In a crowded, world renown, craft beer bar last Saturday the Sore Eye Cup champion was announced to zealous, sweaty, San Diego, indie beer fans. This year, Tabula Rasa, from Second Chance Beer Co. , is that victor! They reign for a full year as the Sore Eye Cup winner, and with that comes all the glory and prestige a local blog can bestow upon an amazing brewery. 2nd Chance’s motto is Seize. Sip. Enjoy. and boy did they ever seize the cup, sip from its mighty depths and enjoy the spoils of triumph with us on Saturday.

Look at the can on the left. Second Chance self distributes Tabula Rasa in pint cans so you can easily get your hands on some, something that you should certainly do very soon! I also suggest you visit their awesome tasting room/brewery in Carmel Mountain Ranch. Plenty of space to enjoy their offerings, play an intense game of darts, or lounge around. I’ve enjoyed both of my visits their and think you would dig hanging out there too!

To review, more than seventy people nominated 82 beers for the contest. We had 14,111 legitimate votes to get us to the top ten beers. Both of those statistics exceeded previous contest records. The beers were picked up the day before judging, during something I call the Sore Eye Tour. The top ten beers were judged by people ranging from craft beer fanatic to Advanced Cicerone. Those judges chose Tabula Rasa as San Diego’s best, regularly produced, indie beer for 2016!

Thank you to our host, Toronado, and our sponsor, Craftshack.com, I couldn’t have done it without you!