San Diego is known as a hub for craft beer, but according to one well-known beer ranking website, the city is also home to many of the top breweries in the world.
RateBeer.com – a website that compiles stats and ratings on beers and breweries around the world – held its “Best Awards Ceremony and Beer Festival” in Santa Rosa, California, on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31. There, the top 2015 breweries for each state were named, as well as the best brews across the globe.
Of the top 10 breweries around the world, San Diego’s AleSmith Brewing Company ranked No. 2, while Alpine Beer Company ranked No. 6.
Other San Diego-based breweries that rounded out the top 100 best in the world: Green Flash Brewing Co., Ballast Point Brewing Company, Modern Times Beer and Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey.
The top brewers were tallied according to a summary score based on all available reviews on the RateBeer website that includes historical all-round performance and a brewer’s range of performance across styles. More than 22,500 breweries were considered for the honors.
AleSmith Brewing Company also scored another major achievement from RateBeer: it was named the best brewery in the entire state of California.
A variety of beers made by AleSmith were also recognized, including AleSmith Velvet Speedway Stout (top new beer release in the world), AleSmith IPA, AleSmith Speedway Stout and Bourbon Barrel-Aged AleSmith Old Numbskull Barleywine (top beers in the world).
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AleSmith CEO and brewmaster Peter Zien said the accolades mean a lot to the brewery, given that RateBeer is driven by beer enthusiasts.
“Humility is a highly valued quality here at AleSmith. We love our beers, but prefer to let fans of craft beer do the talking when it comes to our family of ales. So it’s particularly gratifying to receive such incredible accolades from a consistently reliable, fan-driven entity like RateBeer,” Zien said.
Meanwhile, Alpine Beer Company also celebrated its sixth place worldwide ranking, posting this message on Facebook thanking devoted fans:
"We are thrilled to share that at this past weekend's RateBeer Best Beer Festival, RateBeer ranked us #6 in the 2015 "Top Brewers in the World!" We're so honored to receive this recognition and couldn't have done it without our loyal fans. Thank you all!"
AleSmith Brewing Company was founded in 1995 and celebrated its 20th anniversary in production last year by opening a new, upgraded brewery and tasting room in Miramar, located at 9990 AleSmith Ct. The 105,500-square-foot brewery boasts an 80-barrel brewing system with the capability to pump out more than 100,000 barrels of brew per year.
Alpine Beer Company opened in the fall of 2002 on Alpine Blvd. in San Diego’s East County. In early 2010, the brewery opened a tiny, 36-seat pub. By June 2015, the pub moved to a more spacious, 180-seat location with an indoor and outdoor bar on Tavern Road.
To read the full list of top breweries recognized in the RateBeer awards ceremony, click here.
