Brand new Sacramento-area brewery upsets competition at legendary Bay Area beer contest

Zack Frasher (R) and Slice co-owner Russ Yeager (L) celebrates Slice Beer Co.'s win at the Bistro's 20th Annual Double and Triple IPA Festival on Saturday, February 8, 2020. Zack Frasher (R) and Slice co-owner Russ Yeager (L) celebrates Slice Beer Co.'s win at the Bistro's 20th Annual Double and Triple IPA Festival on Saturday, February 8, 2020. Photo: Alyssa Pereira / SFGATE Photo: Alyssa Pereira / SFGATE Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Brand new Sacramento-area brewery upsets competition at legendary Bay Area beer contest 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

For the first time in its 20-year history, the same brewery claimed people’s choice awards for both categories at the the Bistro’s annual Double IPA and Triple IPA Festival Saturday.

“This is the first time this has happened,” announced Cynthia Kralj, co-owner of the Bistro in Hayward. “This is a great brewery we know and love: Slice Beer Co.”

Slice Beer Co., helmed by brewer and Moonraker Brewing expat Zack Frasher, has been around less than a year in Sacramento-area Lincoln, Calif., but nevertheless bested beers like Pliny the Younger from Russian River to claim both coveted medals.

During the event, more than a dozen judges blind-graded the 100 or so entries to the festival, awarding six beers medals (full results below). Additionally, festival attendees — which this year numbered around 1,000 people — each voted on their favorite beer of the day, crowning Slice across two categories in the process.

“There’s a ton of good beer here,” Frasher told SFGATE after the wins. “We didn’t medal in the judging competition — it’s tough to judge 100+ hoppy beers — but to get that support from people, it means a lot, especially in both beer [categories].”

Slice was just one of the 50 or so carefully selected breweries who attended and competed in this iconic California competition, established by the Bistro owner Vic Kralj.

It’s come a long way since Kralj initially imagined the festival in 2000. The double IPA, let alone the triple IPA, was an anomaly. It wasn’t an official style at the Great American Beer Festival (and wouldn’t be until 2003), and curious brewers were only beginning to experiment with the extremely hoppy style.

Nevertheless, Kralj noticed that some local breweries, like Marin Brewing and (now-defunct) Potrero Brewing had their own versions of the beer. So he called up his friend Vinnie Cilurzo, co-founder of a new brewery called Russian River Brewing Company, and asked him if he might like to brew a double IPA for a tap takeover as well. Cilurzo accepted, and brought with him an experimental 8% beer he called Pliny the Elder.

The first year, Kralj says he had 12 beers on tap, which drew in so many people he knew he was onto something special. One fan of that year’s event had a suggestion for the following year.

“[Hayward’s] city manager said craft beer is getting so popular,” Kralj remembers. “He said why don’t you throw a beer festival on Main Street?”

The next year, the Bistro fenced off a portion of the street outside the bar and threw the first official Double and Triple IPA Festival. It was a hit; Kralj says even in those first years, 250-350 craft beer fans came out to taste beers from breweries Kralj hand-selected to pour. These days, the event draws more than 1,000 drinkers.

Because of the festival’s notoriety in the industry, it can be tough for brewers to even get their beers in the running to compete, Kralj says.

“It’s an invitational, because if I opened it up to all brewers, I’d have 400 there," Kralj explains. “It’s through the industry and the people I know, but when I hear about a brewery killing it, I’ll invite them. If there’s a brewery that’s been in it for years and it’s never made it to the final [judging] table, I have to cut them.”

The judges are similarly hand-selected; they’re a mix of certified beer judges, Cicerones and other industry professionals who’ve undergone extensive training to detect off-flavors and aberrations from the style. For 2020’s event, there were 16 that blind-judged the competition, including veteran beer writer Steve Shapiro, BJCP judge Nathan Smith and Pete’s Wicked Ales’ Pete Slosberg.

Over the years, some breweries have medaled in the judged categories often, like Revision, Russian River, El Segundo and Kern River. But never has the same brewery won people’s choice for both audience voted categories — until this year.

Here at Saturday’s festival, at the onset of San Francisco Beer Week — a celebration Kralj also helped found — Frasher seems a bit shocked to accept both medals.

“I’m happy and [feel] fortunate,” he says. “It’s been a ton of work and I appreciate the support. To get people’s choice from both categories is amazing. It’s awesome.”

Winners at the 20th Annual Double and Triple IPA Festival:

Triple IPA winners:

1st - Heretic Brewing, Evil3

2nd - Beachwood Brewing, Hops of Fury

3rd - Ghostwood Beer Co., Clearly Dangerous

Double IPA winners:

1st - Kern River Brewing, Double Chuuurch

2nd - Revision Brewing, Revision DIPA

3rd - Riip Beer Co., Gimpier McGee

People’s Choice Double IPA: Slice Beer Co., Doobie Snacks

People’s Choice Triple IPA: Slice Beer Co., Wombo

San Francisco Beer Week begins Friday, February 7 and runs through February 16, 2020.

For more San Francisco Beer Week coverage:

The craft breweries opening in 2020 that will change the Bay Area’s beer scene

How these siblings turned a tragedy into one of the East Bay's most popular craft breweries

Plinywatch 2020: Where you might find Russian River's Pliny the Younger in SF and Oakland

SF Beer Week announces its five one-time-only collaboration beers for 2020

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: alyssa.pereira@sfgate.com | Twitter: @alyspereira

