The Third Annual Sore Eye Cup – San Diego’s Best Craft Beer

Welcome to the launch of The 3rd Annual Sore Eye Cup, an award for the best regularly produced craft beer in San Diego! Last year was a resounding success, Nelson from Alpine Beer Co. won and is the only beer not eligible for this year’s award. We will honor the winning craft beer with an actual cup (over 64oz capacity)! At the announcement party we’ll fill it up with the winning beer and the winning brewery will drink from the cup right then, as is tradition! The winners can then bask in the glory of victory and have bragging rights for an entire year!

Here are the rules: Beers nominated must be brewed here in San Diego County by a recognized brewery (If you’re a homebrewer I’m more than willing to try your beer, anytime, maybe even trade for some of mine). They must be beers the brewery makes year round; seasonal, special versions, one offs and casks are not allowed. The beers do not need to be packaged (cans or bottles), just made all year long and available for growler fills (so we can get some to judge). We’re looking for craft beers that are available to everyone in SD.

Nominate your favorite beer(s) by emailing me at SoreEyeCup@gmail.com, tweet me (@mkbain) , tag your nomination #SoreEyeCup in Twitter, comment on the post in Facebook, or comment right here on this post. Nominations are open until the end of June, and then we will move into the voting round. The top ten beers, as voted by you, the best followers on earth, will be blind tasted/judged by our panel of 10. The judges range from craft beer enthusiasts to certified beer judges. We are truly looking for the best regularly produced craft beer San Diego has to offer. The best craft beer, as chosen by us, will be awarded the esteemed Sore Eye Cup and receive all the prestige and glory one blog can bestow upon a brewery! There will be an awesome party in August to celebrate the amazing craft beer culture we have in San Diego and announce the 2015 winner of the Sore Eye Cup!

Get me your nominations and get ready for the vote down! Voting will begin Monday, July 6th and run until Sunday, August 2nd.

Nominated beers:

Pure Hoppiness, Duet & Captain Stout from Alpine
Nut Brown, X, .394 & Speedway Stout from Alesmith (first Sore Eye Cup winner)
The Pupil, The Apprentice, The Publican, The Widow & The Butcher from Societe
Idiot IPA from Coronado
Pale 2.0 from Stone
Gavel Drop & Pirate’s Breakfast from Council
Mosaic Session & Red Trolley from Karl Strauss
Sculpin, Big Eye, Grapefruit Sculpin, Black Marlin & Victory at Sea from Ballast Point
Table Beer & Oatmeal Stout from Benchmark
Pure and Simple, Brewer’s Special Brown & Zumbar from New English
Black House, Blazing World & Fortunate Islands from Modern Times
Cali Creamin’, Boo Koo IPA, Kismet & Sin Tax from Mother Earth
Continental Breakfast Stout from Butcher’s
Board Meeting Brown from Port
Judgement Day from Lost Abbey
Lupulin Lust from Rip Current
Claritas from Hess
IPA & Double IPA from St. Archer
Jetty IPA, Swami’s, Kook, Chronic & Ponto from Pizza Port
Double Stout, Hop Head Red, West Coast IPA & 30th St. Pale from Green Flash
Beeruccino & Batten Down Brown from Helm’s Brewing
Vanilla Porter from Latitude 33
Infinitude & San Diego Nut Brown from San Diego Brewing
The Cruiser & Octo Rye from Pacific Brewing
Fenris & Blunderbus from Barrel Harbor
2am Bike Ride & Plenty For All from Fall Brewing
Founding Father’s Nut Brown & The Daily Stout form Legacy Brewing
Orion’s Stout & Subspace Session from Intergalactic
Peanut Butter Milk Stout & Hop Highway from Belching Beaver