Tijuana brewery joins San Diego crafters with win at World Beer Cup, Olympics of industry

Five San Diego County craft breweries and one Tijuana brewery earned silver and bronze at the 2025 World Beer Cup, the largest international beer competition.
The top winner was Carlsbad-based Pizza Port Brewing, which won three medals at the award ceremony, held in Indianapolis. Breweries in the region won eight medals overall.
Pizza Port’s Imperial Beach brewery won silver for “Schwarzbier” in the German-Style Schwarzbier category, its Solana Beach brewery won silver for “Oscar Wanted a Brown Ale” in the English-Style Brown Ale category, and its Ocean Beach brewery took home bronze for “Junk In Da Trunkel Dunkel” in the South German-Style Dunkel Weizen category.
Craft Coast Brewery & Tacos San Marcos also won silver, for its XPA, an Australia-Style Pale Ale.
Tijuana’s Insurgente won a bronze for its “Dragula” in the Oatmeal Stout category. Insurgente became only the second Tijuana brewery to win a medal at the World Beer Cup, joining Cerveceria Rámuri, which won bronze medals in 2018 and 2022.
“The World Beer Cup is highly competitive year in and year out, and San Diego will keep bringing its best year in and year out,” said San Diego Brewers Guild Executive Director Erik Fowler.
The other bronze winners were Coronado Brewing Company for its Guava Hard Cider, in the Fruited Cider category, North Park Beer Company, for House of Fu!, an Imperial IPA, and Taproom Beer Company (North Park), for Modern Love, a New Zealand-style IPA.
The 2025 medal ceremony, often referred to as the Olympics of Beer Competitions, took place at the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America. Some categories had more than 100 entries, and a few had more than 200.
The 2025 competition featured 8,375 beers from 1,761 breweries spanning 49 countries. The Brewers Association, a not-for-profit trade association that promotes and protects American craft brewers, hosts the event.
Judges were selected from a list of internationally recognized brewers, consultants, industry suppliers and writers. Judging is blind, with no brand knowledge provided to judges.
San Diego brewers won 14 medals at the 2024 World Beer Cup, including four golds. Pizza Port’s “Junk In Da Trunkel Dunkel” won a gold medal last year, while Craft Coast Beer & Tacos’ “XPA” took home bronze.