Canada’s best beers were feted at the Canada Beer Cup Awards Gala in Québec City on November 10.

While the trophy for Best Beer in Canada went to Québec’s own Microbrasserie Charlevoix for its Flacatoune Belgian Blonde, breweries from British Columbia took home the majority of the beer awards by a wide margin.  

Overall, BC craft breweries won 36.8% of the prizes, almost twice as many as the next best province, Québec, which won 19.7% of the awards. Alberta was third at 18.4%, and Ontario claimed 13.8%, with Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan all coming in around 3%.

Judging for the Canada Beer Cup took place in mid-September in Calgary, Alberta. The panel of 44 judges included international adjudicators from Belgium, Germany, Scotland, Mexico, and the USA, as well as across Canada. The Best in Show panel featured a group made up entirely of BJCP Grand Master judges. 

In total, BC breweries won 56 out of the 152 beer-specific awards, including first place in 18 of 51 different categories. Breweries from BC swept four of the categories, including the Feature Category: Western Canadian Gambrinus Pilsner Malt; American Amber Beer; Single Packaging; and, fittingly, the highly contested West Coast IPA style. Notably, BC breweries also took first and second in the Canadian Spruce Tip Pale Ale category, a style that has a strong connection to our west coast forests.

Notable BC Winners

Four BC breweries each won three awards in total, including Deadfall Brewing from Prince George, which previously took home the Canada Beer Cup in 2023; Courtenay’s Gladstone Brewing; Smithers Brewing, which recently won Best in Show at the 2025 BC Beer Awards; and Steamworks Brewing of Burnaby.

Deadfall Brewing from Prince George won one gold and two bronze awards:

• Gold – Basal Brown Ale (2023 Canada Beer Cup winner)
• Bronze – Circinate Kettle Sour
• Bronze – Aurora Session Pale Ale

Gladstone Brewing from Courtenay won three silvers:

• Silver – Gladstone Pilsner
• Silver – Gladstone Marzen
• Silver – Gladstone Red Ale

Smithers Brewing won one gold and two bronze awards:

• Gold – Morning Star Coffee Lager
• Bronze – Cucumberliner Weisse
• Bronze – Speciální Tmavé 14º, Výčepní Světlé 10º, Polotmavý Ležák 12º (Series Packaging category)

Steamworks Brewing won one gold and two bronze awards:

• Gold – Heroica Red Ale
• Bronze – Triple Berry Sour
• Bronze – John Oliver Pale Ale

Beva Brewing & Blending from North Vancouver won top marks for:

• Gold – Old Days
• Gold – Mambo Italiano (Single Packaging category)

Kelowna’s Jackknife Brewing won two awards:

• Gold – Hair Straight Back
• Bronze – Whiskey Throttle

Whistler’s Coast Mountain Brewing won two awards:

• Gold – Miki’s Rice Lager (Community & Collaborations Packaging)
• Bronze – Green Therapy West Coast IPA

Victoria’s Whistle Buoy Brewing won two awards:

• Gold – Fuzzy Peach
• Silver – Spruce Tip Pale Ale

For the complete list of winners, check the Canada Beer Cup site. Here are a few more winners from British Columbia…

The post B.C. Breweries Celebrate Excellence at the 2025 Canada Beer Cup appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

The inaugural award, named the John Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for Brewing Excellence, was bestowed upon Tony DeWald in 2023. This year, during the BC Craft Brewers Conference in New Westminster’s Anvil Centre, three award winners were announced: the Community Award, the Builder Award, and the Brewer Award. Next year, a fourth award will be added: the Graduate Award, for a deserving graduate of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University brewing program. Ohler plans to have an annual John Mitchell Signature Collaboration Beer brewed jointly by the winners of the Graduate and the Brewer Awards.

Ohler, a longtime friend of the late craft beer pioneer John Mitchell, hopes these awards will shed light on unsung heroes in the province’s craft beer industry. “These awards recognize the people who have given so much of their passion and time to craft beer, and not just brewers,” says Ohler. “If it was just brewers and entrepreneurs, I don’t think craft beer would be anywhere. Consumers need to thank so many other people as well, people who have helped bring craft beer to the forefront.” These awards highlight that a safe, healthy craft beer industry is beyond just brewing.

The Community Award

Monica Frost, one of our fearless leaders here at the BC Ale Trail, was honoured with the Community Award. In addition to her important role as Project Lead for the BC Ale Trail, Monica is also Communications Director for the BC Craft Brewers Guild. Monica has spent years writing for What’s Brewing Magazine and doing promotional work for major beer events like Vancouver Craft Beer Week and the Great Canadian Beer Festival. In addition, she served for five years as a Director for the BC Beer Awards and volunteered from 2008-2014 for the Vancouver and provincial chapters of CAMRA. There are many other ways, large and small, quantifiable or invisible, that Monica has enriched the BC craft beer community. “She’s so good at what she does,” Ohler says enthusiastically. “John Mitchell would want this.”

The Builder Award

The Builder Award was presented to Paul Hadfield, publican of Spinnakers Brewpub. Since Paul founded Spinnakers in 1984 with John Mitchell himself, he’s been out there greeting customers, being present, and ensuring high-quality beer is being served in his establishment. Spinnakers remains one of the best places – perhaps THE best place – in BC to enjoy traditional cask ale. However, Paul’s contributions go beyond beer. His ongoing advocacy helped push through several key changes to the province’s liquor policies, including the decision in 2000 to allow brewpubs to distribute their beer outside of their own restaurants. “Paul has been a tireless voice behind the scenes for advancing craft beer around BC,” says Ohler.

The Brewer Award

Finally, the esteemed Brewer Award was given to Gary Lohin. A longtime homebrewer, Gary first tried his hand at professional brewing when he began working at Okanagan Spring Brewery in the 1980s. From there, he brewed at Whistler Brewing, then made a name for himself as the brewmaster at Sailor Hagar’s in the mid-1990s. At Hagar’s, he began to experiment with a witbier recipe given to him by Hoegaarden founder Pierre Celis, and he introduced Vancouverites to their first taste of Belgian haze. In 2003, he founded Central City Brewing, which went on to win numerous awards over the years. It’s thanks to Gary that a real IPA first became popular in BC; Central City’s Red Racer IPA broke new ground in the province. Ohler recalls how much John Mitchell admired Gary for his entrepreneurial spirit and brewing expertise.  “He’s also just a good dude,” Ohler adds. “He’s the kind of guy who I can give him a hug, and that hug will mean something.  Gary has given craft beer a hug for a long time.”

Many congratulations to the three winners on their well-deserved recognition for the ways in which they’ve supported and built the craft beer industry up for decades. We wouldn’t be where we are now without them. Cheers!

Every Pint Tells a Story

Supporting Local. Celebrating Community.

The post 2025 John Mitchell Awards for Brewing Excellence appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

The 2025 BC Beer Awards were announced on October 17 in New Westminster, BC.  Taking top honours were Camp Beer Co. (Brewery of the Year) and Smithers Brewing (Best in Show).

Since opening in 2019 just before the pandemic, Camp Beer Co. has developed a fantastic reputation and a devoted following in the local community. Well known for its creative range of beers and its popular tasting room, Camp was awarded the BC Ale Trail’s Best Brewery Experience Award in 2022.

Camp won five BC Beer Awards, including one gold and four silvers:

• Gold: Barrel Aged Flannel Pyjamas 2025 (American Porter and Stout)
• Silver: Camp Light (American Light Lager)
• Silver: S’mores Milk Stout (Amber and Dark British Beer)
• Silver: Merchants of Barley (Strong American Ale) 
• Silver: Tequila Sunrise (Alternative Fermentables Beer)

Best in Show went to Smithers Brewing for its Smithersbräu Festbier.

This follows Smithers Brewing winning Brewery of the Year at the Canadian Brewing Awards earlier this year. In other words, Smithers is on quite a run right now!

Overall, Smithers Brewing won three awards:

• Gold: Smithersbräu Festbier (Pale Malty European Lager)
• Gold: Hipster Fuel IPA (American IPA)
• Bronze: Let’s Get Ready to Crumble (Specialty and Historical Beer)

Checkerhead Brewing was named Rookie Brewery of the Year.

Checkerhead Brewing in Shirley, west of Sooke on the southern end of Vancouver Island, got the attention of the judges and the BC Craft Brewers Guild. The founder of Checkerhead Brewing, which is a solo operation, showcased passion, enthusiasm, and great patience to get the brewery open during difficult economic times. It probably helped that he is a professional comedic juggler so he knows how to manage multiple challenges simultaneously!

Spinnakers’ Paul Hadfield wins Legend Award

As the original architect, co-founder and longtime publican of Spinnakers Brewpub in Victoria, Paul Hadfield has played a huge role in the ongoing growth and development of the craft beer industry in British Columbia. Hadfield worked with craft beer pioneer John Mitchell, who opened the first microbrewery in Canada in 1982, Horseshoe Bay Brewery, to get Spinnakers started in 1984.

During the 1990s, he guided Spinnakers to be an early founder of the Slow Food movement in Canada, working with local farmers and producers to supply ingredients for Spinnakers’ kitchen, which remains one of Victoria’s leading restaurants today. He also successfully fought unfair laws that didn’t allow brewpubs to package and sell their own beer through the government liquor store system.

Over the past 40+ years, Paul Hadfield has always worked hard to promote beer tourism in BC and is a big part of why Victoria is the recognized “craft beer capital” of Canada. And throughout numerous challenges, including multiple fires at Spinnakers, he has rallied and shifted strategies to keep Spinnakers successful while also paying its staff a living wage.

Paul Hadfield is truly a Legend in BC’s craft beer community.

Multiple Award Winners

The awards were well distributed among 61 different breweries from all over the province. All in all, 90 awards were given in 30 different categories. In addition to Camp Beer Co. and Smithers Brewing, several other breweries won multiple awards. Most notable are Penticton’s Tin Whistle Brewing, which won 5 awards, and Burnaby’s Dageraad Brewing, which took home 4.

Tin Whistle Brewing won two golds, one silver and two bronze awards:

• Gold – Black Widow
• Gold – Cherry Blossom Japanese Lager
• Silver – Glorious Hazelnut Coffee Milk Stout
• Bronze – Coyote Lager
• Bronze – Real Good Light Beer

Dageraad Brewing won four awards, including two golds:

• Gold – Field Theory
• Gold – Blonde
• Silver – Dart Lager
• Bronze – Antigoon

Victoria’s Phillips Brewing + Malting  won three awards:

• Gold – Dinosour Dragonfruit Lychee
• Bronze – Crooked Tooth Nitro
• Bronze – Dinosour Dragonfruit Lychee

Mountainview Brewing in Hope won two golds for two different versions of the same beer — so it must be exceptional!

• Gold – Serpent’s Back Caribbean Stout
• Gold – Barrel-Aged Serpent’s Back

For the full list of awards, visit the BC Beer Awards website.

This annual event celebrates excellence in British Columbia’s craft beer industry, serving as the premier awards ceremony and festival for BC’s craft brewers. As part of the BC Craft Brewers Conference and BC Craft Beer Month, the BC Beer Awards shine a spotlight on the province’s top craft breweries and brewing talent. At its core, the BC Beer Awards is a province-wide competition spanning a wide range of beer styles, judged by certified beer experts.

The post The 2025 BC Beer Awards Crowns Camp Beer Co as Brewery of the Year! appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

After winning Beer of the Year at the 2018 BC Beer Awards shortly after it opened, Twin City Brewing won the BC Ale Trail’s Best Brewery Experience award in 2020 before winning Brewery of the Year at last year’s BC Beer Awards.  Twin City Brewing is located in Port Alberni, which is home to two other craft breweries, and is part of the Vancouver Island Part II Ale Trail.

Overall, Twin City won five awards, including two golds for Falltoberfest in the Pale Malty German Lager category and Out On A Limb (Specialty Fruit Beer), two silvers (Swedish Gymnast and Big Yikes!) and a bronze (Spruce Tip Swedish Gymnast).

Best of Show Goes to Strange Fellows Brewing

Sharing the podium with Twin City Brewing was Vancouver’s Strange Fellows Brewing, which won Best of Show for its Coolship Lambic beer as part of a four-award haul. Notably, Strange Fellows won one of its awards for a non-alcoholic beer, Nevertheless IPA:

• Gold – Coolship Lambic (Sour & Wild Ale )
• Silver – Ludwig Festbier (Pale Malty German Lager)
• Silver – Jongleur Wit (Belgian Ale)
• Bronze – Nevertheless IPA (Specialty/Experimental Beer)

North Vancouver’s Beva Brewing & Blending Wins Rookie of the Year

Beva Brewing  & Blending has been garnering lots of attention for its beer and food. The North Vancouver brewery won two awards, including one gold and a bronze:

• Gold – Brico (Malty UK & Irish Ale)
• Bronze – Figurati (Sour & Wild Ale)

Judge’s Choice Award Goes to Dageraad Brewing

Burnaby’s Dageraad Brewing was highlighted by the judges who selected Dageraad’s Blonde for special attention in addition to awarding the brewery two gold medals:

• Gold – Blonde (Belgian Strong Ale)
• Gold – Burnabarian (Belgian Ale)

Legend Award Honours Tony Dewald Posthumously

The BC Beer Community mourned the loss of a longtime brewer, mentor and friend in 2024. Tony Dewald began brewing in Ontario after an early career as a touring musician with Deja Voodoo, and then followed his friend Harley Smith (Longwood Brewery) to BC. Tony began brewing at Dix BBQ & Brewery in 2002 and developed a great reputation there, helping to turn Dix into one of the go-to venues for beer lovers and local brewers alike. Later, Tony brewed at Dead Frog Brewery and Trading Post Brewing in Langley.

Last year, Tony Dewald received the inaugural John Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for Brewing Excellence. For the full story check out our blog.

Multiple Winners

Several other breweries had strong showings as well, taking home multiple awards. Notably, Bayview Brewing of Ladysmith won three trophies, including two golds and one silver:

• Gold – Famous Ladysmith Blonde (North American Light Ale)
• Gold – Cowichan Valley Common (North American Amber & Brown Ale)
• Silver – Bayview Brunette (North American Amber & Brown Ale)

Vancouver’s Brassneck Brewery also won two golds and a silver:

• Gold – No Brainer (North American Light Lager)
• Gold – Rose Changeling (Specialty Wild Ale)
• Silver – Umlaut (Weissbier)

Gladstone Brewing (Courtenay) won three awards, including one gold:

• Gold – Gladstone Glad Light (Pale Bitter German Lager) 
• Bronze – Gladstone Kolsch (Kölsch)
• Bronze – Gladstone Red Ale (North American Amber & Brown Ale)

Nearby in Comox, Land & Sea Brewing also won three awards: 

• Bronze – Goldfinch Helles (Pale Malty German Lager)
• Bronze – Glacier Cream Ale (North American Light Ale)
• Bronze – Westward IPA (North American IPA)

Smugglers Trail Caskworks (Langley) also won three third-place awards:

• Bronze – Flaskers British Ale (Hoppy UK Ale)
• Bronze – Picnic (Specialty Fruit Beer)
• Bronze – Scrumpers Blueberry Peach Sour (Fruit Beer)

Based in Burnaby, Steamworks Brewery won three awards including two golds:

• Gold – Halo (Specialty IPA)
• Gold – Empress (Imperial IPA)
• Silver – John Oliver Lager (North American Light Lager)

Port Moody’s Yellow Dog Brewing won a gold, silver and bronze:

• Gold – Chase My Tail Pale Ale (North American Pale Ale )
• Silver – Retriever Golden Ale (Hoppy UK Ale)
• Bronze – Rollover Cerveza Negra (Amber Lager)

Also of note, Parallel 49 Brewing (Vancouver) won two gold medals:

• Gold – Bierfest Hefeweizen (Weissbier)
• Gold – Filthy Dirty (North American IPA)

For the full list of awards, visit the BC Beer Awards website.

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After two straight years of being won by BC breweries, the Canada Beer Cup is moving to Saskatchewan.

Pile O’ Bones Brewing of Regina wins with its Quark, Strangeness, Charm Witbier. Congrats to Pile O’ Bones!

Brewery representatives from across Canada were in attendance at the Gala Awards Night, which was held in New Westminster on October 18, and many of those folks from British Columbia were hoping to see the Canada Beer Cup stay in BC for a third year (Callister Brewing won in 2022 and Deadfall Brewing won in 2023).

Judging for the Canada Beer Cup took place in mid-September in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The panel of 32 judges included three from British Columbia, along with others from across Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe. As one of three Head Judges, I helped pick the panel and organize the judging ahead of time, but unfortunately, I came down with COVID just before the judging itself so I was unable to travel and participate in that part. 

The Best of Show judging session featured an all-female panel of judges, including BC’s own Noëlle Phillips, a regular contributor to the BC Ale Trail blog.

Overall, breweries from British Columbia won 65 trophies out of a total of 166 awarded, including 18 gold awards, 24 silvers, and 23 bronze. BC breweries also swept two of four Packaging categories, a separately judged component that was added to the Canada Beer Cup this year.

Burnaby’s Dageraad Brewing came closest to keeping the Canada Beer Cup in BC with Tous Les Jours, a mixed-culture fermented table beer, which took a gold in the Low-ABV category and then was the bronze winner (second runner-up in the Best of Show judging that determined the overall winner). Dageraad also won a silver for Antigoon in the Belgian Golden Strong category.

Last year’s Canada Beer Cup winner, Deadfall Brewing from Prince George, took home the most awards of any single brewery in the competition, snagging five in total:

• Gold – Succession NEIPA
• Silver – Dark Mild
• Bronze – Belgian Dark Strong
• Bronze – Basal Brown Ale (2023 Canada Beer Cup winner)
• Bronze – Aurora Session Pale Ale 

Penticton’s Tin Whistle Brewing was also a big winner with three beers winning awards and one packaging award:

• Silver – Cherry Blossom Sake Lager
• Silver – Core Series (series packaging)
• Bronze – Peach Cream Ale
• Bronze – Real Good Light Beer

Four Winds Brewing of Delta, BC won three silver awards:

• Silver – Nectarous Dry-Hopped Sour
• Silver – Ultralite IPA
• Silver – BBNOALC Non-Alcoholic Sour Beer

Gladstone Brewing from Courtenay, BC also won three awards:

• Silver – Gladstone Glad Light
• Silver – Gladstone Festbier
• Bronze – Gladstone Cerveza

Another notable winner was Vancouver’s Brassneck Brewery, which won two gold medals:

• Old Money – Brown British Ale
• Rosé Changeling – Specialty Fruit Beer

And two BC breweries also swept the Gluten-Free category:

• Gold: Grey Fox Brewing – Humble Lager
• Silver: Whistler Brewing – Forager Gluten-Free Lager 
• Bronze: Grey Fox Brewing – Buckwild Stout

** Kelowna’s Grey Fox Brewing swept this category last year.

A new component to the Canada Beer Cup for 2024 was the Packaging Awards. BC breweries swept two of the four categories:

Packaging Single 

• Gold: Showboat – Beva Brewing & Blending (North Vancouver)
• Silver: Neon Panther – Parallel 49 Brewing (Vancouver)
• Bronze: Flannel Pyjamas Grand Cru – Camp Beer Co. (Langley)

Packaging Series

• Gold: Tart Wild (Serie Selvatica) – Luppolo Brewing (Vancouver)
• Silver: Adventure Series – Tin Whistle Brewing (Penticton)
• Bronze: Branded Series – Main St. Brewing (Vancouver)

For the complete list of winners check the Canada Beer Cup site.

The post BC Breweries Win Big at the 2024 Canada Beer Cup appeared first on The BC Ale Trail.

My most recent Hops Among Friends interview was with Tessa Gabiniewicz from Land & Sea Brewing. At the end of our discussion, Tessa recommended that I speak with Matt West-Patrick and Isaiah Archer from Whistle Buoy Brewing for my next Hops Among Friends interview. Matt is Co-owner and Head Brewer, Isaiah is Co-owner and Sales & Marketing Manager at Whistle Buoy Brewing, which was established in 2019 in Victoria on the Greater Victoria Ale Trail.

Matt and Isaiah are doing great things at Whistle Buoy Brewing and it was a really interesting discussion. I enjoyed hearing more about their commitment to featuring local ingredients in their beers.

This interview also reminded me that it’s been too long since I’ve been to Victoria. The last time I visited Victoria, I had the opportunity to peek inside the windows at Whistle Buoy Brewing before it opened in 2019.

I’m super honoured to share that this is my 20th interview in this series over the last 7 years. You can read through all of my previous Hops Among Friends articles here. It’s been an absolute privilege to interview so many amazing leaders in the craft beer industry.

Kim: What was your first experience with craft beer?

Matt: Growing up in Victoria, my first experience with craft beer was seeing Phillips Brewing boom as I came to be of legal drinking age. They were the big player in the craft beer market here and doing lots of great stuff. They were my inspiration to later on chase the craft beer dream.

Isaiah: I moved to Victoria when I was 19. I think my first real craft beer experience was going to Sombrio Beach to surf and driving home through Sooke. We would always stop at 17 Mile House Pub after surfing, and we’d eat chowder paired with Race Rocks. This nice, hearty beer from Lighthouse Brewing was part of the whole experience. It was so different than just drinking a cheaper, commercial beer. Then I got introduced to the different beers in the mixed pack from Phillips and the White Bark Witbier from Driftwood Brewery.

Kim: How did you get started in craft beer together?

Matt: There were three of us that started this project together. We founded the company, and then we brought in two more partners during the process. Isaiah, Iwan and I were the three original founders. We spent a lot of time together in 2016 and 2017. We all really enjoyed the coastal life – freediving, spearfishing and other outdoor activities. I was working at Spinnakers at the time. Isaiah had previously worked with Phillips, and we started talking about opening a brewery.

The three of us started to put together our business plan in 2017. We started going to banks in 2018 once we found the space that worked for us. I am the head brewer, Isaiah handles our sales and marketing, and Iwan looks after business development.

As we were dealing with the banks, we started talking about the need for extra investors, and so we brought on two more partners. Colin and Nina were in Windsor at the time and wanted to move back to Victoria. They came on board and Colin is our front-of-house manager, and Nina handles our financials and HR. In the beginning, though, it was all hands on deck, and everyone helped with everything.

Isaiah: Iwan, Matt and I got together based on our mutual interest in craft beer, playing on the same softball team, and our love of freediving and spearfishing. Freediving is a bit of an obscure sport that all three of us were interested in. That shared interest led the three of us to some fishing trips in Bamfield. We were diving near a spot marked by a nautical beacon, which is called a whistle buoy. That is what inspired our branding and logo.

Kim: Tell me more about the Whistle Buoy theme.

Isaiah: The theme really resonated for all of us because of our love of outdoor adventures and our natural and inspiring environment. Plus, we are located in downtown Victoria, which is also a coastal environment. We are young professionals working downtown in the city, but we also have a keen interest in the outdoor environment. So it’s a balance of opposites. We are all about embracing our vibrant, downtown community, full of culture and hospitality, while also making sure we get outside and explore everything that the outdoors has to offer.

A big part of what we try to get across is reflecting the quality of the place that we are in. We are on the southern part of the island, which is a very productive growing region. We want our beers to reflect the growing climate here, and the variety of things that grow around us. We are looking to connect our brewery and beers to our local community in this way. We look at our taproom as an “experience centre”. People can come and try a taste of Vancouver Island.

We have a clear vision to make sure we are buying ingredients that are grown here first, and we work with a lot of local producers before we go elsewhere. A lot of value that we offer comes from this philosophy. It differentiates and highlights the place we are in. We are a tourism destination and we like to reflect the good stuff that is coming from our community. Our beers are made for the people who live here and our visitors.

An example is using bull kelp in our Under Sea Gose. The kelp is from the ocean just up the road from us. The grain for most of our beers is grown near BC Ferries on the peninsula. For our sour beers and fruit beers, we look for local farmers for these ingredients too. It’s important to us to use quality ingredients that are grown as close to home as possible.

Matt: I was at Field 5 Farm today, which is about 20 minutes away from our brewery. They grow and malt their own grains there for us. About 95-98% of the grains that we use for our beer right now are coming from them.

I think it’s also worth noting that we won two silver medals back-to-back in the 2022 and 2023 Canadian Brewing Awards in the Historic/Regional Beers category for our Backyard IPA and our Garden City Fieldberry. Then we won a bronze at the 2023 Canada Beer Cup for our LoJo Lite in the Canadian Grain-Forward category. These awards reflect our commitment to working with local suppliers and featuring local ingredients, so it’s very cool when we win awards for this reason.

The seed to glass film above talks about Whistle Buoy’s commitment to working with local suppliers.

Kim: What makes Whistle Buoy unique?

Isaiah: Our commitment to local, sustainability and quality are front and centre. Another thing that makes us unique is our location. We are located on the courtyard level of the historic Market Square in downtown Victoria. We are able to have a light industrial business in an urban area, which is quite rare for a brewery. We have 170 seats in our taproom and year-round patio. Most of the beer we produce is consumed in our taproom space, and that is because we are in a high-traffic environment.

Kim: Tell me something you are really proud of at Whistle Buoy.

Isaiah: We are proud of creating an inclusive community space. We’ve had a lot of feedback over the last couple of years that groups of people from different backgrounds say they feel welcome in our space. We have worked towards this very intentionally. We have our values and our code of conduct really clear.

Intolerance and discrimination aren’t welcome here. We have fostered a nice community space where people feel welcome. – Isaiah

I’m also really proud of the progress we have made towards using local ingredients. This doesn’t just happen by chance. It was really intentional. It can be more costly to go with local producers, but we have made some very awesome beers because of that commitment.

Matt: It circles back to the awards that we’ve won for our beers. We set the intention to use as many local ingredients as possible, and we’ve done that. We’ve been lucky to have such great partners, like Field 5 Farm.

In addition to kelp, we also add blue spirulina to our Under Sea Gose. This was a bucket list beer for me to be able to make, and it won the silver award at the 2022 BC Beer Awards. To be able to produce this and have it be an award-winning beer is pretty cool.

Plus, we do all that we do in a very small space. Our production area is only 600 square feet. We really have to utilize our space to maximize output. People are always shocked when they see our small space. I’m pretty proud of how we are able to use our space and produce what we do.

We brew about 1,000 hectolitres a year. We are looking to increase that volume this year with our new single-head canning line. We’ve been running it now for about two months. It does about seven or eight cans a minute. It’s small and slow, but works for us. About 90% of our beer is sold through our taproom, and we intend to keep it that way, but our new canning line gives us more flexibility. Previously we were just doing 1-litre crowlers, so we couldn’t can in a way that allowed us to put cans into liquor stores. This new canning line now gives us the ability to package more of our beers in 473ml cans.

Kim: What do you have planned at Whistle Buoy for this winter? 

Matt: Because we just added our new canning line, we’ve been focusing on getting our core brands dialled in. We’ve had some core, flagship beers like our Coastality Pale Ale, however, most of our beers were previously experimental, taproom exclusives. But with the canning line and the ability to now roll out our beers to stores, we are looking to have more regular offerings of our core beers available to our stores.

We anticipate this continuing for the foreseeable future. With an 8-hectolitre system, our distribution is focused on the Greater Victoria area for now. Our focus is to be in all 50 local liquor stores in our community.

Isaiah: Having said that, we have shipped some beer to the Okanagan with some other small breweries. We will co-ship a pallet to interested stores. So this collective approach is the way that we’ll have beer available outside of the area.

In terms of other activities this winter, we do a lot of activations in our space such as comedy, quiz nights, film screenings and other weekly events. We are focused on staying busy and staying open for the people who are in town and want to come through. We are open every day from noon until late. We are staying open, staying consistent and staying inspired to continue offering people in our community things to do. We are planning for a good year ahead. We are anticipating a busy tourism year in 2024, so we are focused on being steady and being consistent as we plan for a great year ahead. Plus, we’ve got some cool collabs coming up.

Kim: What do you love most about the craft beer industry?

Matt: The community and the people that we get to work with. For me, from the outside looking in, you see the collabs and you see the camaraderie. You don’t see this in other industries. We are competitors that are working together.

Isaiah: For me, it’s the fact that we are able to really grow as people and entrepreneurs. There are so many different demands we face on a daily basis. We deal with logistics and shipping. We are leading hospitality teams and managing people. We are doing graphic design, working on packaging, manufacturing beer, and working with local producers. We are selling merchandise that we are designing. There are so many moving parts that make it challenging and yet also so fun. It’s so dynamic. We have a vision, then we execute it, and we make money doing something that makes people happy. It’s very special in that way.

Kim: What keeps you up at night?  

Isaiah: Lots. There is a lot of uncertainty right now. The industry is changing a lot and there are fewer people buying beer. People are making decisions for their health and drinking less alcohol, and that’s OK. The younger demographic is making different choices, and there is economic uncertainty. We are dealing with these changes and uncertainties while also trying to maintain a healthy business. We are working to keep demand for our products at a point where there will always be a market for what we are doing. I believe we are at a scale where this is sustainable.

I think it’s important to be really present to the changes that are happening, otherwise, the market conditions could change so drastically that if you aren’t paying attention you could really get into trouble. This is certainly an inspiration for us to stay on top of things and know why we exist. I think it’s important to know who your best customers are and what they are looking for. Some businesses let this slip, and they pay the price as they discover that their business models don’t work anymore.

Matt: Through this, we are now doing things like NA (non-alcoholic) beer. Five years ago that wasn’t on anyone’s radar. For me as a brewer, I resisted this.

Now I look at it like how do we make an NA beer the best it can be? It’s an interesting challenge, but I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to produce. – Matt

Isaiah: In our taproom space, we try to welcome all people from different demographics and different interests. So it’s always been a priority that we are a welcoming space with a diverse list of offerings. We have local wine, local cider, local kombuchas, craft sodas from Phillips, cocktails, mocktails and more. Whether you like drinking beer or not, we want everyone to feel comfortable. We want to offer something for everyone, and we want those who don’t drink beer or alcohol to be comfortable. We want to offer something for everyone who wants to be social. We are a hospitality company, so we think it’s important to be hospitable to all.

Kim: If you had one piece of advice for someone wanting to get into the craft beer industry, what would it be?  

Isaiah: Honestly, it would be don’t. If there is a town that doesn’t have a community gathering space, then maybe yes. But otherwise, the market is oversaturated and changing so rapidly right now, that my advice would be to wait until the dust settles on the cycle of what our businesses are in right now. I think it’s a huge risk to enter the craft beer market at this time.

Matt: I agree, especially if you don’t know beer. These days, you have to come with your A-game. The level of beer is so high right now and there is no room to make bad beer anymore. It used to be that you could be a home brewer and open a brewery and just figure it out. Now you need education or experience. You better be good because just making beer isn’t enough anymore.

This is maybe a bleak answer. But it is what we feel right now. Good breweries are closing that made good beer.

Kim: What is your favourite beer to enjoy in the winter?

Isaiah: It’s Stout season. I’ve been drinking our Stouty McStoutface, which is an American Stout, 5.8% ABV. It’s plain and simple, easy drinking. I also go to the Drake a lot, and I enjoy the Old Rasputin, a Russian Imperial Stout on nitro from North Coast Brewing Company.

I also like the 1019 Hazy Double IPA collab from Field House and Town Brewing. It’s really great. I like bigger beers at this time of year.

Matt: We just did a Dark Cold IPA as a collab with Another Beer Co. We used rice and tried to make it as light as possible, and hit it with some dark malts. It’s really interesting and one of my favourite beers of late. It was a challenge for us when we came up with the concept. You don’t see a lot of dark IPAs lately, but I was stoked about it. I like something to chew on in my beers at this time of year.

Kim: It’s dry February. What are you drinking when you aren’t drinking alcohol?

Isaiah: Water or SodaStream water with freshly squeezed citrus. I like lemons, limes and oranges with soda water. Having the carbonation is nice. And of course, there’s always going to be coffee involved too.

Matt: For me, it’s water first. We also have Culture Craft Kombucha on tap at the brewery, and it’s a nice alternative. It gets you and your guts feeling good.

Kim: Festival season is coming. What are your favourite craft beer festivals? 

Matt and Isaiah: Whistlemania. It’s our annual birthday party, which we hold on the last weekend in June. We’ve done two now. We host a small music festival with live, local wrestling. We take over the courtyard of Market Square and we have an all-day festival. We had about 650 people last year. We had food vendors and food trucks, drag shows, live wrestling, and other wacky stuff all day long.

Isaiah: Phillips Backyard weekend is great. It’s a good music event tied to craft beer. It’s a premier event in our city. Plus of course, GCBF is always fun, with breweries from all over BC and beyond. It’s a great way to celebrate the industry and try lots of different beers. It’s really an iconic beer festival.

Kim: If budget and space weren’t an issue, if you could have any musician or band perform at your brewery, who would it be? 

Isaiah: Taylor Swift.

Matt: Taylor Swift and Drake. Funny story. We were in Seattle for a Blue Jays game. Taylor Swift was playing next door that same weekend. The whole town was all about the Blue Jays and the Swifties. The Swifties caused an earthquake that night in Seattle from so many people dancing at her concert. It was registered as the equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.

And funny enough, I was just talking about our new Dark Cold IPA collab with Another Beer Co. We actually called it Friendship Bracelet, and it was inspired by Taylor Swift.

Kim: Can you tell me about some hidden gems in your area? 

Isaiah: We’re on Lower Johnson (LoJo), which is a boutique retail shopping district in Victoria. There are tons of really high-end shops, clothing stores, coffee shops, amazing restaurants and more. Hey Happy is an amazing coffee shop in Market Square that we go to all the time. Some of my favourite restaurants are The Tapa Bar and Wind Cries Mary. Plus there’s Green Cuisine right next door to us. These are all great dining options in Victoria.

Matt: The Drake is a great place to start. You can see our patio from their patio. Eva Schnitzelhaus is 2 blocks away at the bottom of Chinatown, and it’s really great. Shuck Taylor’s oyster bar is really awesome. It’s a seafood restaurant with local oysters, West Coast seafood, lobster rolls, po boys, local beer, wines and spirits.

Isaiah: Beacon Hill Park has a great petting zoo. It’s like the Stanley Park of Victoria. It’s huge and right downtown by the water. I would recommend everyone walking around there and on the breakwater. It’s a protected area, so there are lots of cool fish species to look for.

I also recommend walking around the inner harbour area. Take the seawall walk from James Bay to downtown and you’ll go past the Empress Hotel and the Legislature Parliament Buildings. It’s also cool to check out the buskers and performers. Plus there are lots of great areas to explore by bike, downtown and beyond.

Matt: Oh and lots of breweries. There are 5 breweries within easy walking distance.

Kim: Who else in the craft beer industry do you find interesting and why?

Matt and Isaiah: We want you to talk to Alex Jopson from Another Beer Co. in New Westminster next. We just did a collab beer with Another Beer Co. and Land & Sea Brewing. Another Beer Co. is a super tiny brewery. They are very experimental and they are producing very high-quality beers.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of the Hops Among Friends blog series, where I speak with Alex Jopson, the Co-Founder and Director of Another Beer Co. in New Westminster, on the North of the Fraser Ale Trail. Until then, cheers!

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Prince George brewery Deadfall Brewing only just opened in 2022 but it has already made a name for itself by winning the second annual Canada Beer Cup for its Basal Brown Ale, which also took home the gold medal in the American-style Brown Ale category.

In addition to Deadfall’s big win, many other breweries from British Columbia also fared well in the competition. Overall, out of a total of 197 awards given in 67 different categories, 71 medals went to BC breweries. That works out to 36% of the awards, which shows that the BC craft beer industry is definitely excelling on the national stage!

“Congratulations to Deadfall Brewing! It is so exciting that the Canada Beer Cup will be staying in British Columbia for a second straight year,” commented Ken Beattie, Executive Director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild. “The fact that more than a third of all the awards went to BC breweries says a lot about the high quality of beer being made by breweries all across our province.”

Deadfall Brewing wins a specially designed trophy, which was hand blown by Gray Art Glass glassblowing studio in Merrickville, Ontario, and, like the NHL’s Stanley Cup, will be passed annually to the brewery creating the “Best of Show” beer as determined by a group of national and international judges. Callister Brewing in Vancouver won the inaugural award for its Wee Laird Wee Heavy Scotch Ale.

Located on the Northwest BC Ale Trail, Deadfall Brewing opened in the spring of 2022, becoming Prince George’s third craft brewery. Three out of four of Deadfall Brewing’s owners are PhDs — the two couples who teamed up to build this brewery include three biologists with doctorates. One of those, Brandon Baerwald, is the full-time brewmaster.

The Canada Beer Cup judging session took place in Niagara Falls earlier this month with a panel of more than 40 beer judges from across Canada and around the world, including high-profile international judges from Europe, South America, and the USA. More than 1,200 beers from 250+ breweries across Canada were judged between Oct 2-4, 2023.

According to Head Judge Stephen Beaumont, “This year’s Canada Beer Cup went from strength to strength, with judges from across Canada and the United States, the U.K., Sweden, Belgium, and Chile. Simply put, it was, in my opinion, the most prestigious group of beer judges ever assembled in Canada, and the beers definitely measured up to the calibre of the jury! Without question, the Canada Beer Cup is putting Canadian beer on the global map.”

Beyond Deadfall’s big win, many other BC breweries fared well in this year’s awards, which were announced during a livestream on Wednesday, October 25.

Vancouver’s Parallel 49 Brewing won a total of five awards, including a gold medal for its Festbier, silver for Craft Pilsner, and three bronze medals for Schwarzbier, Hefeweizen and Craft Pale Ale.

Boardwalk Brewing in Port Coquitlam won three medals: Palm Shade Salted Lime Gose (gold); Dank You Double IPA (silver); and Black Forest Schwarzbier (silver).

Kelowna’s Grey Fox Brewing, the only entirely gluten-free brewery on the BC Ale Trail, scored a huge win by sweeping the Gluten-Free Beer category: Quick Witted (gold); Humble Lager (silver); and Buckwild Stout (bronze).

Silver Valley Brewing in Maple Ridge also won three awards, including gold for All My Favourite Songs Oatmeal Stout, and bronze medals for Teardrop Hazy Pale Ale and The Highway Lager.

Tin Whistle Brewing in Penticton won two gold medals for Mythical Creatures IPA and Hazelnut Coffee Milk Stout.

Delta’s Four Winds Brewing also won two gold medals for: Featherweight IPA and Operis .

Strange Fellows Brewing in Vancouver won gold for its non-alcoholic pale ale, Nevertheless, and silver for its Kriek.

Other gold medal winners from BC included:

• Ember Red Ale – Beachfire Brewing (Campbell River)
• Skyline Lager – Bomber Brewing (Vancouver)
• Dark Arts Belgian Quadrupel – Container Brewing (Vancouver)
• Dark Matter – Hoyne Brewing (Victoria)
• Birra Rossa – KPU Brew Lab (Langley)
• Barrel Aged Smoked Doppelbock – Locality Brewing collab w/ Five Roads Brewing (Langley)
• Into the Woods Piwo Grodziskie – Main St. Brewing (Vancouver)
• High Country Kölsch – Mt Begbie Brewing (Revelstoke)
• Loki Lager – Nelson Brewing (Nelson)
• Kveik Wheat Ale – Shaketown Brewing (North Vancouver)
• Vienna Lager – Slow Hand Beer (Vancouver)
• Pilsner – Steamworks Brewing (Burnaby)
• Big Yikes Double IPA – Twin City Brewing (Port Alberni)

For the complete results, visit the Canada Beer Cup website.

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Overall, Twin City Brewing won three awards: gold medals for Tickity Boo (Hoppy UK Pale Ale category) and Nocturne (Belgian Ale) and a silver medal for Out on a Limb (Specialty Fruit Beer).

Previously, Twin City won the BC Ale Trail’s Best Brewery Experience award in 2020. It is located in Port Alberni, which is home to two other craft breweries, and is part of the Vancouver Island Part II Ale Trail.

 

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Sharing the spotlight at the top is Victoria’s Hoyne Brewing, which won Best in Show for Dark Matter, also winning a gold medal in the Malty UK & Irish Ale category, and is a beer that has developed a huge following in BC since the brewery opened in 2011. Hoyne also won a gold medal for Svec Czech Half Dark Lager (Amber Lager category).

The awards were celebrated at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver on Saturday, October 21. Other featured winners on the evening included: Victoria’s Swift Brewing, the house brewery at Craft Victoria Harbour, which won Rookie of the Year and a gold for its Smooth Operator Citra Hazy Pale Ale; Small Gods Brewing in Sidney, which won Innovator of the Year; and Moody Ales & Co. (Port Moody), which won the Judge’s Choice Award and a gold medal for its Oktoberfest lager, along with a bronze for its Vienna Amber Lager.

 

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Another notable winner was Steel & Oak Brewing (New Westminster), which won three awards: gold medals for Weissbier and Megalith Barleywine, and a bronze for its Berliner Weisse.

Vancouver’s Container Brewing also won two gold medals for Barrel Aged Seawise Giant and Twice Forgotten West Coast Double IPA.

Belgian-style brewery, Dageraad Brewing, which is located in Burnaby, won five medals in total: silvers for Blonde, Helleraad, Negen and Field Theory, and a bronze for Brune.

Vancouver’s Powell Brewery won four medals: gold for Black Velvet stout, silver for Hop Juice, and bronze medals for Old Jalopy and Powell Lager.

Gladstone Brewing (Courtenay) won three silver medals for its Festbier, Czech Dark Lager and Cream Ale.

Ucluelet Brewing made a strong showing with a silver medal (South Swell West Coast IPA), bronze (St. Aiden’s Porter) and an honourable mention (Storm’s A Brewin’ Latte Stout).

Even though there is no gluten-free beer category, Kelowna’s Grey Fox Brewing, which is an entirely gluten-free facility, made a strong showing by winning an honourable mention for its Humble Lager in the Specialty Beer category.

Other gold medal winners included:

• 33 Brewing Experiment – Mezcal Gose
• Cannery Brewing – Wildfire Dark Lager
• Deadfall Brewing – Cold IPA
• Field House Brewing – Toasted Coconut Black Lager
• Four Winds Brewing – Saison
• Herald Street Brew Works – Gonzales Bay IPA
• HUB Brew Co. – Lightspeed
• Love Shack Libations – Killer Kölsch
• Mount Arrowsmith Brewing – Weekend Rambler 4.0
• Neighbourhood Brewing – Johnny’s Premium Pale Ale
• R&B Brewing – Dill Pickle Gose
• Sooke Oceanside Brewing – Leechtown Lager
• Strange Fellows Brewing – Reynard Oud Bruin
• Studio Brewing – Felix American Stout
• Vancouver Island Brewing – Islander Lager
• Vice & Virtue Brewing – Sweet Salvation Pastry Stout
• White Rock Beach Beer – Peace Arch Pilsner
• Whitetooth Brewing – Blonde Ale

For the complete list of winners, check out this article by CBC News.

Legend Awards were presented to Don Gordon, President of Parallel 49 Brewing, recognizing his long history of tireless work at the BC Craft Brewers Guild, and Ken Beattie, Executive Director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild and Lead Administrator of the BC Ale Trail.

Don Gordon spent 15 years with Whistler Brewing and Northam Beverages before moving to Parallel 49 Brewing earlier this year. In 2012, Don played a key role in helping to create the BC Craft Brewers Guild. He was a Chair of the Board for a while and played a big part in hiring Ken Beattie as the Guild’s Executive Director. During COVID, Don introduced and pushed for the Buy BC program, which encouraged consumers to continue to support local businesses during the lockdowns. Currently, he is one of the driving forces for Federal Excise Tax reform, working with the Canadian Craft Brewers Association on that important file. According to Ken Beattie, Don is a superhero with a unique and powerful ability: “When Don is doing his advocacy work it’s for the industry first and the company he works for a close second.” That’s the main reason Don is receiving this award today — because there’s no doubt that the industry is a lot stronger than it would have been without all his efforts working unselfishly behind the scenes.

Ken Beattie spent 25 years mostly selling beer for Molson and Okanagan Spring before he joined the craft beer community and began teaching beer education classes in 2012. Then, in 2013 he became the Executive Director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild, an organization he has led ever since. At the Guild he has tirelessly worked to support the craft beer industry by lobbying the government for reform and improvements, helping to develop a Code of Conduct for all members, and leading the BC Ale Trail project, among many other achievements.

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BC’s craft beer industry has been going strong for over 40 years now, thanks in large part to the hard work and expertise of its pioneering brewers. Nowadays you can wander the BC Ale Trail and find a craft brewery in nearly every city, but this luxury wasn’t available to beer fans in the industry’s early years. To honour the beer giants who helped put BC craft beer on the map, an award has been established in the name of John Mitchell, the founder of Canada’s first craft brewery in Horseshoe Bay in 1982.  

According to the John Mitchell website, the John Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for Brewing Excellence, which was established this year, “will be presented annually to an individual whose brewing expertise, inspiration, enthusiasm, and support have contributed to the success and the growth of the craft brewing movement.” A cash award of $1000 and a commemorative plaque will accompany the honour, and a $1000 donation in the winner’s name will be donated to the John Mitchell Legacy Endowed Scholarship at the KPU Brewing School. 

The 2023 winner of this award, which will be presented on October 5 at an event at the Barley Merchant in Langley, is Tony Dewald, a man who toured across Canada and Europe in a rock band before trying his hand at brewing beer. Dewald’s kindness, generosity, and depth of brewing knowledge have made him a well-loved and deeply appreciated fixture in BC brewing.

From Drums to Draft Lines

It was a warm night in 1988 and Dewald’s band, Deja Voodoo, had just finished a performance in Brussels. As the drummer, Dewald was hot, worn out, and ready for a refreshing beverage. “As I walked off the stage, someone handed me a drink,” he recalls. “It was a frambois. I was blown away — I didn’t know beer could taste like that!” 

When the band eventually broke up, Dewald took up a friend’s offer to learn the art of brewing at Amsterdam Brewing in Toronto. Through his experience working there, he encountered brewers who would end up making a splash on the west coast – people like Shirley Warne (owner of Angry Hen Brewing and original brewmaster for Steamworks) and Harley Smith (who founded Nanaimo’s Longwood Brewpub in 1999). 

After 7 years at Amsterdam, Dewald attempted to continue his brewing career in Montreal, brewing for Brasseurs RJ. However, it turned out that there wouldn’t be room for advancement if he stayed in Quebec. It was time to go west.

Go West, Young Man

When Dewald heard that Harley Smith had started up the Longwood Brewpub in Nanaimo, he had a sense that BC was the next beer frontier for him. Around 2001, he headed to Vancouver, where he managed to get a job brewing at Dix BBQ and Brewery in 2002. It was through Dix that he began organizing monthly cask nights, gatherings where he eventually met John Mitchell.

Through these cask nights, which became increasingly popular, he discovered and helped foster a vibrant community of beer lovers. Brewers like Iain Hill — currently of Strange Fellows but then the brewmaster at Yaletown Brewpub — and James Walton of Storm Brewing would join the festivities and stay until the wee hours. Good friendships were founded and niche beer knowledge exchanged at these events, which helped solidify a strong but small brewing community in Vancouver. 

“Until about 2012 there were so few people involved. I probably knew the first name of every craft beer drinker in Vancouver,” Dewald laughs. 

Although Dewald ended up brewing for all the Mark James Group’s brewpubs, which included Yaletown as well as Dix, his commute from Aldergrove made things difficult. He put in his notice at Dix and began brewing for Big Ridge Brewing in Surrey and then at Dead Frog Brewing in Langley. 

However, things weren’t clicking for him at Dead Frog. It wasn’t where he belonged. Dewald decided to take a break from brewing and worked for several years in the wine industry. His path into winemaking was cut short when the winery he worked for went under in 2012, but it wasn’t long before he received a call that would eventually lead him back to his old passion: brewing craft beer. The call was from Don Piccolo, who was trying to establish a craft brewery in Abbotsford with the help of John Ohler, a longtime friend of John Mitchell. Ohler knew of Dewald through Mitchell, and Dewald knew of Ohler through Howe Sound Brewing. Ohler got Dewald on board, and with his help, Old Abbey Ales was founded.

In short order, Ohler sought out Dewald’s expertise for another brewery project: Trading Post Brewing in Langley. In 2015, Dewald became their head brewer, and it was here that he found a team and a community that truly resonated with him. He brewed for Trading Post until he was compelled to step down due to health challenges, but he still feels very much a part of the Trading Post team and the brewing community more broadly. 

Reflections After a Career in Beer

In looking back at his career in brewing, Dewald emphasizes how he values his fellow brewers. He is quick to credit others for offering him the opportunities and support that empowered him to succeed in his passion. 

“It’s all about the people you have around you and the people you meet along the way. I’ve been very fortunate to have the right people appear around me when they needed to be.”  

As a longtime industry insider, Dewald can identify peaks and valleys in BC brewing over the decades. He feels that with the recent increase in high-quality brewing programs, like the one at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the bar for beer quality is high. 

“The quality of craft beer now is perhaps the best it’s ever been,” Dewald enthuses. “There are so many good, well-made, interesting beers out there right now.” 

However, for Dewald, you can’t beat the classics. In considering the industry’s future direction, he warns breweries against producing too many one-off novelty beers. “Novelty is a short-sighted strategy,” he says. “Novelty beers won’t be consumed regularly — they won’t sustain the industry. Breweries need to make beers people can drink over a whole evening. Make beers you want to drink after work!” Dewald’s personal beer preference is a classic, clean lager: “I’m a lager lover!” He also loves his IPAs though — and the more bitter, the better.

So what is the future of BC beer, according to Dewald? He anticipates more brewery closings, simply because of saturation in the market. He also believes that we’re due for a return to older, more established styles — lagers, IPAs, nut browns, pale ales, and stouts. New hop varieties, however, are where he thinks the industry will get the most creative. “We never thought hops like Citra would come out!” he recalls. 

Apart from his role at Trading Post, Dewald still keeps his finger on the pulse of the industry. He loves trying new beers, particularly with his wife (whose taste buds are better than his, he asserts). “I have an active palate that needs a challenge!” he laughs. In addition, every year he returns to his East Van brewing roots and brews a collab Christmas beer with Conrad Gmoser at Brassneck Brewing: the Spirit of Dixmas Christmas IPA. 

Dewald has won numerous brewing awards, but this has never been his focus. Throughout our conversation, I noticed that Dewald frequently praised his cohorts in the industry — Gary Lohin, Harley Smith, Bill Herdman, and many others — rather than focusing on his own achievements. It was always others who deserved praise and appreciation. And perhaps this is the clearest sign that he is precisely the right person to receive this lifetime achievement award. It’s clear that he didn’t get into brewing to win acclaim for himself, but Tony Dewald is owed such recognition after decades of sharing his generous spirit and brewing expertise. He wouldn’t ever ask for this award, but he certainly deserves it. John Mitchell would approve.

Special thanks to Brian K. Smith for providing photos from his archives. Also, thanks to What’s Brewing BC.

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The 2023 Canadian Brewing Awards were announced in Halifax on Saturday, June 3, and once again this year, craft breweries from British Columbia fared extremely well on the national stage. 

Overall, 39 BC breweries won 51 awards, including 16 golds, 17 silvers, 12 bronze medals, and six honourable mentions (HM).

The biggest winner from BC was Twin City Brewing from Port Alberni, which racked up four awards, including one silver and three bronze medals:

• Obscura Berliner-Style Weisse w/ Plum – Silver (German-Style Sour Ale – Berliner-Style Weisse)
• Bottlecap Cherry Cola Sour – Bronze (Experimental Beer)
• Nocturne Belgian-style Quadrupel – Bronze (Belgian-Style Quadrupel)
• Unicycle Sour IPA w/ El Dorado – Bronze (American-style Sour Ale)

Twin City is no stranger to winning awards, including our own Best Brewery Experience award in 2020 and Best in Show at the 2018 BC Beer Awards.

Four Winds Brewing, which coincidentally celebrated its 10th anniversary on Saturday with a big party at its brewery in Delta, won three awards:

• Four Winds Pale Ale – Silver (North American Style Pale Ale)
• Greg – Bronze (American Style India Pale Ale)
• La Maison – Bronze (Session Ale)

Several breweries won two awards, most notably Vancouver’s Powell Brewery, which won two golds for Party Time!! 10th Anniversary DIPA and Dancing In the Dark Lager. 

Another notable winner of two medals was Small Gods Brewing, which just opened in Sidney last fall and already managed to win a gold for Promised Land (Session Ale) and a silver for Neverending (European Style Pilsner). 

The rest of the double award winners were:

• A-FRAME Brewing – Squamish: Arctic Lake Czech Dark Lager (gold); Cup Lake Lemon Earl Grey Sour (silver)
• Fernie Brewing – Fernie: Ridgewalk Red Ale (gold); The Professor Amber Lager (HM)
• Hoyne Brewing – Victoria: Finnegans Irish Stout (gold); Helios Dortmunder Golden Lager (HM)
• Mt. Begbie Brewing – Revelstoke: Tall Timber Ale (silver); Revelstoke Lager (silver)
• Parallel 49 Brewing – Vancouver: 10th Anniversary Brett Saison (gold); Jerkface 9000 (silver)

Of the other nine gold medal winners from BC, special attention goes to Kelowna’s Grey Fox Brewing, which won a gold for its Quick Witted in the Gluten Free category. This is a pretty big achievement for a brewery that just opened last December! 

Another notable gold medal from a new brewery went to Penticton’s Abandoned Rail Brewing for its Bellhop Porter. Abandoned Rail Brewing opened early in 2022.

The other gold medal winners from BC were: 

• 33 Acres Brewing – Vancouver: 33 Acres of Euphoria (Belgian-Style Tripel)
• Bomber Brewing – Vancouver: Georgie’s Best Dry Hopped ESB (North American Style Amber/Red Ale)
• Camp Beer Co. – Langley: Lagerkoller Vienna Lager (Kellerbier/Zwickelbier)
• Dog Mountain Brewing – Port Alberni: Friar Belgian Quad (Belgian-Style Quadrupel)
• La Cerveceria Astilleros – North Vancouver: El Valle Salado Salted Lime Lager (Herb and Spice Beer)
• Monkey 9 Brewing – Richmond: Cosmic Kolsch (German Kolsch Style)
• Smugglers’ Trail Caskworks – Langley: Canoe Chase IPA (English Style India Pale Ale)

Other BC Ale Trail breweries that won awards included:

• Ace Brewing 
• Barnside Brewing 
• Boardwalk Brewing
• CrossRoads Brewing and Distillery
• Dageraad Brewing
• Dead Frog Brewery
• Electric Bicycle
• Field House Brewing Co.
• Fisher Peak Brewing Company
• Île Sauvage Brewing Co.
• Locality Brewing
• North Point Brewing Company
• Persephone Brewing Company
• Riot Brewing Co.
• Sooke Oceanside Brewery
• Steamworks Brewing Co
• Ucluelet Brewing Company
• Whistle Buoy Brewing Co.
• Whitetooth Brewing

For the complete list of award winners, visit the Canadian Brewing Awards website.

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