It is October again and that means it was time for the 8th Annul BC Beer Awards. Once again the Beer Awards and festival were held at the Croatian Cultural Centre. This years festival landed on October 21st, 2017. The first 7 awards were held in a similar format with the festival happening at the same time as the awards with the announcements happening in the second half of the festival. This year the awards were held in a VIP hour that took place before the main doors opened.
I have been attending this event for many years now and it is one of the must attend events on the yearly calendar. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the awards portion of the event before the general public was let into the building. To me the most important part of the entire experience is the actual awards and that is one thing that I am not a big fan of with this years changes. luckily this was still an amazing event. The BC Beer Awards continue to grow every year with this having beer from 97 breweries and a total entries of 879. Last year for comparison was 83 breweries and 750 entries. The event started at 4pm for VIP’s and then opened up to the masses at 5pm. last call for the beer festival was at 9:45pm.
You can check out Pacific Beer Chats coverage of the awards here
Grab the episode on:
iTunes – Play
Google Play Music – Play
Stitcher – Play
For the last few years Stephen Quinn of CBC Radio was the host of the awards but with a bad back he was unable to do the honors. This year Dan Burritt of CBC Radio took his place and did a wonderful job. I still hope one day 100% of the breweries will take part in this event as you never really know the best beer in the province if not everyone takes part. Lets get to the most important part, the winning beer!
INTERNATIONAL LAGER – 34 ENTRIES
1: Bomber Pilsner – Bomber Brewing
2: Red Pilsner – Steel & Oak Brewing Co.
3: Premium Pilsner – Strathcona Beer Co.
GERMAN PALE LAGER – 27 ENTRIES
1: Craft Lager – Parallel 49 Brewing
2: Ridge Runner Pilsner – Backcountry Brewing
3: King Maker – Brassneck Brewery
KOLSCH – 12 ENTRIES
1: Analogue 78 – Phillips Brewing & Malting Co
2: Kolsch – Doan’s Craft Brewing
3: Kūl Daddy Kölsch – Callister Brewing Co.
AMBER & DARK EUROPEAN BEER – 19 ENTRIES
1: Backroads Brewing Marzen – Backroads Brewing Co.
2: Dark Lager – Steel & Oak Brewing Co.
3: Red Racer Across The Nation Collaboration Wide Open Spaces Kellerbier – Central City Brewers & Distillers
GERMAN WHEAT BEER – 18 ENTRIES
1: Hefeweizen – The 101 Brewhouse & Distillery
2: Roundhouse Wheat – Yaletown Brewing Co.
3: KPU Weissbier – KPU Brewing
BRITISH BITTER – 21 ENTRIES
1: Organic Pale Ale – Forbidden Brewing
2: Tickity Boo – Twin City Brewing Co.
3: Nelson Hopgood Organic Session IPA- Nelson Brewing Co.
BRITISH PALE ALE – 18 ENTRIES
1: Tasman – Lighthouse Brewing Co.
2: Bomber Pale Ale – Bomber Brewing
3: El Dorado Golden Ale – Backroads Brewing Co.
BRITISH BROWN ALE – 33 ENTRIES
1: Shake A Paw Smoked Porter – Yellow Dog Brewing
2: Raven Cream Ale – R & B Brewing
3: Proper Treacle – Parallel 49 Brewing
SCOTTISH & IRISH ALE – 13 ENTRIES
1: Wee Angry Scotch Ale – Russell Brewing Co.
2: Renfrew Red Ale – Sooke Oceanside Brewery
3: Short & Stout Dry Stout – Callister Brewing Co.
BRITISH STOUT – 20 ENTRIES
1: Chocolate Milk Stout – Hearthstone Brewery
2: Nelson Blackheart Oatmeal Stout – Nelson Brewing Co.
3: Con Leche – Twin Sails Brewing
STRONG BEER – 15 ENTRIES
1: Woolly Bugger – Howe Sound Brewing
2: Baltic – Steel & Oak Brewing Co.
3: Sleigh Booster Imperial Red IPA – Bridge Brewing
FRUIT BEER – 50 ENTRIES
1: Anno 2016 – Dageraad Brewing
2: Ravens Raspberry Hefeweizen – Ravens Brewing Co.
3: Corvus Lingonberry Lime Gose – Ravens Brewing Co.
SPECIALTY FRUIT BEER – 22 ENTRIES
1: Go Get It Ginger Lime Gose – Yellow Dog Brewing
2: Megadestroyer – Howe Sound Brewing
3: Atomic Cherry Tart Cherry Ale – Dead Frog Brewery
SPICE, HERB & VEGETABLE BEER – 39 ENTRIES
1: Alakazam – Parallel 49 Brewing
2: Towers & Trains – Steel & Oak Brewing Co.
3: Roselle – Steel & Oak Brewing Co.
SMOKE & WOOD AGED BEER – 34 ENTRIES
1: Octoberfest Flammenbeer – Swans Brewery Collaboration with White Sails Brewing
2: Tonique Carpano Biere Aperitif – Powell Brewery
3: Russian Imperial Stout – Parallel 49 Brewing
HM: Entropy Series No. 3 – Dageraad Brewing
HISTORICAL BEER – 14 ENTRIES
1: Gose With Peach – Granville Island Brewing
2: No Brainer – Brassneck Brewery
3: Roggen Weizen – Steel & Oak Brewing Co.
SPECIALTY BEER – 18 ENTRIES
1: Double Secret Probation Doppel Sticke Altbier – Bomber Brewing
2: Launch Pad Belgian-Inspired Rye Ale – Whitetooth Brewing Co.
3: Anniversary Sour Raspberry Nut Brown Ale – Dead Frog Brewery
HM: Gin & Lime Pilsner – Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks
NORTH AMERICAN LIGHT BEER – 33 ENTRIES
1: Red Truck Lager – Red Truck Beer
2: Nelson Hooligan Organic Pilsner – Nelson Brewing Co.
3: Cariboo Blonde – Pacific Western Brewing
AMERICAN BLONDE ALE – 17 ENTRIES
1: Arrowsmith Blonde – Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Co.
2: 107 Blonde – Faculty Brewing
3: Tofino Blonde Ale – Tofino Brewing Co.
NORTH AMERICAN PALE ALE – 60 ENTRIES
1: Trail Breaker Pale Ale – Backcountry Brewing
2: Day Blink – Twin Sails Brewing
3: Sky Pilot – Howe Sound Brewing
HM: Dude Chilling Pale Ale – R & B Brewing
NORTH AMERICAN AMBER ALE – 25 ENTRIES
1: Steamworks Heroica Red Ale – Steamworks Brewing Co.
2: Coastal Common – Whistler Brewing Co.
3: Brassneck Ale – Brassneck Brewery
NORTH AMERICAN DARK BEER – 25 ENTRIES
1: Str8 Flexin’ – Twin Sails Brewing
2: Bomber Russian Imperial Stout – Bomber Brewing
3: Dark Side – Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks
NORTH AMERICAN IPA – 82 ENTRIES
1: Vancouver Special IPA – R & B Brewing
2: Widow Maker IPA– Backcountry Brewing
3: Parkside Motel – The Parkside Brewery
SPECIALTY IPA – 57 ENTRIES
1: Rad Seeker – Boombox Brewing
2: Colour & Shape – Superflux Beer Co.
3: Ocaso – Andina Brewing Co.
IMPERIAL IPA – 16 ENTRIES
1: Bachelor Pad – Twin Sails Brewing
2: Kicking In Speakers – Twin Sails Brewing Collaboration with Boombox Brewing
3: Beach Week – Twin Sails Brewing
HM: Hopnotist – Parallel 49 Brewing
BELGIAN ALE – 19 ENTRIES
1: 33 Acres Of Sunshine – 33 Acres Brewing Co
2: Dim Wit – The Parkside Brewery
3: Take A Walk Wit – Yellow Dog Brewing
SAISON – 32 ENTRIES
1: Lake City Farmhouse – Dageraad Brewing
2: Sea Run Saison – Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Co.
3: Vancouver Mural Festival Single Hopped Grisette – Main Street Brewing
BELGIAN STRONG & TRAPPIST ALE – 23 ENTRIES
1: Louise – Dageraad Brewing
2: Antwerpen – Dageraad Brewing
3: Black Dog Quad – Red Collar Brewing
MIXED FERMENTATION BEER – 46 ENTRIES
1: Reynard – Strange Fellows Brewing Company
2: Brett IPA- Luppolo Brewing Co.
3: Tempus Corvi 2017 – Moon Under Water Brewery
HM: Wild Gin Saison – R & B Brewing
WILD SPECIALTY BEER – 37 ENTRIES
1: Little Red One – Strange Fellows Brewing Company
2: De Witte – Dageraad Brewing
3: Dino Sour – Phillips Brewing & Malting Co
DAN SMALL AWARD
Bryan Major – SMaSH Pils with Pils Malt, Mosaic hop
BREWERY OF THE YEAR – presented by Tap & Barrel
Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Company
BREWERS CHALLENGE – presented by Krones
Postmark Brewing – Bohemian Pilsner SMaSH
BEST IN SHOW – presented by Country Malt Group
Swans Brewery and White Sails Brewing – Oktoberfest Flammenbeer
CBC PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Boombox Brewing – Rad Seeker
INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR – presented by Newlands Systems
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – PRESENTED BY RICHARDS BUELL SUTTON LLP
This year had a few nice surprises with the winners. With the Best in Show being Flagship IPA from Steamworks Brewing the tides have turned a little bit towards creativity and not just following style guidelines for the BC Beer Awards. This year Boombox Brewing won CBC People’s Choice Award and Innovator of the Year went to Twin Sails Brewing. Both are very experimental breweries and leading the charge with great experimental brews. It was also amazing to see two rookie breweries win two huge awards. Brewery of the Year went to Mount Arrowsmith Brewing from the island and Rookie of the Year went to Backcountry Brewing out of Squamish.
The media got to enter at 3pm for a small media tour. Here are some photos from the media hour. The media tour was lead by Paul Pyne of DrinkSmarter.ca a Certified Cicerone and a member of the craft beer community.
Here are some of my photos of the event once it started. This year I took far less photos as I was busy recording audio for the Pacific Beer Chat episode. Here are the photos that I did take.
This year was once again an amazing year with even better beer both being served and winning awards. Here is to next years event!
Mike's Craft Beer 