AleSmith Brewing Company

AleSmith Brewing Company

AleSmith Brewery Logo
Location	9990 AleSmith Ct. San Diego, California, USA
Opened	1995
Annual production volume	15,000 US beer barrels (18,000 hL)
Owned by	Peter Zien (independent)
Active beers
Name Type AleSmith X American Pale Ale AleSmith Nut Brown Ale Nut Brown Ale Anvil Ale Extra Special Bitter AleSmith IPA India Pale Ale Lil Devil Belgian Pale Ale Horny Devil Belgian Strong Ale Wee Heavy Scotch Ale Speedway Stout Imperial Stout Old Numbskull Barleywine Grand Cru Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Seasonal beers
Name Type My Bloody Valentine Ale American Red Ale AleSmith Olde Ale Old Ale or Strong Ale Summer YuleSmith Imperial India Pale Ale Decadence Style Varies Year to Year Evil Dead Red Ale American Red Ale Winter YuleSmith Imperial Red Ale
Other beers
Name Type AleSmith Cream Ale Cream Ale AleSmith Robust Porter Robust Porter Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout Imperial Stout Barrel-Aged Wee Heavy Scotch Ale Barrel-Aged Grand Cru Belgian Dark Strong Ale Barrel-Aged Old Numbskull Barleywine

AleSmith Brewing Company is an American craft brewery located in San Diego, California. It specializes in handcrafted ales in a variety of styles. As of 2015 it produces about 25,000 barrels of beer a year.

The brewery was founded in San Diego in 1995 by Skip Virgilio and Ted Newcomb. Skip Virgilio was AleSmith's original brewmaster. Peter Zien became brewmaster upon purchasing the company in July, 2002. Zien is a BJCP "Grand Master level 1" beer judge, the only one in San Diego County.

The original brewery is located at 9366 Cabot Drive in San Diego's Miramar area. In 2015 the company added a larger brewery and tasting room, also in Miramar, at 9990 AleSmith Court. At 25,000 square feet, the tasting room is billed as the largest beer tasting room in San Diego County. Brewing operations at the new facility will eventually expand the company's brewing capacity ten-fold, according to Zien.

Beers from the brewery have been rated on RateBeer.com website as #1 Top Brewer in the World 2006 and again in 2013. In 2008, AleSmith was awarded "Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year" at the Great American Beer Festival.

In 2015, AleSmith announced that Danish gypsy brewer Mikkeller had partnered with them to turn the original facility, located on Cabot Drive, into Mikkeller San Diego.

The company has won nine medals in World Beer Cup competition, including five golds. They won for Belgian Strong Ale (bronze, 1998); Winter YuleSmith (gold, 2004); Vintage AleSmith Old Numbskull (gold, 2008); AleSmith Decadence '05 Old Ale (gold, 2008); AleSmith Wee Heavy (gold, 2010); AleSmith Decadence '09 Weizenbock (bronze, 2010); AleSmith Decadence '10 Old Ale (silver, 2012); AleSmith Old Numbskull (bronze, 2012); AleSmith Old Ale '13 (gold,2014).

At the 2008 Great American Beer Festival, AleSmith Brewing Company won the Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year Award. By 2013, the AleSmith team had acquired 16 GABF beer medals: Belgian-Style Strong Ale (silver, 1998); Stumblin’ Monk (bronze, 2000); Wee Heavy Scotch Ale (bronze, 2004); AleSmith IPA (bronze, 2005); Wee Heavy Scotch Ale (silver, 2005); Vintage Speedway Stout (silver, 2008); Old Numbskull Barley Wine (silver, 2008); Decadence ‘05 Old Ale (gold, 2008); Wee Heavy Scotch Ale (gold, 2008); AleSmith IPA (silver, 2011); Old Numbskull Barley Wine (silver, 2011); Decadence ’10 Old Ale (silver, 2011); Grand Cru (bronze, 2012); Decadence ’10 Old Ale (bronze, 2012); Old Numbskull Barley Wine (gold, 2013); Decadence ‘12 Quadruple (silver, 2013)