Let the discussion begin. http://www.momandhops.ca/winners-announced-for-2015-canadian-brewing-awards/
With Bellwoods or DDC entries it's hard to get excited about these awards. That being said, Four Winds is a worthy choice for Canada's 3rd best brewery and they will only get better.
Think you mean without Bellwoods or DDC entries it's hard to get excited about these awards. DdC only entered one year, they misplaced their entries, they never got judged and they never entered again. Bellwoods has no reason to enter they sell all they can brew.
Anyone use these lists as a check list of beers to acquire and drink? I note that some of the winners are breweries no one mentioned in the best breweries by province thread, like PEI Brewing Co.
PEI Brewing Co. is the same as Gahan House, which was mentioned a few times in that thread. They are listed as separate breweries in the BA database, but they are definitely the same company. A similar problem exists with Block Three Brewing, which is also listed twice, including several duplicates of the same beer listed under each. Hopefully someone that can actually do something about this problem will fix this at some point.
That's not the reason that Bellwoods doesn't enter. But whatever the reasons are, legitimate or not, the fact is that arguably Canada's two two breweries don't participate, which considerably dilutes these awards.
PEI Brewing and Gahan House aren't exactly the same per se, but close enough. I believe some owners of Gahan formed a parent company, PEI Brewing, to begin canning. Some beers (Beach Chair) are not branded as Gahan, for instance, while there are now two Gahan brewpubs brewing their own stuff. I don't believe the ownership of the PEI/Gahan is identical, but it's essentially all under the same umbrella. Back on topic, I know Propeller doesn't enter awards competitions anymore either. Not to take anything away from the winners, but it's nearly impossible to have a competition that includes every great brewery, let alone beer.
I appreciate the clarification. The assertion in my last post was only based on the fact that I bought a 4-pack sampler last summer from PEI Brewing Co. (at the LCBO), and the bottle caps all said "Gahan" on them. Obviously I'm not a local and that anecdote is far from bulletproof evidence, but when you also consider that most of the Gahan and PEIBC brands overlap, it still leaves me with the feeling that they should not be listed as separate entities.
call me a snob with trust issues, but the fact that molson's won a few makes me mistrust the whole thing...
I'm a big fan of Pale Ale Americaine from Brasserie Dunham, so gold in that category is well deserved. They are so close to Vermont, they must have tapped into a vein of Vermont water.
Molson/Coors always wins awards at the World Cup of Beer and Great American Beer Festival so it should come as no surprise they win awards at the Canadian Beer Awards.
And something tells me that there had to be only 3 entries (acclamation, anyone?) in category 22: Wheat Beer North American Style. Tell me I'm wrong.
good on them for having so many specific categories. How does Coors win a canadian beer award? the ranking relies on those who choose to enter.
Molson/Coors and brewed in Canada. Kind of like if Sapporo won a medal because it was brewed in Guelph.
Dunham's been on fire lately. Quite the turnaround from a few years ago when their beers were middling at best.
http://peibrewingcompany.com/about/ I prefer to see them as one listing as the line is so blurred it's impossible to distinguish them. The link above basically suggests that the Gahan owner partnered with someone else to form PEI Brewing, which bottles Gahan/PEI Brewing product. You still have two separate Gahan pubs making their own rotating house beers, but it's just easier to group all under one entry. On another note, PEI/Gahan bought Rogues Roost brewpub in Halifax last year. They have a habit of selling Roost beer at Gahan and Gahan beer at the Roost without noting who brewed it. Now that's a mess!
