brewing Co. | Oatmeal Stout | Session Beer |
| Silver | BNS Brewing & Distilling | Gatling Gun Imperial Stout | Imperial Stout |
| Gold | BNS Brewing & Distilling | Ole Prospector Red Ale | American-Style Amber/Red Ale |
| Gold | Culture Brewing Co. | Brown | American-Style Brown Ale |
| Silver | Duck Foot Brewing Co. | The Contender IPA with Fresh Chilis | Chili Beer |
| Bronze | Karl Strauss Brewing Company (SD) | Mosaic Session IPA | Session India Pale Ale |
| Bronze | Karl Strauss Brewing Company (SD) | Liquid AC English Summer Ale | English-Style Summer Ale |
| Gold | Karl Strauss Brewing Company (SD) | Queen of Tarts Dark Sour | American-Style Sour Ale |
| Gold | Karl Strauss Brewing Company (LJ) | Windansea Wheat | South German-Style Hefeweizen |
| Bronze | Mother Earth Brew Co. | Mother Earth ESB | Extra Special Bitter |
| Bronze | New English Brewing Co. | Zumbar Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout | Coffee Beer |
| Gold | Rip Current Brewery | Breakline Bock | Bock |
| Bronze | Pure Project Brewing | Roes Red | Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale |
| Gold | Second Chance Beer Co. | Tabula Rasa | Robust Porter |
| Bronze | Societe Brewing Co. | The Volcanist | American-Style Stout |
You can also visit the official GABF website to view a sortable list of all winners: 2016 Great American Beer Festival Winners List