This year the BC brewers took home 40% of the Canadian Brewing Awards, and once again the Brewery of the Year is Central City Brewing Company.

There’s always some interesting discussion around these awards, and it has already started in the
forums. Has BC reached its climax? Are other provinces rising up? This year Ontario brewers took the Gold & Silver in the American Style IPA category, and a sour beer from Quebec (Co-Hop V, À La Fût) was awarded Beer of the Year! From coast to coast, there’s some interesting times ahead. Congrats to all the winners!

Here’s what the BC brewers brought home:

Gold
Vancouver Islander Lager, Vancouver Island Brewery
Hermann’s Dark Lager, Vancouver Island Brewing Co.
Coffee Porter, R&B Brewing Co.
Red Racer ESB, Central City Brewing Co.
Swans Scotch Ale, Swans Brewery
Pale Ale, Yaletown Brewing Co.
Steamworks Pale Ale, Steamworks Brewing Co.
Sungod Wheat Ale, R&B Brewing Co.
Woolly Bugger Barleywine, Howe Sound Brewing Co.
Powell IPA, Coal Harbour Brewing Co.
Central City Imperial IPA, Central City Brewing Co.
Mandarin Orange Amber Ale, Dead Frog Brewery
Dark Snout Bacon Stout, R&B Brewing Co.
Thor’s Hammer Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine, Central City Brewing Co.

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Ontario Craft Beer Week, the signature week-long celebration of beer organized by the Ontario Craft Brewers, kicks off tomorrow (June 17th) and runs until June 23rd.

Now in its third year, OCB Week will be hosting over 100 events in over 40 communities across the province.  And there’s a ton to choose from, including pub crawls, special tastings, music events, beer dinners, and festivals.

One of the notable events to kick off the week is the second event of the Brewer’s Backyard (organized in part by The Bar Towel).  The event, entitled the Father’s Day Triathlon, is taking place at the Koerner Gardens of the Evergreen Brick Works as the official after-party of the Ride the Ravines bike ride.  The event will feature beers from Amsterdam Brewery (including the debut of the CBA silver medal winning Maverick and Gose, plus the GTA Belgian Farmhouse Ale, a collaboration beer brewed for OCB Week) and BBQ from Death Row Meals.  The event runs from 11-4pm and you can find out more at the Brewer’s Backyard website.

There are dozens more events to choose from, and you can keep yourself very busy with beer this coming week.  Take your dad out for a brew tomorrow, and enjoy the rest of the week’s events.  See after the break for a listing of many of the events taking place, and you can find the full listing at the OCB Week website.

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