Bay Area breweries win big at state and international competitions

Bay Area breweries dominated in two major beer competitions that took place in current 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 assistance of other state guilds beers from California breweries faced off in 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 communicated April and Bay Area breweries took home about one in five of the awarded medals Within the Bay Area the East Bay dominated with eight breweries winning medals followed by the South Bay where nine breweries accounted for 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 not long ago 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 beers from breweries and cideries from countries in beer categories and five cider categories There were tasters from nations including yours truly who judged the beers over a seven-day period The awards were communicated May 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 st 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 of the medals awarded The next-closest country was Japan with followed by nine from Canada Of the U S medals California breweries brought home a whopping medals with Oregon in second with followed by Washington with medals Unsurprisingly once again the category with the greater part entries was Juicy or Hazy IPA with entered followed by West Coast-Style IPA with American-Style IPA came in third with entries with lagers in the final two of the top five At number four was German-Style Pilsner with entries followed by Hoppy Lager with entries Related Articles What tariffs mean for your beer no matter where it s brewed Brewery Day Trip The Barlow in Sebastopol Hopping into spring beer styles for sunnier days Brewery Day Trip The unofficial San Leandro Ale Trail Introducing the first-ever American Craft Beer Hall of Fame Find the full list of winners at brewerscupofca com -winners and worldbeercup org winners current-winners Congratulations to all the breweries that brought home a medal Please stop by their breweries and enjoy their winning beers Contact Jay R Brooks at BrooksOnBeer gmail com For more food and drink coverage follow us on Flipboard