Bay Area breweries win honors, medals at California Beer Summit

The recent California Beer Summit offered plenty of news — ranging from cautious optimism to woeful doom — on the state of the craft beer world. But there was some very good news for the Bay Area breweries who triumphed at the summit’s 2023 Brewers Cup.

Let’s start with that rosy news, because out of 246 medals awarded in 83 categories at the festivities held in mid-March in Sacramento, the champion that emerged was Morgan Territory Brewing in Tracy — and soon in Pleasant Hill. Named Brewery of the Year, Morgan Territory won eight medals, including two in a single category, a gold for Lubricator and a bronze for Big Bock Energy, both bocks.

Other Bay Area gold medal winners included Half Moon Bay Brewing for its Saison, Sunnyvale’s Faultline Brewing for its Oktoberfest and Danville Brewing for its Chocolate Raspberry Royale. Vacaville’s Solano Brewing won in the hazy double IPA category for Hazy on the 80, and in San Francisco, Fort Point’s SHW, a Korean-style lager collaboration with San Ho Won, won in the international-style Pilsener category.

In Oakland, Original Pattern Brewing won gold for Can’t Win ’em All (which in this case proved untrue) among international-style pale ales. Ghost Town Brewing won two golds, for itsYokai, a sake-yeast beer, and Pythia, a Belgian-style fruit beer. And Buck Wild Brewing brought home a hat trick, winning gold, silver and bronze medals for its gluten-free beer.

Other Bay Area breweries that picked up awards include San Jose’s Strike Brewing and its Clandestine Brewing, Santa Cruz’s Humble Sea, Soquel’s Discretion, San Francisco’s Laughing Monk and San Rafael’s Pond Farm.

The rest of the summit was not as celebratory, as you might imagine from the first California Craft Brewers Association gathering since the pre-pandemic era.

The latest figures from the Brewers Association (BA) show more than 9,250 breweries operating in the United States, with a little more than 1,100 in California. (Pennsylvania is second with just shy of 500.) Of the 50 largest craft breweries, 10 are in the Golden State. That’s the good news.

But numerous challenges remain, as brewers struggle to return to pre-pandemic sales levels, said Bart Watson, the chief economist for the association. Keg sales and new brewery openings were already slowing a year before the pandemic arrived. Packaged beer — in bottles and cans — picked up as people were stuck at home; those sales are still doing fairly well now. But tavern use — i.e., people going out to bars and restaurants where beer is sold from kegs — has still not recovered, especially in California. Keg sales still lag. And many people are now drinking something other than beer.

The annual BA survey asked respondents why they drink less craft beer. Answer: They’re choosing something else. Brewery openings have slowed, just as winery and distillery openings are rising. It’s not unexpected that California would have more wineries than other states, but we now have nearly twice as many distilleries as the next two states combined.

Economics, distribution woes, labor market issues and changing tastes may mean rocky waters ahead.

Of course, that’s the doom and gloom scenario. Not everyone is so glum. The summit keynote speech was given by David Walker, co-founder of Paso Robles’ Firestone Walker Brewing, one of those top 10 breweries I mentioned. His speech touched on the challenges facing breweries, of course, but he had a more hopeful, stirring message too.