![\"Mo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sut-l-beer-nuspl2.jpg\")
Mo Nuspl is the founder and brewmaster for 8-year-old Deft Brewing of San Diego. (Peter Rowe)<\/p>\nSan Diego\u2019s Deft Brewing has regularly entered the Great American Beer Festival, winning a silver medal in 2021 with its Belgian table beer, Austere Abbot.<\/p>\n
But Deft won\u2019t enjoy a repeat triumph when the 2025 GABF results are announced in October. This year, the tiny brewery \u2014 annual production: 500 barrels \u2014 isn\u2019t entering.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t win if you\u2019re not in,\u201d said Mo Nuspl, the 8-year-old brewery\u2019s founder and brewmaster.<\/p>\n
Mo Nuspl is the founder and brewmaster for 8-year-old Deft Brewing of San Diego. (Peter Rowe)<\/p>\n
This is the season when brewers prepare for the GABF, the nation\u2019s largest and most prestigious competition. San Diego County has been a player at the annual Denver affair since 1998, when local AleSmith took silver for its Belgian golden strong ale. Last year, local brewers won 10 medals in Colorado.<\/p>\n
Victories bolster a brewery\u2019s reputation, and GABF medals are proudly displayed in tasting rooms across the country. Yet entering this contest is not a simple decision.<\/p>\n
There are shipping costs and entry fees: $185 per beer for breweries belonging to the Brewers Association, the contest\u2019s sponsor, and $425 for non members.<\/p>\n
Moreover, determining what to enter is complicated by the strict guidelines judges use to assess beers in specific categories. Take the saison, a popular Belgian-French farmhouse style. \u201cWe tweak ours to make it unique, so that it stands out,\u201d said Peter Howson, Deft\u2019s brewer.<\/p>\n
But those tweaks may have pushed the beer outside the judging parameters. Personal reasons also moved Nuspl\u2019s decision to skip this competition \u2014 his son is a high-school senior, carrying a heavy academic load while juggling college applications.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see us getting involved again,\u201d Papa Nuspl said. \u201cBut we\u2019re taking this year off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ale and Farewell<\/p>\n
When I began my newspaper career, old-timers still banged away on manual typewriters, ending each story with \u201c-30-\u201c<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been writing this column for three decades, so it seems fitting to conclude Sept. 12\u2019s Brewery Rowe column\u00a0\u2014 and my beer-scribbling career \u2014 with -30-.<\/p>\n
Grandchildren, travel and intriguing un-sudsy writing projects made me realize it\u2019s time to hang up my stein. Professionally. I plan to regain my amateur status as a beer drinker.<\/p>\n
The Next Round<\/p>\n
Mondays:<\/strong> Every week, Fox Point Brewing offers a nice package: a tour of the year-old brewery, beer tastings plus a visit with brewer Brian Carl, all for $25, plus 15 percent off four-packs of beer to go. Fox Point Brewing, 200 Fox Point Farms Lane, Encinitas. Reservations at foxpointbrewing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sept. 15:<\/strong> You\u2019re invited to close out 30 years of Brewery Rowe, starting 6 p.m. at Blind Lady Ale House. This party is BYOBM \u2014 Bring Your Own Beer Money \u2013 but I hope to see friends, relatives, colleagues, readers and members of the brewing trades, all of whom have made this endeavor so enjoyable. Blind Lady Ale House, 3416 Adams Ave., San Diego. blindladyalehouse.com<\/a><\/p>\n Sept. 27:<\/strong> Stone Brewing\u2019s 29th anniversary celebration is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Once the region\u2019s most ambitious beer festival, pouring top domestic and foreign brews, I was disappointed by last year\u2019s more modest affair. This year? The event\u2019s website touts \u201camazing beers\u201d from Stone and \u201cour friends in the industry,\u201d friends that, as I wrote this, are unidentified. Still, the hefty admission price of $135\u00a0 has me hoping for a return to glory. Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, 1999 Citracado Parkway, Escondido. stonebrewing.com\/events<\/a><\/p>\n Quick Sips, SoCal Suds Edition Beer: Field Beer<\/strong><\/p>\n From:<\/strong> Celador Ales, Torrance<\/p>\n Alcohol by Volume (ABV):<\/strong> 4.6 percent<\/p>\n Style:<\/strong> Oat saison<\/p>\n Drink or Dump:<\/strong> Drink. This fizzy yellow beer bears no resemblance to Budweiser, Coors and other mainstream f.y.b.s. Field Beer is tart with a gentle honeyed background, a dash of pepper plus a hint of wood, the latter due to fermentation in neutral oak barrels.<\/p>\n Boss Pour<\/strong><\/p>\n From:<\/strong> Abnormal Beer, San Diego<\/p>\n ABV:<\/strong> 7 percent<\/p>\n Style:<\/strong> San Diego IPA<\/p>\n Drink or Dump:<\/strong> Drink. Abnormal\u2019s flagship beer, Boss Pour is a blast from our brewing past, a salute to the dank, hop-heavy India Pale Ales that put San Diego on the brewing map. Grapefruit and lemon notes? Check. Pine sap aromas? Check. A crackling, assertive body and dry finish? Check, check. This Boss can order me around any time.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t Beat a Deft Horse<\/strong><\/p>\n From:<\/strong> Deft Brewing, San Diego<\/p>\n ABV:<\/strong> 5.4 percent<\/p>\n Style:<\/strong> Dunkelweizen<\/p>\n Drink or Dump:<\/strong> Drink. Dark and sweet, this is a German-inspired wheat beer. You\u2019ll catch some banana on the nose and again on the palate, although there is hides behind stronger caramel, dark bread and spice notes. Pinprick bubbles give a lift to the soft, malty body \u2013 this is a quaffable beer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego\u2019s Deft Brewing has regularly entered the Great American Beer Festival, winning a silver medal in 2021…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":184648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,7738,1582,276,171,10087,2105,1370,8738,988,3549,3550,7264,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-184647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-beer","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-escondido","14":"tag-food-and-drink","15":"tag-latest-headlines","16":"tag-north-county","17":"tag-restaurants","18":"tag-san-diego","19":"tag-san-diego-county","20":"tag-sandiego","21":"tag-things-to-do","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115112258313016570","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Celador](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sut-l-beer-field.jpg\")
Celador Ales\u2019 oat saison Field Beer. (Peter Rowe)<\/p>\n![\"Abnormal](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sut-l-beer-abnormalbosspour.jpg\")
Abnormal Beer\u2019s Boss Pour San Diego IPA. (Peter Rowe)<\/p>\n![\"Deft](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sut-l-beer-deft.jpg\")
Deft Brewing\u2019s Don\u2019t Beat a Dead Horse Dunkelweizen beer. (Peter Rowe)<\/p>\n