Canadian Brewing Awards 2015

[Cass]

For those who are interested, the CBAs were handed out on Saturday:

http://www.canadianbrewingawards.com/wi ... ears/2015/

Perhaps they've done this before and I can't remember, but I found it interesting they posted the full entry list as well. Usually with competitions (as least in my industry), the entrants are usually always confidential. I wonder who got their money's worth from submitting

http://www.canadianbrewingawards.com/entry-list-2015/

Anyone had Four Winds beers?

[DeMarco]

Oh cool, the entry list is interesting!

I've had a few friends have four winds stuff and it definitely sounds interesting. Always something to look forward to when they release these lists.

[Dennis]

For those who are interested, the CBAs were handed out on Saturday:

http://www.canadianbrewingawards.com/wi ... ears/2015/

Perhaps they've done this before and I can't remember, but I found it interesting they posted the full entry list as well. Usually with competitions (as least in my industry), the entrants are usually always confidential. I wonder who got their money's worth from submitting

http://www.canadianbrewingawards.com/entry-list-2015/

Anyone had Four Winds beers?

I had their IPA a few weeks ago in Vancouver; wasn't able to bring any home with me unfortunately but I remember really enjoying it (also tried Fat Tug for the first time on that trip - didn't disappoint).

[Cass]

Here's some interesting stats on the CBAs....

- Most entries was Parallel 49 with 30, followed by Amsterdam with 29 (out of a total of 1,234 entries)

- Many breweries were shutout of the awards. Of the biggest shutouts were Mill Street (0 for 26), Nickel Brook (0 for 19) and Fernie (0 for 15). Big Rock, Bomber, Bridge, Granville, Picaroons, Pump House, Rebellion and Unibroue all had over 10 entries and 0 wins.

- In terms of low hit rate, Beau's won 1 of 19 entries, for 5% success rate. Trafalgar and Wellington were both 1/15 for 7% success.

- The big submitters Parallel 49 won 3 of 30 (10%) and Amsterdam 2 of 29 (7%).

- No brewery won all of their submissions, but you could argue that Brasseurs San Gluten did, as they won 3 of 6 and swept the gluten-free category, but was competing against itself.

- Interestingly the biggest winner in terms of trophies and overall hit rate was A la Fut, who won 6 of 7 entries (86%), but did not win brewer of the year. That was Four Winds, who won the second most amount of trophies (tied) with 5 of 14 (35%)

- Second best hit rate was Great Western who usually does very well in the categories it makes beer in. This year was no exception, winning 5 of 8 entries (62%), good for second most trophies (tied with Four Winds).

- Other strong hit rates at 50% were Boshkung (2 of 4), Brick (4 of 8 ), Collingwood (3 of 6), Forked River (2 of 4), Lake of Bays (1 of 2), Rossland (1 of 2) and Spearhead (2 of 4).

[groulxsome]

30 entries is crazy. At $100 a pop, plus the cost of sending your crew out, hotels, and tickets, that's like... $10K on the CBAs? Is it really worth all that, especially considering some breweries (Bellwoods, DDC) don't enter at all?

[napoleon]

- Many breweries were shutout of the awards. Of the biggest shutouts were Mill Street (0 for 26), Nickel Brook (0 for 19) and Fernie (0 for 15). Big Rock, Bomber, Bridge, Granville, Picaroons, Pump House, Rebellion and Unibroue all had over 10 entries and 0 wins.
- In terms of low hit rate, Beau's won 1 of 19 entries, for 5% success rate. Trafalgar and Wellington were both 1/15 for 7% success.
- Interestingly the biggest winner in terms of trophies and overall hit rate was A la Fut, who won 6 of 7 entries (86%), but did not win brewer of the year. That was Four Winds, who won the second most amount of trophies (tied) with 5 of 14 (35%)

Interesting stats there. With the ones that didn't do so well, no surprise here. Mill Street is no longer creative even in their seasonal beers and Beau's produces so many odd beers that miss the mark.

On the plus side, I had a couple A la Fut beers recently in quebec and was quite impressed...should seek out their brewery.

I would say that it looks like Ontario did fairly poorly on average, but then again, our strongest breweries don't seem to have entered. Then again the fact that Molson Coors managed two medals makes me wonder about the whole competition entirely.

[TheSevenDuffs]

I would say that it looks like Ontario did fairly poorly on average, but then again, our strongest breweries don't seem to have entered.

Aside from Bellwoods, which other Ontario breweries were noticeably absent?

[mahcinesquad]

Didn't Four Winds have a saison packed in to the Discover BC beer pack at the LCBO in the spring/summer 2014?

[Cass]

Didn't Four Winds have a saison packed in to the Discover BC beer pack at the LCBO in the spring/summer 2014?

Looks that way. Man, I love the new search on Bar Towel!

http://www.bartowel.com/forum/viewtopic ... ds#p135641

[momnhops]

Hey all - the CBAs starting posting the full list of entries in 2014 - here it is: http://www.canadianbrewingawards.com/entries/

[Cass]

30 entries is crazy. At $100 a pop, plus the cost of sending your crew out, hotels, and tickets, that's like... $10K on the CBAs? Is it really worth all that, especially considering some breweries (Bellwoods, DDC) don't enter at all?

I can't speak for the breweries, but I'd have to think that they see this as a 'bet' on what could be significant marketing exposure if things play out favourably. Look no farther about how Beau's merchandised the GTA win years ago. GLB put the Brewery of the Year onto all of their communications. There's no question that this kind of thing gets mainstream exposure, especially for breweries in smaller communities. In terms of other competition, it's relevant to beer people to know that they beat "the best", but it really isn't for casual fans.

[Cass]

Hey all - the CBAs starting posting the full list of entries in 2014 - here it is: http://www.canadianbrewingawards.com/entries/

There's just over 900 last year, so pretty significant growth for the CBAs this year.

[Cass]

Just because I was curious, here's some stats about the 2014 results:

- Most entries was Mill Street with 25 (they won 2 or 8%)

- Big shutouts were Howe Sound (0/17), Tree (0/17), Philips (0/16), Cameron's (0/10).

- Dunham barely avoided a big shutout, getting 1 of 17 entries.

- Biggest winners were GLB (5 of 13, 38%) and Amsterdam (5 of 24, 21%)

- Best hit rates were Northwinds (1/1, 100%!), Cool (2/3, 67%), Great Western (4/7, 57%) and 50% for all of Barkerville, Collective Arts, Cannery, Get Well, Kensington and Side Launch, all with 1/2 or 2/4.

Makes the performance of A la Fut even more remarkable when looking at last year's numbers as nobody was close to that.

[Derek]

2 years ago, I thought Howesound was a real contender, and last year I thought parallel 49 should be up there as well, but IMHO, they've both suffered some growing pains... P49 in particular. Their limited stuff is often top notch, but they seem to be heavily filtering their regular line up.

I first tried Four Winds last year, and truly thought the Juxtapose was one of my favs for the year. At the Great Okanagan beer fest (it really was great and I'd highly recommend it), I went straight to Four Winds, had all their stuff... Sampled some other new stuff, but then just finished the afternoon there. They do a few things extremely well, and provided they select the right ones, that's what wins at the CBAs.

I was happy to see Bad Tatto pick up a couple awards as well. They've hosted our homebrew club, and tend to brew more to taste than to style. I agree with the awards they got.

Overall I thought the outcome was quite good, but there were certainly some upsets...

[DeMarco]

I ended up looking into Bad Tattoo after since it's such a weird name for a brewery. Interesting they won a lager and a abbey style.

I'm a little surprised Howe Sound came up with nothing.