The BC Beer Awards were given out this past Saturday at Chapel Arts in Vancouver.  The event was coupled with the CAMRA Harvest Cask Fest, a signature event of the ongoing BC Craft Beer Month.  Let me tell you, serving beer for a few hours before giving out awards is really a great way to rouse up a crowd.

The standout beer on offer was the cask of Belgian Quince IPA from Lighthouse, which was phenomenal.  They should add this beer to their regular rotation and make it available via IV for me personally.  I was also very fond of the Chocolate Pumpkin Porter from Parallel 49 and of the four fresh hop beers on hand.  I won’t speak of the beers I didn’t care for, like the R&B Cucumber Mint IPA.  I won’t talk about how that beer raped my mouth from the inside.

The coolest aspect of the event was that most of the brewers who won awards were actually there and a few were standing right beside me when they won.  I considered kidnapping Driftwood’s Jason Meyer and forcing him to brew for me personally (at gun point), but I didn’t think that would be fair to the rest of you.

I’ve been critical of the beer awards in the past.  The trouble is, you’ve got judges blind tasting beers and marking them versus a style  guideline.  This means that beers you might not expect to win end up beating your favourite beers.  I considered rioting when Fat Tug didn’t win any of the three IPA awards, but was placated with cask beer.  Anyway, much respect to the guys at Brewery Creek who put on this awards shindig.  I know they worked really hard and recruited some top notch tasters.  I really like that they list how many entries there were in each category.  I guess Fat Tug finishing 4th of 36 is okay.

Suggestions for next year, force every BC beer to enter!  I hear Brewery Creek has access to a lot of beer, so they should just pull a bottle of every BC beer off the shelf.  For example, Tofino didn’t enter this year and I think they could have won an award or two.  Second and most important suggestion, let me be a taster.  Come on, I’m incredibly unprofessional, biased, and fun to be around.  Put me in coach, I can play.

Here are the winners:

Best of Show – Steamworks Pilsner -Conrad Gmoser of Steamworks Brewing Company

Lager/Pilsner – 22 Beers

1.) Steamworks Pilsner – Conrad Gmoser of Steamworks Brewing Company
2.) Beach Blonde Lager – Stefan Buhl of Tree Brewing Company
3.) Kelowna Pilsner – Stefan Buhl of Tree Brewing Company

Special Lager – 8 Beers

1.) Brewmaster’s Black – Stefan Tobler of Okanagan Spring Brewery
2.) Hermann’s Dark Lager – Ralf Pittroff of Vancouver Island Brewery
3.) Iron Plow Harvest Marzen – Ralf Pittroff of Vancouver Island Brewery

Session – 17 Beers

1.) High Country Kolsch -Bart Larson of Mt. Begbie Brewing Company
2.) Seadog Amber Ale – Ralf Pittroff of Vancouver Island Brewery
3.) Begbie Cream Ale -Bart Larson of Mt. Begbie Brewing Company

Wheat/Rye – 22 Beers

1.) Belgian White – Paul Hoyne and Dean Mcleod of Lighthouse Brewing Company
2.) King Heffy Imperial Hefeweizen – Paul Wilson and Franco Corno of Howe Sound Brewing Company
3.) White Bark Ale – Jason Meyer and Kevin Hearsum of Driftwood Brewing Company

Pale – 41 Beers

1.) Red Racer Classic Pale Ale – Gary Lohin of Central City Brewing Company
2.) Salt Spring ESB – Murray Hunter of Gulf Island Brewing
3.) River Rock Bitter – Daniel Murphy of Canoe Brewpub

Cascadian Dark Ale – 4 Beers

1.) Skookum Cascadian Brown Ale – Matt Phillips of Phillips Brewing Company
2.) Gathering Storm Cascadian Dark Ale – Paul Wilson and Franco Corno of Howe Sound Brewing Company
3.) Cascadia Dark Ale – Tommie Grant of Spinnakers Brewpub and GuestHouses

Porter/Brown – 24 Beers

1.) Pow Town – Cedric Dauchot of Townsite Brewing Inc
2.) Dark Chocolate Porter – Paul Hoyne and Dean Mcleod of Lighthouse Brewing Company
3.) Longboat Chocolate Porter – Matt Phillips of Phillips Brewing Company

Scottish/Irish – 3 Beers

1.) Big Caboose Red Ale – Gord Demaniuk of Fernie Brewing Company

Fruit – 15 Beers

1.) Blackberry Festivale – Cedric Dauchot of Townsite Brewing Inc
2.) 4 Way Fruit Ale – Paul Wilson and Franco Corno of Howe Sound Brewing Company
3.) Seedspitter Watermelon Wit – Graham With of Parallel 49 Brewing Company

Stout – 14 Beers

1.) Keepers Stout – Paul Hoyne and Dean Mcleod of Lighthouse Brewing Company
2.) Pothole Filler Imperial Stout – Paul Wilson and Franco Corno of
Howe Sound Brewing Company
3.) Singularity – Jason Meyer and Kevin Hearsum of Driftwood Brewing Company

IPA – 36 Beers

1.) 5 Rings IPA – Derrick Franche of High Mountian Brewing Company
2.) Central City Imperial IPA – Gary Lohin of Central City Brewing Company
3.) Red Racer IPA – Gary Lohin of Central City Brewing Company

Sour/Brett – 4 Beers

1.) Oud Bruin – Iain Hill of Yaletown Brewing Company
2.) Bird Of Prey Flanders Red – Jason Meyer and Kevin Hearsum of
Driftwood Brewing Company
3.) Imperial Flanders – James Walton of Storm Brewing Ltd

Specialty – 20 Beers

1.) Smoke & Mirrors Imperial Smoked Ale – Kevin Emms of Coal Harbour Brewing
2.) Serendipity #5 – Stefan Buhl of Tree Brewing Company
3.) Schadenfreude Pumpkin Oktoberfest – Graham With of Parallel 49 Brewing Company

Strong – 7 Beers

1.) Hermannator Ice Bock – Ralf Pittroff of Vancouver Island Brewery
2.) Old Cellar Dweller 2012 – Jason Meyer and Kevin Hearsum of
Driftwood Brewing Company
3.) Bourbon Barrel Aged Thor’s Hammer – Gary Lohin of Central City Brewing Company

Cheers,

Chris