Author: mkbain

Welcome to the launch of the 7th Annual Sore Eye Cup, an award for the best, regularly produced indie beer in San Diego! Last year was a resounding success, Treevana from Burgeon Beer Co. took home total victory! That, along with the only member of the Sore Eye Cup Hall of Fame, Speedway Stout, are the only two regularly produced, indie beers ineligible for this contest. You guys set even higher records for nominations and votes last year, well done!

We will honor the winning craft beer with an actual cup! At the announcement party, on August 10th, 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 licensed, independent, craft brewery. They must be beers the brewery makes year round; seasonal, special versions, one offs, nitro versions 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 buy some to judge). We’re looking for superior indie beers that are available to everyone in SD.

Nominate your favorite beer(s) by emailing me at Sore Eye Cup, tweet me (@SoreEyeSuds) , tag your nomination #SoreEyeCup in Twitter, comment on the post in Facebook, or comment right here on this post. Nominations are open from Friday, June 14th through Sunday, June 30th at 5pm. Voting down to the 10 finalist beers begins July 5th and runs to July 19th at 2pm.

The top ten beers, as voted by you, the best people on earth, will be blind tasted/judged by our panel of exemplary beer people . The judges range from craft beer enthusiasts to certified cicerones. We are truly looking for the best, regularly produced indie 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!

A giant shout out to the returning Sore Eye Cup sponsor, Tap Craft! Remember to contact Tap Craft for all your draft system supply, installation, and maintenance needs!

Setting the industry standard for all beverage draught systems, TapCraft is Draughting Quality Beverages.

Come celebrate the holidays! I’m throwing a party at one of the most exceptional breweries in our city, Societe Brewing! It’s hard to believe we’ve teamed up on Sudsmas for 5 years; last year we collected 5,631 lbs of donated food. I’m very proud to say that overall we’ve collected a total of 10,871lbs of donated food in the past 4 years. Thank you to everyone that has participated, supported, and donated!

Sore Eye Sudsmas is part of Societe Brewings’s amazing, annual food drive that totaled 14,327 lbs of donated food last year. The San Diego Food Bank is the benefactor, so your help is staying right here in SD! Prefer to just donate to the cause? Click the big button below this; all donated funds will be rounded up to the next $100 and used to purchase food for the event!

This year we have more than 25 locations you can drop off food if you can’t make the party, or can’t wait to help! I can also arrange a home pickup if you can put together 25lbs of food or more!

Here’s a map of the official collection locations:<

RSVP for the party on December 8th at Societe Brewing at 5pm! There will be tons of giveaways; you can win a prizes for wearing the ugliest/funniest holiday sweater or bringing in the most food to donate. You’ll receive an entry into the raffle just for showing up and a bonus entry for every 50lbs of food donated. If you’re shooting for the most donated prize, last year the winner brought in more than 220lbs of food, just a heads up!

More importantly, when we cross this year’s goal of 6,500lbs, Societe will put on a keg of The Patriarch – a Feral Boysenberry Ale for us to purchase! This beer is the rarest of the rare!

Most Needed Food Items:

Canned Chicken & Tuna, Dry & Canned Beans, Cereal, Rice, Nuts & Seeds, Peanut Butter, Canned Soup, Canned & Dried Fruit, Canned Vegetables, Powdered Milk, and Infant Formula

Nutritional Choices:

Tuna in Water, Low-Sodium Canned Beans, Low-Sugar Whole Grain Cereal, Brown & Wild Rice, Unsalted Almonds, Low-Sodium & Low-Fat Canned Soup, Flax Seeds, No Sugar Added Peanut Butter, Canned Fruit in Water or Juice, Low-Sodium & No Salt Added Canned Vegetables, and Low & Non-fat Powdered Milk

We are unable to accept: Glass jars or homemade food products

Ready for the best part? It’s free for the the best people on Earth, all of you!

Want to donate a gift for the raffle to help out the San Diego Food Bank? Have a question this post didn’t answer?

Email me at brian@soreeyesports.com

Last Saturday, at The Ugly Dog Pub, we crowned a new Sore Eye Cup Champion, Burgeon Beer Company took the victory with Treevana! Anthony and Derek were on hand to represent their brewery and partake in the tradition of drinking the winning beer from the Cup! The Sore Eye Cup holds 104 ounces; I know you were wondering!

Treevana is a West Coast IPA, hopped with Mosaic and Amarillo, coming in at 7.2% abv. I’m beyond stoked that an IPA finally took home the Cup again, after a four year drought! Especially one like Treevana, honoring the past of what made San Diego famous but also using some newer techniques to keep the WCIPA relevant.

Located at 6350 Yarrow Drive Suite C Carlsbad, Burgeon is the first North County brewery to take home the title of Sore Eye Cup Champion! They offer a roomy, inviting tasting room that begs to be filled with fun and laughter. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to keep up with this newer brewery as they continue to make a mark for themselves in San Diego!

Thank you, once again, to Tim Stahl for the photography!

Gratitude and shout outs to The Ugly Dog Pub, Snack Frenzy, Catalina Offshore Products, Tommy Gomes, everyone that donated giveaways, and most of all, the title sponsor of the Sore Eye Cup, Tap Craft LLC for making this possible!

We brought in 4 barrels of donated food and raised $833.00 for Mama’s Kitchen!

One final congratulations to Burgeon Beer Co., you have all the glory and prestige I can bestow upon an amazing indie brewery for one entire year!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Sore Eye Cup finalists for 2018!

Hipster Latte from Wild Barrel
Aurora Hoppyalis from Karl Strauss
Hop-Fu! from North Park
The Butcher from Societe
Treevana from Burgeon
Tabula Rasa from Second Chance
.394 from AleSmith
Dank Drank from Pariah
Banksy from Burning Beard
Domestique from Rouleur

Be sure to come out to the Sore Eye Cup Party on Saturday to see who takes home the illustrious Sore Eye Cup!

A giant shout out goes to our title sponsor, Tap Craft LLC, contact them for all of your beverage serving needs.