ISM Brewing garnered two silver medals at this year’s World Beer Cup, leading Long Beach breweries in what is largely considered the global standard in beer awards. Joining them is Beachwood Blendery (as well as former local brewery Beachwood Brewing, which moved its full beer operations, outside of the Blendery, into Orange County). Both ISM Brewing and the Blendery garnered two medals (joining Beachwood Brewing’s two).
And this is just a couple of weeks following their California Brewers’ Cups medals, proving that—once again—Long Beach’s beer in SoCal is something to be distinctly reckoned with. Los Angeles? It scored two medals via Angel City and Arts District. San Diego? It shared four medals, all bronze, with Coronado, North Park, TapRoom, and Pizza Port.
What did each brewery win?
While the Blendery won in Belgian-specific categories of fruit beer and sour, placing a bronze in each, ISM Brewing was Long Beach’s true winner. Led by former RIIP brewer and got-his-roots-in-the-Beachwood-space-he-now-operates-his-own-brewery Ian McCall, ISM Brewing has quickly garnered medal after medal after medal since its opening in late 2023. They won two silvers. One for their Plough & Harrow in the Classic Saison category. The other for their Hamburgers Nice collaboratipn, Hamburghini, in the Italian-style pilsner category.
“There is no better feeling than bringing home a medal from the most prestigious beer competition in the world. But two? Practically inconceivable,” Ian said. “Plough and Harrow has already brought our brewery home three medals. But Hamburghini bringing home a medal was extra special because it was part of a collab with local pop-up, Hamburgers Nice, and brings special recognition to our home. I am so proud of our team and the hard work and dedication that they put into bringing these wins. Cheers to them, and to all of our buddies who took home hardware this week,”
While it is hard to disentangle Beachwood from Long Beach, the brewery has begun to call its new home Huntington Beach (including the Blendery, which still operates out of Long Beach). Of course, given their history, the placement of their distillery in Long Beach, I always feel a need to mention them out of respect.
So what, exactly, is the World Beer Cup?
Over the years, there has been a seismic shift the choices consumers make when it comes to beer—leading the Brewers Association to develop the bi-annual World Beer Cup Competition in 1996 to celebrate the art and science of brewing. This global competition, per the Association, “continues to create greater consumer awareness about different beer styles and flavor profiles while promoting international brewing excellence.”
The World Beer Cup, often referred to as “The Olympics of Beer Competitions,” is the most prestigious beer competition in the world. And, yet again, the U.S. absolutely dominated this year’s winner list, taking the majority of the 300-plus medals handed out across 100-plus categories with Japan in a distant second. To put it into perspective: the States won over 200 medals. Japan won 13.
And yes, before you assume that 100-plus categories is ridiculous, you have to remember that this is the world of professional beer making. There are definitively separate categories for wheat beers like an American Wheat Beer and a Beligan-style Witbier, as well as over eight categories spread across the India Pale Ale style. And there are hyper-specific singular categories like gluten-free beer and South German-style bernsteinfarbenes weizen. There are awards for beer pubs, all divvied up by size. It is a thorough, rightful examination of beer globally.
ISM Brewing is located at 210 E. 3rd St. Beachwood Blendery is located 247 at Long Beach Blvd.
