2024 Best of the West Coast IPA Competition Winners
The 2nd annual Best of the West Coast competition presented by the Oregon Brewers Guild have been announced. Breweries from across the country entered 181 West Coast IPA’s into the national IPA only competition
Thirty judges from 5 states evaluated the 180+ entries in triplicate in both preliminary and trophy rounds, making Best of the West one of the most thorough and intensive beer competitions in the world. When all was said and done, 57 beers met the criteria to enter into medal contention and 36 beers walked away with awards.
The Best of the West is a national competition dedicated to a single style of beer: West Coast IPA. Unlike other competitions, it awards multiple gold and silver medals, recognizing the quality, breadth, and depth of world-class IPA being produced in the country. The winning beers represent genre-leading examples from some of the world's top producers of hoppy beer.
Riip Brewing won the Grand Champion IPA award for their Riip'n Greens. Riip won the Grand Champion award in 2023 as well for a different IPA. Camas, Washington's Grains of Wrath won the Runner-Up Grand Champion award for their beer Destination Funeral while also taking home a separate gold medal for Built for Speed.
Breweries from 13 states participated in this year's competition, with heavy representation coming from Oregon, California, and Washington. Medal winning beers came from 5 states-- the 3 West Coast states as well as Texas and Colorado. California breweries led the medal count with 16 awards, followed by Oregon at 11. Breweries were limited to 3 entries regardless of size or number of locations. In addition to Riip and Grains of Wrath, notable winners included Portland's Breakside Brewery, San Diego's North Park Beer Co, and Berkeley's Fieldwork Brewing all of which won 3 medals-- one for every of their entries. Colorado's Westbound and Down and Cerebral Brewing and Texas's Pinthouse Brewing demonstrated that you don't have to be a West Coast brewery to make great West Coast IPA: both won gold medals despite being over one thousand miles from the nearest Pacific beach.
The full list of results is available here in slideshow form below: