This weekend the province's top beer makers got together in Vancouver to hand out some hardware.
B.C. is still a leader in Canada's craft beer scene, with many national awards going to brewmasters and alesmiths across the province. So when the B.C. Beer Awards take place, you know there are some good brews being shared.
This year saw awards handed out in 31 style categories, along with 6 awards for top brewers and another 8 for non-brewing awards.
Metro Vancouver, as the largest city with the highest number of breweries, was well represented, though plenty of awards were shared throughout the province.
One of the two top awards (beer and brewery of the year) went to a Vancouver brewery when Parallel 49 snagged best-in-show for their 10th Anniversary Brett Saison (which also got a gold in its category), a type of farmhouse ale (Brett refers to a yeast strain). Courtenay's Gladstone Brewery took home brewery of the year.
Vancouver breweries got 10 golds, four silvers, and another 10 bronzes, while Metro Vancouver breweries added another 17 (including five golds). Parallel 49 added a silver and a bronze to its haul.
Brassneck and Steamworks matched each other when they scored two golds, a silver and a bronze each. Main Street Brewing also had a good night, scoring two golds and a special award for one of its can designs. Other breweries representing the city included R&B (one silver and two bronzes), Russell Brewing (a gold and a silver), and 33 Acres (a gold and a bronze).
Langley had a strong showing, with Smuggler's Trail Caskworks leading the way. Courtenay, on Vancouver Island, also had a good night, with Gladstone cleaning up (three golds and two silvers) and Ace Brewing scoring a couple wins.
The awards organizers also released how many entries were submitted for each entry, and it seems IPAs are still extremely popular in BC. The biggest category by far was the hazy IPA with 99 entries. The third-largest category was the similar North American IPA with 62 entries (which was just behind the second-largest category 'specialty wild ale' which is where sours, a big trend right now, go).
The least popular category? One of the furthest from IPAs: strong Belgian ales. Only nine beers were submitted.
Outside of the awards for the beers awards were given to marketing and design teams, like best social media (Backcountry Brewing in Squamish), best tasting room design (Camp Beer in Langley), and best tap handle design (Slackwater in Penticton).
See the full list of 2022 BC Beer Award winners.
