stephen beaumont on brewing network

phat matt · Post by **phat matt** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 4:12 pm

Just thouhgt I would throw a heads up that stephen beaumont will be on the sunday session this weekend. It goes live at 8pm our time. I look forward to hearing from a local on the show. www.brewingnetwork.com

elproducto · Post by **elproducto** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:24 pm

Great show, except he clearly has no idea what's going on in homebrewing.

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:53 pm

elproducto wrote:Great show, except he clearly has no idea what's going on in homebrewing.

Yeah I thought that too, he'll have to get an invite to the next SOB event.

Steve Beaumont · Post by **Steve Beaumont** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:32 pm

Guilty as charged, gents. My apologies if I misrepresented.

elproducto · Post by **elproducto** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:34 pm

Steve Beaumont wrote:Guilty as charged, gents. My apologies if I misrepresented.

No apology necessary.. fantastic interview! Nice to hear the Quebec brewers getting mentioned, they really are doing some fantastic stuff.

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:03 pm

Steve Beaumont wrote:Guilty as charged, gents. My apologies if I misrepresented.

No, that was a very good interview, you're the second Canadian in 2 weeks on there, it's good to give the California folks some perspective on the growing Canadian scene (and I'm shocked they never heard of DDC, I thought they got decent distribution in the states, but maybe its just the midwest and east coast)

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 1:37 am

That was a long interview!

I know it's tough when you're on the spot, but there's definitely some homebrewing innovation here: Amsterdam & the Granite have both brewed homebrew recipes; Volo and Great Lakes (Project X) have done a number of collaborations; there's a lot of amateurs that have went pro (like Chesire Valley as you mentioned)... and that's just in Toronto!

As for the national scene, the west coast is still catching up to Portland & Seattle, but I think it's still ahead of Ontario. Until the last couple of years, I would've put it ahead of Quebec... but I'm not sure now.

Who was the previous Canadian on the show?

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:47 am

Derek wrote:Who was the previous Canadian on the show?

The week before was Kal Wallner, the creator of http://www.theelectricbrewery.com, he's one of the MoB's from Ottawa.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 11:01 am

Derek wrote:I know it's tough when you're on the spot, but there's definitely some homebrewing innovation here: Amsterdam & the Granite have both brewed homebrew recipes; Volo and Great Lakes (Project X) have done a number of collaborations; there's a lot of amateurs that have went pro (like Chesire Valley as you mentioned)... and that's just in Toronto!

As for the national scene, the west coast is still catching up to Portland & Seattle, but I think it's still ahead of Ontario. Until the last couple of years, I would've put it ahead of Quebec... but I'm not sure now.

Head brewers (and in many cases owners) at Alley Kat, Wild Rose, Paddock Wood, Bushwakker and Half Pints (pretty much all the prairie brewers) all started out as homebrewers. And just about all of these breweries do collaborations with homebrewers and do a lot to support the local homebrew clubs (hosting meetings, and in several cases running the club itself).

Derek, I am pretty sure you were referring to the national craft brewing scene, but as for homebrewing, the prairies still have a major stangle hold - large active clubs, large competitions, and a ton more certified beer judges. In the last year or so, there has been substantial growth in BC and ON, as well as QC on a smaller scale, which is fantastic. There seems to also be a small but thriving scene on the atlantic coast too. A strong homebrewing community greatly improves overall beer culture through awareness and education.

We are currently in the middle of judging 353 homebrew entries from across Canada at the 2011 ALES Open. I have been judging for the last 5 years, the quality continually improves every year, and we get a better distribution of entries from across the country as well.