Manila’s CubaoX Brewery took a clean sweep of the honours at this year’s Brew King Philippines with their Cranberries En Regalia Saison.
The new brewery, which only opened in Quezon City in 2022 and who’s young brewer Aaron Paul Digma is also relatively new to the industry walked away with both the First Place and Most Creative awards.
Brew King is a freestyle brewing challenge organized by the Asia Brewers Network and designed to give brewers the freedom to express themselves without the boundaries often posed by traditional beerstyle guidelines.
Brewers are judged on their creativity, technical skill and closeness to the year’s competition brief. This year’s competition saw a record 23 breweries tackle the challenge of creating a unique brew that reflected the ‘pure, wild and American’ qualities of the Zappa™ hop.
Entries ranged from Bacuit Bay Brewhouse’s “Put A Little Hop In Your Zappatos Mexican Lager” to Engkanto Brewery’s “Wild Love Double Dry Hopped IPA”. CubaoX’s winning brew ‘Cranberries En Regalia’ was a cranberry saison that combined the tartness of the fruit with the fruity pebbles notes of the Zappa™ hops.
CubaoX brewers Jun Flores (l) & Aaron Digma (centre) celebrate their wins at Brew King Philippines 2023
In mid June registered breweries were sent a consignment of Zappa™ hops, curtesy of competition sponsors CLS Farms, and after a Technical Webinar with Alex Nowell (Technical Advisor for CLS Farms) set to work on their brews.
Come judging day on the 5th August the competing brewers gathered to select the Top 5 brews from the field of 23. Unable to hold onto the title they won last year Treeline Ales bowed out during this first round of judging, back-to-back titles was not to be.
After over 4 hours of judging the brewers finalized their Top 5 brews which covered a wide range of styles reflecting the diversity of entries in the competition:
- Bacuit Bay Brewhouse, Put A Little Hop In Your Zappatos Mexican Lager (6.2%)
- CubaoX Brewery, Cranberries En Regalia Saison (5.5%)
- Apolong Brewing Co, Zapolong Tropical IPA (5.8%)
- Mitchell’s Backyard Brewery, Freak Out American IPA (6.0%)
- Engkanto Brewery, Wild Love Double Dry Hopped IPA (8.2%)
The judging then moved to the evening Public Round where the city’s craft community descended on Pierre’s Cellar, this year’s outstanding host venue. The brewers choice Top 5 beers were first tasted and voted for after which attendees were free to try all the other competition entries.
First round brewers favourites Put A Little Hop In Your Zappatos Mexican Lager and Freak Out American IPA were ultimately beaten across the line with the public vote swaying towards the sweeter notes of the cranberry saison.
Brewers Judging to decide the Top 5 beers was followed by a Public Evening where members of the public were invited to vote for their favourite Zappa™ hopped beer
“I cannot express enough how thrilled I am to witness such a remarkable achievement within our young team in Cubao X Brewery. Aaron’s hard-work, dedication, passion, and his continuous pursuit of excellence have paid off” remarked brewery founder Jun Flores III.
“At what is only the beginning of his brewing journey Aaron has showcased his natural talent and creativity. I’m very proud of him and our brewery team’s achievement.”
As winners CubaoX picked up the coveted Brew King Paddle trophy as well as a 2023 Zappa™ hops trophy presented by CLS Farms and well as a cash prize for the Most Creative Brew. Engkanto Brewery picked up the second placed cash prize for their “Wild Love DDH IPA”.
Everybody enjoying the opportunity to come together on a dry evening after several weeks of incessant monsoon rains. All corners of the industry gathered to celebrate the creativity of this young and vibrant community with the beers continuing to flow well into the Manila night.
This year’s Brew King Philippines competing breweries & Brews:
Bacuit Bay Brewhouse, Put A Little Hop In Your Zappatos Mexican Lager, 6.2%
Madbul Cerveza Artesana, Magica IPL, 6.5%
Santa Maria Craft Brewery, Zapparilla Wheat Beer, 5.0%
The Perfect Pint, There Gose Tequila, 4.8%
Blackwhite Craft Brewery, Pignose Saison, 5.0%
CubaoX Brewery, Cranberries En Regalia, 5.5%
Katipunan Craft Ales, Saison of Mr. Green Genes, 6.0%
Monkey Eagle Brewery Inc., Hoppy Tunes – Hazy Pale Ale, 5.0%
3006 Craft Brewery, Zappa Session IPA, 5.0%
Ventura Brewing Co., Red IPA, 5.5%
Apolong Brewing Co., Zapolong Tropical IPA, 5.8%
The Marc’s & Tony Brewing Co., Izeey Cold IPA, 6.0%
Mitchell’s Backyard Brewery, Freak Out American IPA, 6.0%
2919 Brewing Co., I’m The Slime WIPA, 6.5%
Bulul Brewery, Disgracia – Malabong IPA, 6.5%
Treeline Ales, Thunderstruck IPA, 6.5%
Birdie Num Num Tropical Brewery, Frank the Tank – Oldschool IPA, 6.6%
Elias Wicked Ales & Spirits, What’s Zapp?, 6.8%
El Depósito Brewery, Sosyaling Masa IPA, 7.5%
Banayad Brewery Inc., Kalamanzi Brut IPA, 7.5%
NIPA Brew, Dankadelic Double NEIPA, 7.1%
Kumintang Brewery, Amboy Double IPA, 8.0%
Engkanto Brewery, Wild Love, 8.2%
