California Mid-State Fair crowns top homebrews in 2026 competition

Conner Medeiros of Creston claimed Best of Show at the California Mid-State Fair’s 2026 Home Brewing Competition with an experimental Imperial Pastry Stout, while Nate Alexander of Paso Robles earned Reserve Best of Show with a Czech Premium Pale Lager. Together, the two beers showed what keeps winning on the Central Coast: bold, technical brewing that can still stand up in a BJCP-style judging arena.

The fair judged entries on aroma, appearance and flavor, with local judges bringing beer and wine knowledge to the table. That setup matters in a competition that includes beer, ciders and perry and is limited to residents of San Luis Obispo or Santa Barbara County. It gives the homebrew crowd a real public stage, not just a club-night tasting, and it rewards beers that are clean, balanced and built to survive scrutiny from experienced palates.

Affourtit said the top two beers were both in notoriously challenging styles, a sign that the strongest local brewers are not playing it safe. Medeiros’ pastry stout points to the continued appeal of big, layered dark beers, especially when the brewer can keep sweetness, roast and body in line. Alexander’s Czech Premium Pale Lager sat at the opposite end of the spectrum, where subtle hop character, malt clarity and fermentation control leave almost no room to hide. That pairing says a lot about where judges are landing right now: precision still counts, but ambition does too.

The results also fit a clear run of recent fair winners. In 2025, Kelly Beaubien of San Miguel took Best of Show with a Dark European Lager, Schwarzbier, while Medeiros finished Reserve with a Hazy IPA. In 2024, Mike Meko of Arroyo Grande won with a Belgian Dark Strong Ale and Ryan Foster of Grover Beach placed second with a Hazy IPA. In 2023, Mark Paulick of San Luis Obispo won with a Munich Helles and Hank Wethington of Paso Robles took Reserve with an American Stout. The year before that, Jason Affourtit topped the field with an Imperial Stout and Nicholas Robbins of Atascadero earned Reserve with a Cream Ale.

That pattern is hard to miss: judges keep rewarding both expressive dark beers and well-executed lager work, with haze, stout and classic continental styles all taking turns near the top. The fair’s 2026 theme, Back to the ’80s, marks its 80th anniversary, and the full fair runs July 15-26 at the Paso Robles Event Center. The homebrew competition, staged at the Ponderosa Pavilion, once again proved that the Central Coast’s amateur brewers are still building beers that can win when the judging gets serious.