8th Annual Canadian Brewing Awards Winners Announced

On Friday September 24, during Toronto’s first ever Beer Week, brewers and brewery representatives from all over Canada converged on the Cool Brewery in Etobicoke, ON to attend the CBA Gala and Medal Presentation hoping to take gold, silver or bronze tap handle medals back to their respective breweries.

The 2010 edition of the awards featured 390 entries submitted for judging with 76 Canadian breweries participating, making the 2010 edition the largest brewing competition ever held in Canada. With the increase in brewery participation, the CBAs introduced a number of new style categories this year, bringing the total number to 31 and medals awarded to 93, which are new CBA records. All the judging was completed over a two-day period by certified beer judges who consider aroma, appearance, flavour, mouth-feel, and overall impression when scoring the beer.

Two additional medals were bestowed during the CBAs Gala and Medal Presentation – Canadian Brewery of the Year and Canadian Beer Of The Year awards. Rob Engman, President of TAPS Media, was thrilled with the announcement that first time participants, Central City Brewery from Surrey, BC, won both of the prestigious awards. “I am extremely excited for Central City Brewery,” stated Engman. “This is the first year that the brewery has competed in the CBAs and they wowed the judges with their submissions.”

View the 2010 winners list or download a PDF list of the winners: http://www.tapsmedia.ca/index.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Central City Brewery won three gold medals in addition to winning the coveted Canadian Brewery of the Year and Canadian Beer of the Year awards with their Barley Wine – Thor’s Hammer

• Toronto’s Mill Street Brewery, three time winners of the Canadian Brewery of the Year award (2007, 2008, 2009) won an impressive five medals

• A record number of Quebec breweries submitted product for judging

Judging took place over a two-day period with approximately 20 BJCP certified judges handling the increase in submissions

ABOUT THE CANADIAN BREWING AWARDS
The Canadian Brewing Awards have emerged as the premiere competition for judging the quality of Canadian brewed beer. The contest is the only truly national competition that invites breweries of all sizes from across the country to compete in a blind tasting to see who brews the best beer in 31 style categories.

A Canadian Brewing Award medal is now a widely recognized symbol of brewing excellence in Canada. A panel of approximately 20 Certified Beer Judges (BJCP), consider five criteria: aroma, appearance, flavour, mouth-feel, and overall impression. A maximum of fifty points can be attained.

The competition also serves as an important vehicle for informing the Canadian beer-drinking public about the variety of and quality of commercially available beers throughout the land. Every year the competition attracts new entries from small startup breweries, to the largest of the large that are dedicated to carefully crafting their product.