Burnaby’s Dageraad Brewing named Canadian Brewery of the Year.
Dozens of B.C. brewers travelled across the country to attend Saturday night’s gala awards ceremony for the Canadian Brewing Awards held in Halifax this year — 38 different breweries from British Columbia won a total of 51 medals, representing approximately one-third of the 163 total medals awarded.
The big winner of the evening was Dageraad Brewing from Burnaby, B.C., which won three gold medals and was named Canadian Brewery of the Year. Dageraad’s winning beers were: Antwerpen (Belgian-Style Tripel), Burnabarian (Belgian Style Abbey Ale/Pale Ale), and Entropy Series No. 6 (Belgian-Style Brett Beer). The name of the brewery, which opened in Burnaby in 2014, is Flemish Dutch for “daybreak.” Its founder, Ben Coli, was inspired to open the brewery after sampling local beers with friends at cafés on the Dageraadplaats, a nondescript city square in Antwerp, Belgium. He decided he wanted to try to brew Belgian-style beers in Canada. Dageraad Brewing has a tasting room at its brewery in Burnaby and distributed its beers in cans and bottles throughout much of British Columbia.
It makes a good-looking pallet. pic.twitter.com/f8PLK9L5cR
— Dageraad Brewing (@DageraadBeer) February 27, 2018
This is the second year running that a B.C. brewery has won Brewery of the Year, following last year’s victory by Mt. Begbie Brewing of Revelstoke. B.C. Breweries have dominated at these awards for several years now — Four Winds Brewing was Brewery of the Year in 2015 and won Beer of the Year (Nectarous Dry Hopped Sour) in 2016; Old Yale Brewing won Beer of the Year (Sasquatch Stout) in 2014; and Central City Brewers & Distillers was Brewery of the Year in 2012.
The other big winner from British Columbia was Four Winds Brewing, which won four medals, including one silver and three bronze medals. Four Winds Brewing, which is based in Delta, opened in 2013 and has made a name for itself with a strong array of beers of all styles. It has a welcoming tasting room and can be found on the New Westminster, Delta, Surrey Ale Trail.
Sixteen other craft breweries from British Columbia also won gold medals, representing more than one-third of all the gold medals awarded.
Here are the other multiple award winners:
- Bridge Brewing: gold (Sidekick India Session Ale) & silver (Whitewater Belgian White IPA) – located on the Vancouver’s North Shore Ale Trail
- Central City Brewers & Distillers: silver (Red Racer Pilsner) & bronze (Thor’s Hammer Bourbon Barrel aged Barley Wine) – located on the New West, Delta, Surrey Ale Trail
- Field House Brewing: gold (Salted Black Porter) & silver (Sour Wheat Gose) – located on the Fraser Valley Ale Trail
- Howe Sound Brewing: gold (Woolly Bugger Barley Wine) & silver (Super Jupiter ISA) – located on the Squamish Ale Trail
- Powell Brewery: gold (5th Anniversary Brett IPA) & silver (Old Jalopy Pale Ale) – located on the Vancouver Ale Trail
- Strathcona Brewing: gold (Get Down On It Oat Cream IPA) & bronze (Strathcona Premium Pilsner)
- Whitetooth Brewing: gold (Truth, Dare, Consequence – Nordic Imperial Stout) & bronze (Whitetooth Session Ale) – located on the Kootenay Rockies East Ale Trail
Of the breweries that won a single medal, a few stand out with interesting stories. Mayne Island Brewing, one of the province’s smallest nanobreweries, won a silver medal for its Barrel Aged Brown Ale. That brewery, one of two on the Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the Mainland along with Salt Spring Island Ales, is a tiny operation that is only open on weekends. If you want to taste that award-winning beer or any others they brew, you’ll have to travel there because they don’t sell their beer anywhere off Mayne Island.
Vancouver’s Luppolo Brewing won a gold medal for its North West Red Ale. On the other side of the province, Cranbrook’s Fisher Peak Brewing (which is located in the Heid-Out restaurant) won gold for its Hellroaring Scottish Ale. Visit that brewery on the Kootenay Rockies East Ale Trail.
Another interesting story is that all four breweries on the Sunshine Coast won medals, including Townsite Brewing in Powell River, which won a bronze for its Perfect Storm Stout, and the three breweries in Gibsons: Persephone Brewing (gold – Coast Life Lager), The 101 Brewhouse & Distillery (silver – Hefeweizen), and Gibsons Tapworks (silver – Oatmeal Stout). Those breweries can be found on the Sunshine Coast Ale Trail.
Craft breweries from British Columbia swept the Baltic Porter category: Sooke Oceanside Brewery won the bronze for its Bear Beach Baltic Porter; Steel & Oak Brewing took silver for its Baltic Porter; and Field House Brewing won gold for its Salted Black Porter. Steel & Oak can be found on the New West, Delta, Surrey ale trail.
For the full results, visit the website of the Canadian Brewing Awards.
