My Facebook and Twitter feed was hijacked yesterday by loads of good news from the World Beer Cup which was a bonus add on to the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia which already was making me social media jealous.
Beachwood picked up a prestigious Large Brewpub of the Year win and Noble Ale Works racked up an overall win in the Small Brewery category. Overall California brought in 39 (if my counting is right this early in the morning) medals with Eagle Rock going gold for their Yearling sour, Beachwood and Noble should have had chairs on stage, TAPS pulled in multiple medals continuing their impressive string since the new brewing team took over, Tustin and Smog City with their shared past will share memories of winning too with a bronze and silver respectively.
You can check the full list HERE. But it is impressive considering this competition was open to the world. But a microcosm of the current beer culture could be found in the Sour German category where Oregon and California nabbed the one and two slots with a German brewery coming in third!
The Golden State brewers were warriors last night. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have nothing on the brewing splash that SoCal made in Philly.