Best of the West Coast IPA National Competition announces Winners
The Oregon Brewers Guild’s newly created Best of the West Coast IPA: National Throwdown have announced the medal winners of their inaugural year. The pro beer competition is unique in that it focuses on West Coast IPA’s defined in 6 different categories, and even though this is an Oregon Brewers Guild ran event, the goal is to bring in breweries from across the country.
The Guild has decided to focus solely on West Coast IPA between 6 and 8% ABV; no hazy’s, no pale ales, session IPAs, double or triple IPAs, cascadian dark ales, or the like. Though you could feasibly imagine some of those beers sneaking into a category because they technically fit the parameters (for example Timbo Pils from Highland Park winning a silver.)
“The Guild had been tossing around the idea of hosting a beer competition - when we dove deeper into the conversation the idea of building it around a single style came up,” Oregon Brewers Guild executive director Christina LaRue tells the New School. “Seeing as the Pacific NW has such an advantage when it comes to brewing hoppy beers due to our access of Oregon and Washington grown hops, it made sense to single out IPAs, specifically West Coast-style, both traditional and more modern versions.”
The Best of The West Coast IPA National Throwdown followed a system for evaluating beers and awarding medals and trophies that is quite different from most US competitions. Rather than award just 3 medals for each of the 6 categories in the competition, it employed a system where multiple beers won silver or gold medals within a single category. This is similar to the system used in judging the Australian International Beer Awards, and the goal is to acknowledge that there is a LOT of world-class West Coast IPA being brewed right now and to honor more than just the top few beers.
Every beer in the competition was evaluated by three separate teams of judges, against the same flight of other beers. Judges selected the top three beers from their flight without consulting any of the other judge teams. Beers that received 'top three' votes from 2 or 3 judge tables advanced into medal and trophy contention. Beers that received zero or 1 'top three' votes were eliminated. 42 of the 200 entries overcame this first hurdle and made it to contend for medals against the other qualifying beers in the category and brewery group size.
Medals were awarded proportionally across each category based on number of entries, and each category has a Category champion-- the top beer in that category. The Category Champions competed for the Grand Champion IPA and Runner Up Grand Champion IPA awards. At the same time, qualifying beers competed for the group size trophies as well. When all was said and done, 27 of the 200 entries won medals or trophies in the competition. There were 12 silver beers, 6 gold medal beers, and 9 category and brewery size champions.
2023 Best of the West Coast National IPA Competition Winners:
Category 1 Traditional American India Pale Ale:
Also known as Classic or “Old School” American IPA, these beers exemplify IPA from its early heyday in the 2000s and early 2010s. Compared to modern IPA, these beers tend to be slightly darker in color, have more malt presence, are more bitter, and lean into citrus, pine, and floral notes.
Silver Medals:
Von Ebert Brewing Co.: Nook & Friends
Category Champion:
Breakside Brewery: Breakside IPA
Category 2 West Coast IPA Below 6.7%:
These are modern West Coast IPAs at the lower end of the ABV spectrum for the style. They might otherwise be classified as American Strong Pale Ale.
Silver Medals:
Sunriver Brewing Co.: Clearview
Trap Door Brewing Co.: Trap Door IPA
Gold Medals:
Westbound & Down Brewing Company: Westbound Select
Breakside Brewery: Wanderlust IPA
Category Champion:
Ex Novo Brewing Co.Eliot IPA - 9th Anniversary
Category 3 West Coast IPA Above 6.7%:
These are modern West Coast IPAs that fall between 6.8% and 8% ABV. These beers may show some additional influence from alcohol and other yeast-derived metabolites from a higher gravity fermentation; however, hops will still be the centerpiece of the beer’s flavor and aroma.
Gold Medal:
Von Ebert Brewing: Volatile Substance
Silver Medals:
Highland Park Brewery: Hello, LA
North Park Beer Co.: Charlie-Fu!
North Park Beer Co.: Denny Kong
Ever Grain: Verdosa
Category Champion:
Riip Beer Company: Danky Doodle Dandy
Category 4 International West Coast IPA:
These are West Coast IPAs that evidence a heavy/dominant influence from hops from outside the US. These are often hops from New Zealand and Australia which might show elevated notes of diesel, passionfruit, petrol, musk, grape, guava, lime, rhubarb and stonefruit. However, West Coast IPA featuring a profile of aroma hops from other regions of the world (Germany, UK, South Africa, etc) would also be entered here.
Category Champion:
Westbound & Down Brewing Company: Spirit of the West
Category 5 Flagship IPA:
The purpose of this category is to honor excellence in IPAs that are widely available in package and beers that most craft beer consumers encounter when purchasing IPA on a regular basis. IPAs entered into this category must meet the following criteria: first, they must be a year-round brand packaged in cans or bottles, available to consumers outside the brewery at all times. Second, entries submitted must be in the same format and package that is normally available to the public. During registration, brewers should classify their flagship IPA entry as one of the above sub-categories (#1-4) of West Coast IPA.
Category Champion:
North Park Beer Co.: Hop-Fu!
Gold Medals:
Bend Brewing Co.: Tropic Pines IPA
Berryessa Brewing Co.: Separation Anxiety IPA
Silver Medals:
Half Moon Bay Brewimg Company: Full Swing
Highland Park Brewery: Timbo Pils
Westbound & Down Brewing Company: Westbound IPA
Pelican Brewing Company: Updrift IPA
Russian River Brewing Company: Pliny the Elder
Category 6 Oregon-Hop IPA:
These are West Coast IPAs made with 80% or more Oregon-grown hops. The purpose of this category is to honor beers that highlight and support Oregon hop growers, and the beers will be judged as their respective sub-styles. During registration, brewers should classify their Oregon-Hop IPA entry as one of the above sub-categories (#1-4) of West Coast IPA, and brewers will be required to identify the hop varietal(s) and farm(s) of origin.
Category Champion:
Deschutes Brewery: Grower Direct IPA-Crosby
Gold Medal:
Ghost Town Brewing: Vine Breaker
Group Size Champions:
Group A: <1,000 bbls per year
Hop Dogma Brewing Company: Alpha Dankopotamus (Category 5: Flagship IPA)
Group B: 1,000-3,000 bbls per year
Cloudburst Brewing: Never Saw It Coming (Category 3: West Coast IPA Above 6.7% ABV)
Group C: 3,000-10,000 bbls per year
Von Ebert Brewing: A Boat With No Name (Category 2: West Coast IPA Below 6.7% ABV)
Group D: 10,000-25,000 bbls per year
Ex Novo Brewing Co.: Eliot IPA - 9th Anniversary (Category 2: West Coast IPA Below 6.7% ABV)
Group E: 25,000-50,000 bbls per year
Breakside Brewery: Breakside IPA (Category 1: Traditional American IPA)
Group F: >50,000 bbls per year
Deschutes Brewery: Grower Direct IPA - Crosby (Category 6: Oregon-Hop IPA)
Grand Champion IPA
Riip Beer Co.: Danky Doodle Dandy (Category 3: West Coast IPA Above 6.7% ABV)
Runner Up Grand Champion IPA
Breakside Brewery: Breakside IPA (Category 1: Traditional American IPA)
“The Guild is thrilled to announce this new event,” stated Ben Edmunds, OBG Board President. “We've long thought that a competition would be a fun event for the OBG to host, and there's no better way to make that happen than by celebrating excellence within the most popular craft style in the US.”
About the Oregon Brewers Guild
The Oregon Brewers Guild is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and protect the state’s craft brewing industry and the common interests of its members. Founded in 1992, the Oregon Brewers Guild is one of the nation’s oldest craft brewers associations. For more information, visit http://oregoncraftbeer.org.