OB's Pizza Port on its opening day, corner of Santa Monica and Bacon.
Ocean Beach’s own Pizza Port pulled off three wins during this past weekend’s World Beer Cup. Pizza Port won a Gold: its Bacon and Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter; in the coffee beer category.
Plus, it won a Silver: Tarantulas 2.0; American-style black ale. And a Bronze award: Achievement Beyond Life’s Experiences American Stout Brit Antrim Benefit Ale; American-style stout. Pizza Port won nearly one-fifth of all the awards by San Diego breweries.
Here’s the remainder of the report from the U-T San Diego:
This year’s World Beer Cup lived up to its international name, with winners coming from all corners of the globe — including San Diego County, where breweries took 16 awards.
Winners in the world’s largest commercial beer competition were announced Saturday night in Mission Valley, at a banquet marking the end of the four-day Craft Brewers Conference. The annual convention boasted a record turnout (4,500 attendees), and the every-other-year World Beer Cup also witnessed an unprecedented 3,921 entries — 600 more than in 2010.
That may be one reason why San Diego’s breweries saw their total number of medals fall from 2010’s 21.
“We had a good showing,” insisted Marty Mendiola, Rock Bottom La Jolla brewmaster and the San Diego Brewers Guild’s president. “But the quality of the beer is stepping up around the world.”
Still, local brewers had reasons to rejoice. Pizza Port Ocean Beach won three awards; Pizza Port Carlsbad, Lost Abbey, AleSmith and Green Flash took two apiece; Alpine, Manzanita and Rock Bottom La Jolla one each.
Karl Strauss also captured two awards, including its second consecutive World Beer Cup gold for Red Trolley Ale.
“This is a beer we’ve been making for 23 years,” said Karl Strauss co-founder Chris Cramer. “It’s nice to see people recognizing its quality.”
This year’s competition drew more international entries than ever before. In 2010, 44 nations sent beers to the event; this year, 56 countries were represented.
Foreign brewers, Mendiola noted, once viewed the World Beer Cup as an all-American affair, despite its global name. “A lot of the world pooh-poohed it,” he said. “But now I think we’re getting a lot more involvement from the rest of the world.”
That involvement paid off Saturday night. Winners came from Australia, Asia (Japan and China), the Americas (Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina, Haiti), plus much of Europe.
The winners of all 95 categories are posted at worldbeercup.org. San Diego County’s victorious brews:
Gold
Bacon and Eggs Breakfast Coffee Imperial Porter; Pizza Port Ocean Beach; coffee beer category.
Carnevale; Lost Abbey, San Marcos; French- and Belgian-style saison.
Longboard Brown Ale; Rock Bottom La Jolla; English-style brown ale.
Poor Man’s IPA; Pizza Port Carlsbad; imperial India pale ale.
Red Trolley Ale; Karl Strauss, San Diego; Irish-style red ale.
Silver
Decadence 2010; AleSmith, San Diego; old ale or strong ale.
Tarantulas 2.0; Pizza Port Ocean Beach; American-style black ale.
Two Tortugas Belgian Quad; Karl Strauss, San Diego; Belgian-style dark strong ale.
Bronze
Achievement Beyond Life’s Experiences American Stout Brit Antrim Benefit Ale; Pizza Port Ocean Beach; American-style stout.
Gift of the Magi; Lost Abbey, San Marcos; Belgian- and French-style ale.
Great American Brown; Pizza Port Carlsbad; American-style brown ale.
Le Freak; Green Flash, San Diego; American-Belgo-style ale.
Palate Wrecker; Green Flash, San Diego; imperial India pale ale.
Odin’s Raven; Alpine Beer, Alpine; chocolate beer.
Old Numbskull; AleSmith; barley wine-style ale.
Where There’s Smoke; Manzanita, Santee; experimental beer.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
All the beers I have had at Pizza Port Ocean Beach were excellent. An employee/bartender told me that each Pizza Port has their own brewmaster who independently produces product. There is competition between Pizza Port locations to produce the best beers.
Congrats to OB Pizza Port.