On October 25, 2023, the 2nd annual Canada Beer Cup was held in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The event, which is one of several award ceremonies Alberta breweries can enter, is organized by the Canadian Craft Brewers Association and is the only national competition run by the actual brewing industry. Forty-four certified international BJCP judges from around the world, including Chile, Belgium, the United States and nearly every province in Canada, evaluated more than 1200 beers from 250 breweries across the country. Hosted by Steven Beaumont, author, one of the world's most authoritative voices on beer, and head judge of the Canada Beer Cup, who assembled the most prestigious panel of judges of any brewery competition in the world.
The big winner of the night, awarded to the Best in Show, AKA the Best Beer in Canada, was Deadfall Brewing of Prince George, BC for its Basal Brown, entered in the American Style Brown Ale style category. Lacombe Alberta’s Blindman Brewing won silver Best in Show for Dwarf Sour Cherry Fruited Saison and bronze Best in Show went to Nelson BC’s Nelson Brewing Company for Loki Lager.
Of the 69 categories in the Canada Beer Cup, Alberta breweries won in 28 of them ,or 40 % overall.
Here is a look at all the Alberta breweries that took home hardware at the Canada Beer Cup.
Cream or Golden Ale - Gold - Common Crown - Brewmaster Blonde Ale.
North American Amber Ale - Bronze - Olds College - Aggie Ale
Belgian Style Blonde - Gold - Wild Winds - Windflower
Pale Ale - Gold - Cabin - Retrospectum
IPA of 6% or lower (traditional hopping) - Bronze - Cold Garden - This must be the IPA -
Flavoured IPA - Bronze - Analog - In Another Castle
Mild Ales - Bronze - Gold - Moonlight Bay Brewing - Brown Ale
English Style Brown/Scottish Ale - Bronze- Big Rock - Traditional
Barley Wine - Silver - Blindman - Pereplutt Barley Wine
Svetly Lezak Czech Style Pale Lager - Gold - Medicine Hat brewing - Sest Pivo
Doppelbock - Gold - The Establishment - Pocket Calculator
German Style Hefeweizen /Kristalwiezen - Gold - Fahr- Hefe
North American Style Wheat Beers - Bronze - Meta- Celestial Canadian Wheat
Strong/Baltic Porter - Bent Stick - Gold - Baltistar Galactic Porter
Stout - Bronze - Meta- Spectrum Stout
Sweet / Cream / Milk Stout - Silver - Medicine Hat Woolfrey Milk Stout
Sour/Wild Ale - Bronze - Hard Knox - From the Patch / Silver - Troubled Monk Harry Dunne / Sour/Wild Ale (Flavoured, Unflavoured & Dry-Hopped) -Gold - Trial and Ale Saison Apparent
Wild or Mixed Fermentation Beer with Fruit -Gold- Blindman Dwarf Sour Cherry Fruited Saison
Spontaneously Fermented Beer (straight or blended) - Bronze - Blindman - Spons
Low or no alcohol Ale - Silver - One For The Road- What’s the Point Wheat Ale
Low or no alcohol Lager - Bronze- One for the Road- No Regrets Marzen
Other low or no alcohol beer - Gold - One for the Road - Still Struggling Espresso Stout
Heritage Beers - Gold - Blindman - 24- 2 Brett Stock Ale
Experimental -Bronze- Analog- Dry as a Bone V2 / Gold - Railyard - Ghost Pepper Hefeweizen
Chocolate/Coffee/Maple/Honey - Gold - Cold Garden - All Nighter Vanilla Cappuccino Porter
Smoked Malt - Bronze- Medicine Hat - Lagerfeuer Rauchbier
Wood Influenced - Silver- Cabin - Chapter 4
Best in Show - Silver - Blindman - Dwarf Sour Cherry Saison
Congratulations to all the Canadian breweries who entered this competition. Every year the quality of beer increases and we can't wait to see what happens next year.
If you would like to know more about the Canada Beer Cup, and other award competitions that Alberta breweries can enter, check out our latest post.
If you would like to see coverage of the Alberta Beer Awards, please click here.
If you would like to visit any of these breweries on a custom Alberta Brewery Tour, or Calgary Brewery tour , just let us know.
Cheers