On Independence Day, award-winners from San Diego celebrate the freedom to homebrew

San Diego Union-Tribune

July 2, 2019 3:39 PM PT

After the judges of the 2019 National Homebrew Competition waded through 9,189 beers, meads and ciders, they awarded 102 ribbons — including five to San Diego County homebrewers.

Red, White and Brew

This Independence Day, let’s note that homebrewing — the freedom to make your own beer — has been legal in all 50 states only since 2013.

That means that the 2019 National Homebrew Competition, whose results were announced last weekend at Home Brew Con in Providence, R.I., drew entries from coast to coast. Judges evaluated 9,189 beers, meads and ciders before awarding 102 ribbons, including five to San Diego County homebrewers:

Patrick Leon of San Diego with Nick Corona of San Marcos, members of Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity (QUAFF), first place, British pale ale category.
Tom Lawrence and Zach Dixon of San Diego, first place, spiced beer category.
Derek Springer of San Marcos, a member of the Barley Engineers, third place, strong European lager category.
Springer, third place, amber and brown American ale category.
Christian Banker of Oceanside, a QUAFF member, third place, specialty cider and perry category.

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Peter Rowe

Peter is a freelance writer who writes about beer in his bimonthly column Brewery Rowe for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He worked as a reporter and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune from 1984 to 2020. A native Californian who grew up in Encinitas, Rowe is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Northwestern University. He is past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former Fulbright scholar. He has won a few journalism awards, but would trade them all for a chance to avenge his 1994 “Jeopardy!” loss. Married to a terrific woman who has saved him from errors in writing and in life, he has three sons.