It’s my favourite time of year again, when all the brewers from around BC get together to celebrate the industry and walk away with some shiny new swag. This year, the theme was sour beer, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to taste test what each brewer had on the go.
The awards, held at the Croatian Cultural Centre was once again a packed house. It’s easy to forget how much the craft beer industry grows year after year until you see all the brewers together in one room. This year, the focus was on who could make the best sour, with many breweries offering up special one-off cask sours for those in attendance.
But, you’re really here to find out who the best of the best was, so without further ado, the complete list of winners. Strap in, this is a long list:
North American Light Beer:
1st: Tofino Brewing Company- Tofino Blonde Ale
2nd: High Mountain Brewing- Lifty Lager
3rd: Granville Island Brewing- Island Lager
Light European Bier:
1st: Parallel 49 Brewing- Craft Lager
2nd: Central City Brewing- Mayor Kolsch
3rd: Russell Brewing- Eastern Promises
UK Pale Ale:
1st: Big Ridge Brewing- Big Ridge Clover Ale
2nd: Forbidden Brewing Co.- Forbidden Pale Ale
3rd: Bomber Brewing- Bomber ESB
Amber/Dark Lagers:
1st: Steel & Oak- Dark Lager
2nd: Persephone Brewing- Oktoberfest
3rd: Tree Brewing- Captivator Dopplebock
UK Red/Brown Ale:
1st: Whistler Brewing Co.- Whistler Brewing Black Tusk
2nd: Lighthouse Brewing- Race Rocks
3rd: Parallel 49 Brewing- Old Boy
North American Pale Ale:
1st: Howe Sound Brewing- Sky Pilot Northwest Pale
2nd: Persephone Brewing- Pale Ale
3rd: Russell Brewing- Hop Therapy ISA
North American Amber/Brown Ale:
1st: Big Rock Urban Brewery- Hollow Tree
2nd: Russell Brewing- Cream Ale
3rd: Brassneck Brewery- Brassneck Ale
German/Belgian Wheat:
1st: Barkerville Brewing- White Gold
2nd: Big Rock Urban Brewery- Dunkelweizen
3rd: Granville Island Brewing- Hey day Hefeweizen
Fruit Beer:
1st: Stanley Park Brewing- SunSetter
2nd: Tree Brewing- Mellow Moon Pineapple Hefeweizen
3rd: Strange Fellows- Framboise Noir
Spice/Herb/Veg Beer:
1st: Tofino Brewing- Spruce tree Ale
2nd: Stanley Park Brewing- Icebreaker
3rd: Tofino Brewing- Kelp Stout
Specialty:
1st: Brassneck Brewery- No Brainer Pre Prohibition Lager
2nd: Bridge Brewing- Wee Tipsy Peated Scotch Ale
3rd: Steamworks Brewing- Steamworks Gose
Stout/Porter:
1st: Doan’s Craft Brewing- American Rye Stout
2nd: Barkerville Brewing- 52 Foot Stout
3rd: Mission Springs Brewing- Fat Guy Oatmeal Stout
Wood/Barrel Aged:
1st: Bridge Brewing- Imperial White IPA
2nd: Four Winds Brewing- Pequeno Cabo Tequila Barrel Aged Berliner Weisse
3rd: Parallel 49- Barrel Aged Vow of Silence
North American IPA:
1st: Central City- Red Racer IPA
2nd: Red Truck- Red Truck IPA
3rd: Hearthstone Brewing- Hearthstone IPA
Specialty IPA:
1st: Bridge Brewing- Back Rye IPA
2nd: Moon Under Water- Hip As Funk
3rd: Bomber Brewing- Blood From A Stone Red Rye IPA
Belgian/French Farmhouse:
1st: Persephone Brewing- Multigrain Saison
2nd: Dageraad Brewing- Randonneur Saison
3rd: Raven Brewing- Farmers Ale
Strong Ale:
1st: Swans Brewpub- Legacy Ale
2nd: R&B Brewing- Auld Nick Winter Ale
3rd: Swans Brewpub- Swans Scotch Ale
Belgian Abbey Ale:
1st: Dageraad Brewing- Dageraad Blonde
2nd: Tree Brewing- Trappist Artist Belgian
3rd: Old Abbey Ales- Belgian Quad
Imperial IPA:
1st: Brassnecy Brewery- One Trick Pony
2nd: Parallel 49- 187 On An Undercover Hop
3rd: Parallel 49- Hopnitist
Sours/Wild Ale:
1st: Four Winds Brewing- Juxtapose Wild IPA
2nd: Strange Fellows Brewing- Roxanne
3rd: Dageraad Brewing- De Witte
Best in Show:
Brassneck Brewery- One Trick Pony
People’s Choice:
Four Winds Brewing- Nectarous Bourbon Sour
Brewer’s Sour Challenge:
Main Street Brewing- Cantus Fermus Sour
Nice to see my personal favourite, Dageraad walk away with three award, including 1st place for their excellent Dageraad Blonde. But the really interesting thing here is how evenly spread out the awards are. No one brewery dominated this year’s event; Parallel 49 walked away with the most (five awards), but with many breweries earning three or four awards each, that really isn’t much of a defining gap.
I think the spread of awards among all the breweries shows the caliber of beer being produced in BC right now. Pretty much anywhere you go, you’re going to find an award winning beer or two, and that’s exciting news for the industry.
Ale/Sessions 