Nearly every Long Beach brewery—Altar Society, Ambitious Ales, ISM Brewing, Long Beach Beer Lab, Ten Mile Brewing, and Trademark Brewing—scored a medal at the 2025 Brewers Cup of California. The semi-annual celebration, taking place every two years, is one of the most prestigious honors for breweries in California. And, praise the hops gods, did Long Beach show up and show out among this year’s winners.
“The passion for brewing is evident in the beers produced in Long Beach,” Altar Society co-owner Jon Sweeney said. “The ability to understand and master different beer styles is both impressive and inspiring. The dedication and craftsmanship citywide are appreciated. Each brewery’s reputation and quality are elevated, and the innovative spirit brought to the brewing process is highly valued… These awards are a well-deserved recognition of exceptional skill and hard work. It is clear that there is a genuine passion for brewing, and it shows in the work. Congratulations to every brewery, including my own team.”
And it should be noted: Trademark won in the awards’ most competitive category, the American IPA slot. With a 138 entries, it was by far the hardest category to score high in considering the next most entered category had 67 entries.
Long Beach breweries that have defined our beer scene are being continually recognized by their peers. Photos by Brian Addison and courtesy of businesses.
All of the medals Long Beach breweries won at the 2025 Brewers Cup.
At the 2023 awards banquet, only Ambitious, Beer Lab, and Ten Mile won. That has all changed for 2025:
Altar Society:
- 3rd Place, Best Chocolate Beer (10 entries): Darkest Rituals
Ambitious Ales:
- 2nd Place, Best Hazy IPA (67 entries): Professional Human Being
“We’re stoked and honored to recieve another medal for Professional Human Being,” said co-owner Garrett Carroll. “It feels great to be recognized for a core beer that we have been making the last 3 years. The improved quality of our brewhouse, process and hop selection has been a true showcase of what this beer represents.
ISM Brewing:
- 2nd Place, Belgian-style Pale Ale (17 entries): Stable Trestles
- 3rd Place, International Pale Ale (34 entries): Chepedelic
Long Beach Beer Lab:
- 1st Place, German-style Pilsener (31 entries): Klassisch Pils
- 3rd Place, Golden or Blond Ale (34 entries): Blonde
“Super proud of our team putting out some of the best crispy beers,” said co-owner Levi Fried. “And for all the Long Beach breweries making some of the best beers in the region, I salute you.”
Ten Mile Brewing:
- 1st Place, Historical Entry (15 entries): Hidden Hollow
- 2nd Place, International Lager (28 entries): Koji
“Medaling at the Brewers Cup of California is such a huge honor,” said owner Jesse Sundstrom. “We put everything we have into our beers, and it’s awesome to see that passion get recognized. Big thanks to our team and everyone who cheers us on.”
Trademark Brewing:
- 2nd Place, American IPA (138 entries): Codebreaker
“Codebreaker is one of our most popular beers,” co-owner Sterling Steffen said. “And we’re thrilled for it earned another medal in the most competitive category at the California Craft Brewers Cup. Our team is doing an amazing job—and we couldn’t be more proud of their dedication to making the best sustainably-brewed beer possible.”
The rich culture of craft beer attached to Long Beach stretches back decades.
Long before Congregation Ale House closed in Downtown… Long before Beachwood was named the world’s best gastropub and definitely before ISM moved in to start taking medals of its own… Before The Blendery, Ambitious Ales, Ten Mile, Syncopated, and all the splendor of what we currently have as local beer…
There was the Belmont Brewing Company. The BBC in Belmont Shore, founded by David Lott and David Hansen, came alive in 1990—one year after Karl Strauss opened in San Diego, just over a decade after New Albion became the nation’s first formal microbrewery in Sonoma, and nearly a century after Anchor set up shop in San Francisco in 1896—and with a quarter of a century in operation, it has the distinction of being the oldest brewpub in the region.
“Back then, as was the case with a lot of the early brewpubs, most brewers tended to brew colors, rather than distinct styles—a blonde, a golden, a red, a pale, a brown, and maybe a stout or a hefeweizen—all of them ales,” wrote beer historian and writer Tomm Carroll in one of the first editions of Beer Paper LA. “It was fresh beer, and it wasn’t thin, yellowish liquid like the ubiquitous Budweiser and Coors, so it was a welcome respite from the then-norm.”
