Seven San Diego Breweries Win Gold Medals At 2025 Brewers Cup Of California

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Seven San Diego County craft breweries won Gold Medals on Friday at the 2025 Brewers Cup of California, the fifth annual statewide brewing competition put on by The Sacramento Area Brewers Guild, in partnership with San Diego Brewers Guild and other brewers guilds.

Burning Beard Brewing (El Cajon), Fall Brewing Company (Miramar), Hodad's Brewing Company (Serra Mesa), Pizza Port Brewing Company (Carlsbad), Pure Project (Vista brewery), Taproom Beer Co. (North Park), and Tarantula Hill Brewing Co. (San Marcos) each won one Gold Medal.

Burning Beard won for “In Praise of Bacchus” in the Sour/Brett/Other Yeast category, Fall Brewing won for “Sweet Resistance” in the New Zealand-Style IPA category, Hodad’s won for “Throwback” in the American-Style Brown Ale, and Pizza Port won for “Irish Hello” in the Irish-Style Red Ale category, Pure Project won for its “Double Dust” in the Imperial Hazy IPA category, TapRoom won for “True Dark” in the Specialty Stout category, and Tarantula Hill won for its “Feel the Flow” in the International-style Pilsener category.

San Diego craft breweries took home 18 medals overall, including six silver and five Bronze. There were two Honorable Mention accolades given out as well. The other local winners:

Silver

BLACK PLAGUE Brewing (Oceanside) - Medusa - Specialty Stout

Kairoa Brewing Company (University Heights) - Boots and Stubbies - Schwarzbier

Protector Brewery (Miramar) - Rancho West - Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage    

TapRoom (North Park) - The Chocolate Klub - Chocolate Beer

Tarantula Hill - Liquid Candy - Hazy Pale Ale

Tarantula Hill - Cali Day - International Pale Ale

Bronze

Ketch Brewing (Kearny Mesa) - Dr. Billheimers Magic Pilsner - Kellerbier

Mike Hess Brewing (North Park) - Lone Pine IPA - Experimental IPA

Mike Hess Brewing (North Park) - EZ Drankin - Honey Beer

Pizza Port Brewing (Carlsbad) - Pine Park Porter - Porter

TapRoom (North Park) - North Park Haze - Hazy IPA

Honorable Mention

Puesto Cerveceria (Mission Valley) - Puesto IPA - American-Style Pale Ale

San Diego Brewing Company (Grantville) - San Diego Hazy IPA - Hazy IPA

TapRoom and Tarantula Hill led all San Diego breweries with three medals apiece. Pizza Port’s San Clemente brewery won a Bronze Medal for “Dusk Til Dawn” in the Coffee-Flavored Beer category, giving the San Diego-based company a competition total of three.

“From Carlsbad to El Cajon, craft breweries across San Diego County showed well once again in our state capital,” said Brewers Guild Executive Director Erik Fowler. “Even with some overall industry struggles the last few years, the quality of San Diego craft beer has never wavered. I am proud of our local breweries that continue to add to their trophy cases.”

This year’s Brewers Cup of California received 1,360 entries from 203 independent craft breweries. Winning beers were determined by a panel of expert judges, who determined the winning beers in 64 categories.

In 2024, there were six local Gold Medal winners: BLACK PLAGUE, Burgeon Beer Company, Kilowatt Brewing, Pizza Port, Smoking Cannon Brewery, and Julian Beer Company.

San Diego is known as The Capital of Craft™, a moniker that was trademarked in 2015. San Diego Brewers Guild is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization of allied brewery members, tradespeople, and other providers supporting the production and distribution of craft beer.