Canadian Brewing Awards 2015

[Masterplan]

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 agree. They should break this up regionally. Have a regional beerfest/competitions. That sends a top 3 of each style to the National Competition. Brewers supply the beer, proceeds from beerfest offset brewery costs. Breweries shouldn't be on the hook financially to determine Canada's top brew. Nor should anyone with cash be able to flood a national competition with entries.

[Cass]

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.

Sorry, I should have been more clear - the second post I did with some stats was 2014's results. Howe Sound did pick up a couple in 2015.

[El Pinguino]

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.

Agreed for the most part, but I would also add that some brewers may view such out-of-town events as a "reward" in itself to send some employees off for a weekend / a few days. These little research type trips are pretty common...and tacking them onto an actual beer award event in some ways could save money.

[Craig]

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.

Agreed for the most part, but I would also add that some brewers may view such out-of-town events as a "reward" in itself to send some employees off for a weekend / a few days. These little research type trips are pretty common...and tacking them onto an actual beer award event in some ways could save money.

It would make it tax-deductible, if it wasn't already.

[wilco]

My BC trading partner has sent a lot Four Winds and they almost always impress. They had a rye IPA once that missed the mark, but one bad beer out of five or six is not a bad ratio. They do great things with brett (Juxtapose IPA and their saisons). They're definitely one of my top Canadian breweries.

[loudman]

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?

GLB (brewery of the year last 2 years) entered 12 and won 2 awards (tied with Cameron this year). Based on per capita stats on points scored, BC slaughtered Ontario 4 to 1. VIB (they used to be the "Sleemans" of Van IS), came in at 3rd place (note: Vanc Is based breweries really cleaned up). Tree came in at 4th, they've really turned things around. Ont has a ways to go looks like. A La Fut kicked some serious ass and only lost to 4 Winds by 1 point. 86% of their entries won vs 36% of 4 Winds. They scored highest by far for entries vs medals.

[JerCraigs]

Some interesting beers on the list, both good and bad.
The beer of the year Scona Kolsch scores 2.87/5, or 31/100 on Ratebeer. Much higher scores on Beer Advocate which is interesting.

[El Pinguino]

Recently spent a week on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast...can vouch for there being a more vibrant and interesting scene there compared to here...and I didn't really get into anything in Vancouver. I was quite impressed with Four Winds, Dageraad, Townsite and Driftwood in particular.

[napoleon]

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?

GLB (brewery of the year last 2 years) entered 12 and won 2 awards (tied with Cameron this year). Based on per capita stats on points scored, BC slaughtered Ontario 4 to 1. VIB (they used to be the "Sleemans" of Van IS), came in at 3rd place (note: Vanc Is based breweries really cleaned up). Tree came in at 4th, they've really turned things around. Ont has a ways to go looks like. A La Fut kicked some serious ass and only lost to 4 Winds by 1 point. 86% of their entries won vs 36% of 4 Winds. They scored highest by far for entries vs medals.

I think I probably should have said strongest brewery. Bellwoods would have provided some pretty serious competition in quite a few categories. Sawdust City also appears not to have entered, not that I think they would have necessarily won anything.

[Belgian]

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?

For both the promotional value and the principle, it's not a terribly big amount to write off. Companies that are managed smartly spend money educating staff. They venture money in research and test projects, some of which may seem to lose money short term but still gather some valuable experience. Similar ground covered in these awards I would gather, multiple payoffs?

I respect companies doing it, and other companies that don't enter may just have different strategies or things they want to float out capital on.

[sprague11]

Plenty of BC guys have 4 winds to trade. Very good brewery!

[saints_gambit]

Entering a contest like this is a calculated marketing strategy. One of the reasons that we have the beer style definitions we do is because Michael Jackson helped the AHA and GABF develop them for the express purpose of being able to give out awards back in the 1980's. What an award guarantees is a certain level of quality in that beer at the time of receipt of the award. Winning an award essentially certifies the quality of your product in a manner that can be said to be as objective as is reasonably possible.

Depending on the amount of coverage such an event gets, it is definitely worth the investment. If you can be said, as Four Winds is this year, to be the best brewery in the midst of an exploding industry with some of the highest quality products in the country's history, then that's a good investment. If you know you make a quality product, an initial outlay of three thousand bucks plus shipping is easily worth the fee. It gives you an excuse to trumpet your achievements to jerks like me.

[ercousin]

Then again the fact that Molson Coors managed two medals makes me wonder about the whole competition entirely.

Don't be surprised that Molson is good at making clean easy drinking lagers, it's what they do and what they have spent millions of $$ doing. I had a can of Coors Light a couple months ago in our BJCP study group that was magnificent and flawless. Then you go to a sports bar, order a Coors, and it tastes like crap. Packaging and draft lines wreak havock on delicate beers like light and standard lagers. Big breweries have highly trained staff that are able to pick out off flavours better than any BJCP judge, they know which batches turned out best and which to enter into a competition.

I was surprised at how well Brick did. I haven't had any of their beers in years, maybe their move into the "new" Kitchener brewery is serving them well?

[northyorksammy]

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?

For both the promotional value and the principle, it's not a terribly big amount to write off. Companies that are managed smartly spend money educating staff. They venture money in research and test projects, some of which may seem to lose money short term but still gather some valuable experience. Similar ground covered in these awards I would gather, multiple payoffs?

I respect companies doing it, and other companies that don't enter may just have different strategies or things they want to float out capital on.

as a small co owner, 10K is nothing to sneeze at. You need a lot of naïve customers to spend beer thinking your bronze medal means a lot

[Belgian]

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?

For both the promotional value and the principle, it's not a terribly big amount to write off. Companies that are managed smartly spend money educating staff. They venture money in research and test projects, some of which may seem to lose money short term but still gather some valuable experience. Similar ground covered in these awards I would gather, multiple payoffs?

I respect companies doing it, and other companies that don't enter may just have different strategies or things they want to float out capital on.

as a small co owner, 10K is nothing to sneeze at. You need a lot of naïve customers to spend beer thinking your bronze medal means a lot

Thanks for the comment. Of course I was only speculating why brewing companies might do things like the awards, besides medals. Seems tenuous to do it only for that purpose if as you say so few may know or care. Interesting at any rate! How DO craft brewers find a solid financial footing and prosper while making an excellent product?