North Park Beer triumphs at the Great American Beer Festival

This column is from a regular beer column in The San Diego Union-Tribune by Pete Rowe.

The largest, most prestigious competition for U.S. brewers, the Great American Beer Festival concluded Oct. 8 in Denver. When last pint was guzzled, San Diego County’s brewers had new reasons to brag.

Let’s count those reasons.

15: Medals awarded to local breweries, three golds, eight silvers and four bronzes. An impressive haul when you note that the entire state of Oregon — home to brewing powerhouses Portland and Bend — took 13.

14: Local breweries honored.

4: Medals to North Park Beer — a gold, a silver and two bronzes, for four separate IPAs — the most awarded any single brewery in 2022. The University Avenue brewpub was named brewery of the year, and its team dubbed brewers of the year, for breweries annually producing 2,001-5,000 barrels of beer.

4: Breweries shared the bronze medal for a collaboration beer. Pizza Port Ocean Beach, Chula Vista, Karl Strauss and Nickel Beer joined forces to craft an imperial stout, Guns Out for Grain Out.

8: Breweries that won a single medal.

Winners spanned the county, from Oceanside’s Bagby Beer (a silver for Three Beagles, a brown ale) to Santee’s BNS Brewing & Distilling (gold for My Bloody Nightmare, a strong red ale). They represented numerous beer styles, from Belgian-inspired ale (Rouleur’s Domestique, gold) to an English bitter (Gravity Heights’ Brewer’s Best, silver), from specialty brews (Kilowatt’s Maple-Smoked Maibock, silver) to non-alcoholic beers (Lemon Radler, silver, from Miramar’s Athletic Brewing).

The complete list of who won what is at greatamericanbeerfestival.com. Congratulations to all the local winners!