Orange County Rocks at World Beer Cup in Nashville
Orange County brewers came home with 12 awards from the 2018 World Beer Cup competition. WBC takes place every two years during the annual Craft Brewers Conference. Presented by the Brewers Association, the City of Nashville played host to CBC & WBC 2018 and brought together Industry brewers, owners and staff from all over the world. The awards presentation capped off a week of Industry related seminars, sessions and fun.
The first honor of the night came to Tustin Brewing Company’s Jerrod Larson, a bronze award for Clutch’s American Wheat. And it wasn’t long before Larson and TBC owner Jason Jeralds returned to the stage, this time to accept gold for Portola Breakfast Stout (Coffee Stout/ Porter category). There were 157 entries in this highly contested category.
Mocha Machine, an entry from Beachwood Brewing’s Huntington Beach location garnered silver in the same category. Beachwood’s Udder Love also earned silver in the Sweet or Cream Stout category. Team Julian Shrago and Ryan Fields were on hand to accept these two awards for Huntington Beach and two more (another silver and a bronze) for Beachwood BBQ & Brewing – Long Beach.
Presented by the Brewers Association, the City of Nashville played host to CBC & WBC 2018 and brought together Industry brewers, owners and staff from all over the world
Costa Mesa’s Barley Forge took silver in the Field Beer category for The Patsy coconut rye stout. Anaheim’s Hoparazzi Brewing Co confirmed its admittance into the big leagues with a bronze award in the Chili Beer category for Heat of the Night.
Jeremy Grinky and Anaheim’s Bruery Terreux team scored gold in the Wood and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category for Train to Beersel, an American wild ale.
Brewery Rex, listed as a Fullerton, CA brewery, earned a bronze award for Raspberry Ricky in the Berliner-Style Weisse category. This reporter will be reaching out to Tyler King and Brian White to find out if this is indication that Brewery Rex may finally have a home of its own brewing in Orange County. Stay tuned.
The American-style Pale Ale and IPA categories typically have the most entries. This year was no exception as San Juan Capistrano’s Docent Brewing earned its first WBC award, silver in the 182 entries American-Style Pale Ale category for Double Nickels. Green Cheek Beer Co (Orange) earned silver for Radiant Beauty out of 377 entries for American IPA. Southern California’s “IPA King” Evan Price came through again, adding to his numerous decorations received during his current time at Green Cheek and his tenure at Anaheim’s Noble Ale Works. Speaking of Noble, Evan’s successor Brad Kominek and Team Noble came home with gold In the Imperial India Pale Ale category (196 Entries) for Nobility.
In the final category of the evening, San Clemente’s Artifex was called to the stage to accept its second WBC award for the consistently delicious HoliDAVE, an American-Style Imperial Stout. HoliDAVE received a silver plaque at the last World Beer Cup in 2016.