Barebottle, Pond Farm Brewing among big local winners at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival

Great American Beer Festival founder Charlie Papazian (R) poses with Barebottle Brewing Company staffers at the Great American Beer festival on Saturday, October 5, 2019. Great American Beer Festival founder Charlie Papazian (R) poses with Barebottle Brewing Company staffers at the Great American Beer festival on Saturday, October 5, 2019. Photo: Barebottle Brewing Company Photo: Barebottle Brewing Company Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Barebottle, Pond Farm Brewing among big local winners at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

On Saturday morning, Trevor Martens tuned in to the Great American Beer Festival competition livestream. The Pond Farm Brewing Co. co-founder and his wife, co-founder Stephanie Martens, had entered three beers to the massive annual festival competition despite only being six months old. The hope, Stephanie Martens said, was to get some feedback from competition judges on their beer.

But what they received was a bronze medal in the festival's most impacted category: juicy or hazy India Pale Ale. That category received an incredible 348 entries — a handful more than the American-Style India Pale Ale category.

Trevor Martens somehow missed the announcement. The two were in their San Rafael taproom, distracted while getting the space ready for an Oktoberfest event to take place later that day when they recalled "our phones started blowing up" with congratulatory messages.

"It is such a big category," Trevor Martens told SFGATE. "There are so many hazy IPAs out there — it was like, no there's something wrong here. Did we get a medal for one of the other ones?"

Since Saturday, Stephanie Martens says, they've already received some inquiries from buyers hoping to order their beer for local bars. The two are excited about the interest, not to mention the unexpected win.

"When we saw that — what more can you ask for? We're a super young brewery," she adds. "The validation feels good but we've been confident in our beers. We're always focused on quality, but the validation feels nice. We're definitely going to speed up our schedule with brewing the next Devil's Gulch."

A total of eight Bay Area breweries medaled at the annual festival. Among them were two bronze medalists, in Pond Farm and Santa Clara Valley Brewing, which won for its Dry Creek Blonde Ale (in the German-style Koelsch category). Five Bay Area breweries won silvers: Richmond's East Brother, for its Bo Pils (Bohemian-style Pilsener category); Santa Rosa's Third Street AleWorks, for its Annadel Pale Ale (English-style Pale Ale); Alameda's Almanac Beer Co., for its Farmer's Reserve No. 5 (Mixed-Culture Brett Beer); San Francisco's Bartlett Hall, for its Powell Street Porter (Robust Porter); and San Leandro's 21st Amendment Brewery, for its Emperor Norton's Sweet Stout (Sweet Stout).

Just one brewery landed a gold medal: San Francisco's Barebottle Brewing Co.

The Bernal Heights brewery, which opened in mid-2016, is known for its IPAs and kettle sours. But winning a gold in the International-Style Pilsener category for its Torcido Helles Lager marks a special kind of accomplishment, not just because it's an exceptionally difficult style to master, but because it's the choice beer of brewers themselves.

"These are the things we like drinking: craft lagers," says Barebottle co-founder Lester Koga. "It's the old adage, it holds true: (With lagers) you can't hide behind anything. It has to be well-made. It's a badge of honor for a brewer to make great craft lager."

Koga, like brewer John Montes De Oca, didn't head to Denver for GABF; the two learned about their accomplishment from a distance.

"I timed (the livestream) just right, says Montes De Oca. "Bronze came up, silver came up, and then you think, ah, there's no way we got the gold. I jokingly said to my girlfriend, 'And Torcido wins gold.' And then it said, 'Barebottle wins gold.'"

Representing Barebottle in Colorado was Barebottle Production Manager Kelsey Holstein.

"It was definitely a shock," she told SFGATE. "We kinda started to lose hope and (after they announced the win) we looked at each other, did a double take, like, 'Is that our beer?' To be able to go on stage, pose in front of everyone — It was a little shock and awe."

See all GABF winners here at the official website.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: apereira@sfchronicle.com | Twitter: @alyspereira

