The year's biggest beer awards show in Canada has come and gone, and nine Vancouver-based breweries have new hardware to display in their taprooms.
The 2021 Canadian Brewing Awards took place in Quebec City in mid-September with over 165 awards handed out. B.C. breweries collected 40 of the awards, with 20 of them headed to breweries in Metro Vancouver.
For breweries located in Vancouver proper, Strange Fellows and Parallel 49 led the way with a pair of awards each. Strange Fellows picked up a gold for Jongleur their Belgian Wit (if that sounds familiar they also took the gold for the same bear in 2020) and a silver for their Belgian style golden strong ale Goldilocks.
Parallel 49's much loved Ruby Tears took a silver in the North American red or amber ale category and followed that with a bronze in the German-style sour category for their Smoked Salt Gose.
Only one other Vancouver brewery was able to touch gold this year, with East Vancouver Brewing's Unholy One Nitro Stout taking the Oatmeal Stout category.
Awards for several breweries across Metro Vancouver
Outside of the municipal boundaries of the city, Metro Vancouver breweries took two more golds. North Vancouver's Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers got a gold for their self-named lager in the North American Premium Lager category, while Five Roads Brewing in Langley was one of many BC breweries to get an IPA related award. There's was a gold for Permanent Resident in the American IPA category.
While there was no gold for Burnaby's Dageraad this year, they did double up on the silver, with Antwerpen in second for tripels their Burnabarian coming in second for Belgian style abbey or pale ales. That was a category B.C. swept, with Howe Sound Brewing taking the bronze and Port Alberni's Dog Mountain Brewing claiming gold.
Circling back to the IPAs, B.C. breweries were big winners in the hoppiest of styles. Of the five IPA categories, beers from B.C. won seven awards and was only shut out of one category (Double and Imperial IPAs). In fact, Vancouver breweries took bronze (Andina's Carreta Session IPA) and silver (Alpha Juicy Lager by Academy Brewing in the Session IPA category, and B.C. beers swept the American Style IPA, with gold for aforementioned Five Roads, chased by Powell Brewery's Laxy D'Haze IPA and Jet Fuel IPA by Ace Brewing in Courtenay.
Other notable winners in B.C. include Victoria's Moon Under Water, which grabbed a gold and a silver, Revelstoke's Mt. Begbie Brewing which also scored a gold and a silver and Twin City in Port Alberni, which scored a pair of bronzes.
In total B.C. breweries won 10 golds, 15 silver and 15 bronze.
All of B.C.'s winners are listed below.
City of Vancouver winners:
Category: Wheat Beer – Belgian Style (Wit)
- Gold for Jongleur by Strange Fellows
Category: Belgian-Style Dubbel or Quadrupel
- Bronze for Precursor Belgian Dubbel by Luppolo
Category: Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale
- Silver for Goldilocks by Strange Fellows
Category: German-Style Sour Ale - Gose
- Bronze for Smoked Salt Gose from Parallel 49
Category: Oatmeal Stout
- Gold for Unholy One Nitro Stout by East Vancouver Brewing
Category: North American Style Lager
- Silver for True North Lager by Brewhall Beer Co.
Category: North American Style Amber/Red Ale
- Silver for Ruby Tears by Parallel 49
Category: American Style India Pale Ale
- Silver for Lazy D'Haze IPA by Powell Brewery
Category: Session India Pale Ale
- Silver for Alpha Juicy Lager by Academy Brewing
- Bronze for Carreta Session IPA by Andina
Category: Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer
- Bronze for Citizen Cane Rum Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout by Bomber Brewing
Metro Vancouver winners:
Category: European Style Lager (Pilsner)
- Silver for Simple Things by Steel & Oak
Category: European Style Amber to Dark Lager
- Bronze Meridian for Black Lager by Township 24 Brewing
Category: Belgian-Style Tripel
- Silver for Antrwerpen by Dageraad
Category: Belgian Style Abbey Ale/Pale Ale
- Silver for Burnabarian by Dageraad
Category: English Style India Pale Ale
- Silver for Orion 1-1 Poppy Seed IPA by Smugglers Trail Caskworks
Category: North American Style Premium Lager
- Gold for Deep Cove Lager from Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers
Category: American Style India Pale Ale
- Gold for Permanent Resident by Five Roads Brewing
Category: American Belgo-Style Ale
- Bronze for Bootsy Farmhouse IPA by House of Funk
Category: Special Honey/Maple Lager or Ale
- Bronze for Honey Comb Pale Ale by Barnside Brewing
B.C. winners:
Category: European Style Lager (Pilsner)
- Bronze for Medusa Lager by Batch44
Category: Bock - Traditional German Style
- Bronze for Dissimulator by Twin City Brewing
Category: Kellerbier/Zwickelbier
- Gold for Potts Pits by Moon Under Water
Category: German Style Kölsch
- Silver High Country Kolsch by Mt. Begbie Brewing
Category: Belgian Style Abbey Ale/Pale Ale
- Gold for Bees! Belgian Blonde Ale with Honey by Dog Mountain Brewing
- Bronze for Belgian Pale Ale by Howe Sound Brewing
Category: Brown Ale
- Silver for Woodnit Brown by Coast Mountain
Category: Scotch Ale
- Gold for Brave Liver by Mt Begbie
Category: English Style Pale Ale
- Silver for Sam McGuire's Pale Ale by Shuswap Lake Brewing
Category: Dry Stout
- Silver for Reena O'Reilly Dry Irish Stout by Sooke Oceanside Brewery
Category: North American Style Lager
- Bronze for Canoe Brewpub Helles by Canoe Brewpub
Category: Light (Calorie-Reduced) Lager
- Bronze for Lifelong Lite Lager by Neighbourhood Brewing
Category: North American Style Amber/Red Ale
- Gold for Idleback by Slackwater
Category: Wheat Beer - North American Style
- Bronze for Swedish Gymnast by Twin City
Category: American Style India Pale Ale
- Bronze for Jet Fuel IPA by Ace Brewing
Category: New England Style India Pale Ale
- Bronze for Circle Route Hazy Pale Ale by White Sails
Category: Gluten Free Beer
- Gold for Forager Pale Ale by Whistler Brewing
Category: Session Ale
- Gold for Tiger Shark by Phillips
Category: Barley Wine-Style Ale - English-Style
- Silver for Barleywine by Sooke Brewing Co.
Category: Wood and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer
- Silver for TUKU by Moon Under Water
