A couple of hometown brewers placed well in the 18th annual Battle of the Brews last weekend, hosted by the Active 20-30 Club of Santa Rosa: the guys at 101 North won Best American-Style IPA during the Craft Cup competition for their tasty Heroine IPA, while Old Redwood Brewing took top honors among Specialty Ales with their Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout.
The event drew a good crowd to the fairgrounds on Saturday, and proceeds this year benefited North Bay Challenger Little League. Here are some images of the show.
Best in show honors went to Heretic Brewing, lately relocated close to Wine County with a new brewery in Fairfield, with their Shallow Grave porter.
Here’s the full list of winners at the Craft Cup, which was a professionally juried competition:
| Category | Brewery/Cidery | Beer |
| Best Imperial IPA | Fall River Brewing Company | Widowmaker Double IPA |
| Best American IPA | 101 North Brewing Company | Herione IPA |
| Best American Ale | Heretic Brewing Company | Evil Twin |
| Best Dark Ale, Porter, or Stout | Heretic Brewing Company | Shallow Grave |
| Best Light Beer or Lager | Fall River Brewing Company | NorCal Blond |
| Best European Beer | Drake’s Brewing Company | Drake’s Hefe |
| Best Specialty Ale | Old Redwood Brewing Company | Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout |
| Best Cider or Sour | Vermont Hard Cider Company | Woodchuck Amber |
| Best of Show | Heretic Brewing Company | Shallow Grave |
On the people’s favorite front, where the attendees picked their favorites, top beer honors went to Fall River Brewing up in Redding. Here are the People’s Choice results for both beer and food:
| Category | Restaurant/Brewery/Cidery |
| Craft Cup People’s Choice Best Brewery/Cidery | Fall River Brewing Company |
| Craft Cup People’s Choice Best Food | The Farmer’s Wife |
| Main Event People’s Choice Best Brewery/Cidery | Smith & Forge Cidery |
| Main Event People’s Choice Best Food | Mary’s Pizza Shack |
The competition also featured a sandwich competition, hosted by our colleague over at the Bite Club Eats blog. Here are those results:
| Category | Restaurant | Sandwich |
| Best Cold Sandwich | Fig & Vine Catering | Bahn Mi |
| Best Hot Sandwich | La Rosa Tequileria & Grille | Bolillo de Pancita de Puerco con Agave Nectar and Tamarindo |
| Most Creative | Savvy on First | The Angry Bird |
| Most Meat-Tastic | Belly Left Coast Kitchen & Taproom | Braised Pork Shoulder with Slow Braised Pork Belly & Twelve-Day Bouse Curried Pork Belly Sliced Charcuterie |
| Runner Up | Earth’s Bounty Kitchen & Wine Bar | Pulled Duck Biscuit |
| Best in Show | John Ash & Company | Devil’s Gulch Pork Tenderloin Schnitzel |
And of course, not to be forgotten, there was the homebrew competition. Here are those results as well, with local homebrew standout Greg Rasmussen leading the field:
| Category | Homebrewer | Place |
| IPA | Greg Rasmussen | 1 |
| IPA | Peter Logan | 2 |
| IPA | Jason Saling | 3 |
| German Beers | Greg Rasmussen | 1 |
| German Beers | Greg Rasmussen | 2 |
| German Beers | Ben Barcellos | 3 |
| Pilsners & Light Beers | Chris/Edward Rich | 1 |
| Pilsners & Light Beers | Matt Kennedy | 2 |
| Pilsners & Light Beers | Tim/Alex O’Meara | 3 |
| English Ales & Barleywines | Dustin Carver | 1 |
| English Ales & Barleywines | Mike Kelly | 2 |
| English Ales & Barleywines | Greg Rasmussen | 3 |
| Porters & Stouts | Mike Kelly | 1 |
| Porters & Stouts | Abram/Zac/Lucas Gearig/McDiarmid/Fackler | 2 |
| Porters & Stouts | Greg Rasmussen | 3 |
| American Ales | Greg Rasmussen | 1 |
| American Ales | Greg Rasmussen | 2 |
| American Ales | Norm Benson | 3 |
| Beilgian Ales | Jon Zellner | 1 |
| Beilgian Ales | Sean O’Connor | 2 |
| Beilgian Ales | Curtis Given | 3 |
| Best of Show | Greg Rasmussen – Pale Ale | 1 |
| Best of Show | Mike Kelly – Oatmeal Stout | 2 |
| Best of Show | Greg Rasmussen – IPA | 3 |
– Sean Scully
buyer at Fircrest Market in Sebastopol and the administrator of the NorCal Beer Geeks group on Facebook.