Golden Tap Awards Announced

Last night at a gala event at beerbistro, the 2007 Golden Tap Awards were announced. These were the winners:

Best microbrewery in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) - Mill Street
Best microbrewery in Ontario (outside of the GTA) - Church-Key
Best beer brewed in the GTA - Mill Street Tankhouse
Best beer brewed in Ontario (outside of the GTA) - Beau's Lug-Tread Lagered Ale
Best bar in the GTA in terms of draught beer selection - C'est What
Best bar in the GTA in terms of bottled beer selection - beerbistro
Best bar in Ontario (outside of the GTA) - Winking Judge
Best brewpub or tied house in Ontario (including the GTA) - Mill Street Brewpub
Best beer of the festival - Black Oak Transvestite's Tipple

New this year were Editor's Circle awards, to recognize unique and significant achievements in the Ontario beer industry. Four were handed out:

Michael Hancock
Great Lakes Brewing
Roland + Russell
Volo Cask Days

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone for attending the Golden Tap Awards event.

The complete audio recording of the Golden Tap Awards ceremony is available through Bar Towel Radio.

Golden Tap Awards Winners to be announced August 18th

The Golden Tap Awards voting has closed, and now it is time to announce the winners! On Saturday, August 18th at beerbistro in Toronto, the winners will be announced at a special event which is open to the public, free to attend and will feature an exclusive Ontario craft beer festival.

WHEN: Saturday, August 18th - Doors open at 4pm - Awards show at 8pm

WHERE: beerbistro - 18 King Street East, Toronto

COST: Free admission, open to the public - Paid tokens for beer and food

All awards will be handed out at the event on August 18th, across the following categories:

• Best microbrewery in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)
• Best microbrewery in Ontario (outside of the GTA)
• Best beer brewed in the GTA
• Best beer brewed in Ontario (outside of the GTA)
• Best bar in the GTA in terms of draught beer selection
• Best bar in the GTA in terms of bottled beer selection
• Best bar in Ontario (outside of the GTA)
• Best brewpub or tied house in Ontario (including the GTA)

The Golden Tap Awards event will feature an exclusive Ontario beer festival with one of the most unique selections of beers available at one time. Some of the beers available at the event will include:

• Beau’s Lug-Tread Lagered Ale (not currently available anywhere in Toronto)
• Great Lakes Project X and Orange Peel Ale
• Nickel Brook Organic White
• Church-Key West Coast Pale Ale
• Trafalgar Oak Aged Dry
• Grand River Ploughman’s Ale and Mill Race Mild
• Mill Street Belgian Frambozen
• Black Oak Double Chocolate Cherry Stout and Summer Saison
• Denison’s Weissbier
• Cameron's Dark 266
• King Dunkel
• C’est What Caraway Rye
• Scotch Irish Stuart’s Organic Session Ale and Black Irish Plain Porter

Black Oak Brewing, a former winner of best microbrewery in Ontario, has also produced an exclusive beer only for the Golden Tap Awards event. Other participating breweries include Amsterdam, Steam Whistle, Robert Simpson, Durham, Granite and others.

Part of what makes the awards party so exciting is a real-time vote for “Best of the Fest”. Event attendees can vote for their favourite beer available at the party and the winner will be awarded a special Golden Tap Award at the end of the evening. And for the first time ever, a special set of “Editor’s Circle” awards, recognizing significant beer achievements in the craft beer industry, will also be handed out.

GTA Party Contest

We're going to have another contest, this time at the Golden Tap Awards party itself, in conjunction with Lucy Saunders and beerbistro. When you vote for your favourite beer at the GTA party (the "Best of the Fest"), you'll have a chance to win one of five copies of Lucy Saunders' book Grilling With Beer. To keep ourselves busy until then, Lucy is hosting an American Beer & BBQ Dinner at beerbistro on July 10th. More details here.

Golden Tap Awards Contest Added

We've added a contest to the Golden Tap Awards - by voting you could win one of two pairs of tickets to Toronto's Festival of Beer, being held on August 11th-13th at Fort York. Vote now for the Golden Tap Awards for your chance to win!

Golden Tap Awards 2007 Voting Launches

We're proud to announce the launch of the voting for the 2007 Golden Tap Awards. We're very excited about this year's event - there are eight categories to vote upon and there will be a great awards event on August 18th. You can vote for this year's awards and find out more information at the new Golden Tap Awards web site. You can read the press release here.

Golden Tap Awards - 2006 Winners!

The winners of the Golden Tap Awards for 2006 were announced tonight at beerbistro. Here are the results:

Best Ontario (non-GTA) beer bar - Augusta's Winking Judge, Hamilton
Best GTA beer bar (draught selection) - C'est What
Best GTA beer bar (bottled selection) - Volo
Best Ontario brewpub or tied house - Granite Brewery, Toronto
Best Ontario (non-GTA) microbrewery - Wellington Brewery, Guelph
Best GTA microbrewery - Mill Street Brewery
Best Ontario-produced (non-GTA) beer - Scotch-Irish Sgt. Major's IPA, Ottawa
Best GTA-produced beer - Mill Street Tankhouse Ale
Best Beer of the Fest - Beau's Lug Tread Lagered Ale "Kolsch-Bock"

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to all who voted and came out to the awards ceremony & Ontario beer festival at beerbistro. Watch for the 5th annual Golden Tap Awards to be even bigger and better next year!

Golden Tap Awards countdown!

The 4th annual Golden Tap Awards celebration is just over a day away, and the anticipation is building. Yesterday in the Toronto Star an article was published about the Awards, and in today's Metro there was a brief piece with a contest for some free beer tokens.

The awards party is taking place on Saturday, August 19th at beerbistro. Doors open at 4pm, and the awards ceremony is at 8pm. The party will continue into the night. More information can be found here.

Expect to find such beers to try as Great Lakes Devil's Pale Ale, St Andre Great Eastern IPA, Neustadt Manchester Bitter, Trafalgar Critical Mass, Wellington Imperial Stout, Nickel Brook Pilsner, Black Oak Hop Bomb, Muskoka Hefe Weizen, Beau's and others. There should be around 40 different beers to try.

It should be a great event, I'm hoping everyone can make it!

Golden Tap Awards - Voting Deadline & Event Update

Today is your last day to vote for the 2006 Golden Tap Awards. If you haven't done so yet, click the link and place your votes for the best beers, bars and brewpubs that Ontario has to offer.

And don't forget that the awards will be handed out on Saturday, August 19th at beerbistro. The festivities will feature beer cuisine from the talented beerbistro kitchen, and an Ontario Beer Festival with kegs and bottles - including some festival exclusives - from the following breweries:

Black Oak, Mill Street, Wellington, Granite, Denison's, Trafalgar, Neustadt, C'est What, Scotch Irish, Nickel Brook, Ste. Andre, Durham, Cameron's, King, Glenora Springs, Muskoka, Beau's, Steam Whistle, Great Lakes, F&M - and maybe more!

The planned cover charge has now been dropped, so admission will be free, although there will no longer be a take-home tasting glass. Beer and food will be available using tokens that can be purchased at the event. Doors open at 4 PM, the awards will be handed out at 8 PM, and the event will continue until closing time.

Golden Tap Awards 2006 Event Details

The Bar Towel is proud to announce that the Golden Tap Awards 2006 festival & awards gala will be taking place on Saturday, August 19th at beerbistro, starting at 4 PM and running until closing time.

To match the concept of the awards which are now Ontario-wide, beerbistro will be dedicating all of their tap lines to Ontario craft brews, and will have bottle stations set up as well. Food-wise, we will have GTA and Ontario food tables, each featuring bottled beers and different dishes to try. There will also be a food buffet and various hors d'oeuvres.

All beer and food will be "a la carte" using beer tokens that can be purchased at the event. There will be a nominal cover charge (likely $5) which will include a tasting glass to take home. We'll also have door prizes and other cool stuff.

Remember that the GTAs are the only beer awards in Canada to be chosen by the public, so if you haven't voted yet, visit the GTAs website and cast your ballot. Voting will remain open until August 5th, and all voters will be entered into a draw for a pair of tickets to the Toronto Festival of Beer, taking place August 11th to 13th at Fort York.

We're very excited about the GTAs event and are hoping it will be a true celebration of Ontario beer and brewing. We'll post more details (including brewers and beers) as they become available.

Golden Tap Awards 2006 Launches

Voting commenced today for the 4th annual Golden Tap Awards, which recognizes the best in beer that Ontario has to offer. From now until August 5th, all visitors to Goldentap.com can vote for their favourite pubs, brewpubs, microbreweries and beers in Ontario.

This year the Golden Tap Awards has expanded to include the entire province. As The Bar Towel is more provincially-focused, the Awards should be too. We have, however, kept separate awards for the GTA and 'rest-of-Ontario'. There are 8 categories covering best microbrewery, best beer, best pub and best brewpub.

We are also featuring a Toronto's Festival of Beer Contest. By voting for the Golden Tap Awards, you will be automatically entered into a contest to win a pair of tickets to Toronto's Festival of Beer (admission on Friday August 11th or Sunday August 13th only).

You can vote now here.

Golden Tap Awards 2006

The 2006 edition of the Golden Tap Awards will be taking place on Saturday, August 19th. More details will be announced soon.

Golden Tap Awards Winners Announced

Last night at beerbistro the 2005 Golden Tap Awards were handed out. The winners were as follows:

Best Microbrewery in the GTA: Mill Street
Best Beer brewed in the GTA: Mill Street Tankhouse Pale Ale
Best Beer Bar - Draught selection: C'est What
Best Beer Bar - Bottled selection: Smokeless Joe
Best New Beer brewed in the GTA: Cameron's Dark 266
Best New Beer Bar in the GTA: beerbistro
Best Beer of the Festival: Black Oak Hop Bomb

The event was a great success, with almost all breweries in the GTA represented at the GTA beer festival. Lots of fun was had by all. Special thanks go out to beerbistro, all the participating brewers and voters and attendees for making the event what is was.

Golden Tap Voting Closes, Countdown to Party

The Golden Tap Awards voting has closed, with a record number of votes this year. Now the countdown begins to the gala awards event and GTA beer festival on Saturday, August 20th at 2pm.

Tickets are $20 in advance and available by calling beerbistro at 416-861-9872. Admission includes four half-glasses or two full glasses of beer, plus access to the extensive food offerings.

See the promotional poster, which is on display at beerbistro here.

The participating brewery list is being confirmed and will be announced shortly. And don't forget there will be a real-time vote for "best of the fest" of the available beers. Should be a fun event!

Golden Tap Awards 2005 Launches

The 3rd annual Golden Tap Awards voting launched today. The Golden Tap Awards recognizes the best in beer that the GTA has to offer, as voted upon by the general public.

You can vote for this year's Golden Tap Awards here.

The Golden Tap Awards will be handed out at a gala event featuring a GTA Beer Festival on Saturday, August 20th at beerbistro. You can find out more about the gala event, including ticket information here.

Vote now and get your tickets! It is going to be a great time.

Golden Tap Awards mentioned in eye

The recent Eye magazine (Thursday, October 21st) features a Food & Drink Guide, with an article about the Mill Street Brewery. Within this article is a mention of their recent wins at the 2004 Golden Tap Awards, which is nice to see. The article is a good read, and offers some information on Mill Street's forthcoming barley wine.

Check out the article here.

Golden Tap Awards Winners Announced

Last night at the Academy of Spherical Arts the winners of the 2nd annual Golden Tap Awards were announced. The winners were:

Best Microbrewery:
MILL STREET

Best Bar (Draught selection):
C'EST WHAT

Best Bar (Bottled selection):
SMOKELESS JOE

Best locally-produced beer (tie):
MILL STREET TANKHOUSE PALE ALE and
STEAM WHISTLE PILSNER

Lots of thanks to the Academy for hosting the event and to the voters and party attendees. Looking forward to next year!

RSVP for the Golden Tap Awards Party

The voting for the 2004 Golden Tap Awards has now closed. Thanks to everyone who voted - we had a great response this year.

Now the fun part - the awards party! The party to announce the winners will be held on Tuesday, August 10th at the Academy of Spherical Arts at 7pm.

The party is open to all, and it is definitely going to be a great time.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP here. If you have any questions, please contact Cass.

Golden Tap Awards 2004 Launches

The Bar Towel is proud to announce the 2nd annual GOLDEN TAP AWARDS, recognizing the best in beer that the Greater Toronto Area has to offer, as voted on by you.

From now until July 31, 2004, all visitors to Goldentap.com can vote for their favourite pubs, brewpubs, microbreweries and beers in the GTA.

Please visit Goldentap.com to vote now!

Details of the awards party to announce the winners will be coming shortly.