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Congrats to Greg on the Silver medal! Some odd stuff still in there though. Garrison winning gold in the Imperial Stout category with their Black IPA. Unless they changed the recipe, that's nuts. And who the hell decided Kellerbier should be a category? I question whether there's enough Kolsch in the country to make a competitive category. Why is Duggan's #9 in the pale ale category? Honey/Maple catergory? Too many categories AFAIAC...

http://www.canadianbrewingawards.com/

Mostly good questions. I was wondering about that Black IPA too. But the Duggans beer entered in that category was probably a multiple category enter by them. The organizers don't decide what category to enter a beer in, the brewer does. I have no idea wtf they were doing with Kellerbier as a category. I was not aware the BJCP had added it.....

What WAS great was the three different categories of IPA. North American, English, and Imperial. And there were 13 entries in each.

Greg's beer that won silver was in a category I judged. I recognized his hand in that, and probably one other on the table (one with some dark malt) Not sure how he packaged them, but both exhibited a tiny bit of oxidation. There was one we gave an honourable mention to that tasted a LOT like Simcoe Smash, that turned out to be from a brewpub in Victoria.

I also judged Belgian Strong, Brown Ales, North American Lager, Pilsner style lager, and German Style Weissbier. Others too, just can't recall.

This year, unlike last year, the brewers will get back the judges sheets. I am wondering who entered the malt-liquor type beer I referred to on the judge sheet as an "alcohol delivery system".... ducks...

If Garrison Black IPA was the same recipe, then either this country got a poor representation of RIS, or the judging needs some tweaking.

I guess if you can enter a beer in multiple categories, you are going to get some things that seem like oddities. APA and IPA have a small overlap, so I don't blame the judging so much as wonder why Duggan's would market their beer as a West Coast style IPA, yet enter it as an APA? And I'm curious if it was entered into the IPA category at all? I'd like to try some of that beer.

Yeah, for the Kellerbier, as far as I can tell, it's the German equivalent to a British cask beer...? A pilsner on hand pump? Begs questions like, what is the style, how do we get judges who can judge it, etc. I'd like to know the rationale behind that one.

Regardless, I'd like to try most of those beers on the list, especially the saison section.

I have a theory about the Imperial Stout category. It seems to me that in a few categories anyway, the fact that most of the judges were from Ontario showed up. Sleeman Cream Ale taking gold in that category for example. I suspect the judges probably grew up with that stuff and have come to see it as the standard for the style.

I thought the same thing at Volo's IIPA challenge. Not having had Black Oak's Ten Bitter Years, I had no idea which one it was while tasting it blind. I didn;t find it to be that great. But several people I talked to there were pretty sure which one it was and judged it to be the best. Because it was the best, or because it was the one they've been loving recently, they recognized it, and therefore had some confirmation bias happening?

With the Imperial Stout category, I'm wondering if the judges picked up on the fact that Black IPA was much lower abv and gravity, and thought it might be Scotch Irish John By Imperial Stout. When it first came out at the LCBO, the lab test put it at only 6.6%, while the brewery claims 8+. But largely I've found people comment that John By drinks more like a 5 or 6% stout than a typical Imperial. So I wonder if judges were thinking that Black IPA, with it's lower abv, was actually John By and scored it according to preconceptions of John By - one of, if not the only Imperial Stout made in Ontario, where many of the judges reside? I'm not suggesting this was intentional, by the way, more associative and subconcious. It would also match the idea that Canadian BJCPs tend to favour British tastes - lower abv, lower ibus - to North American. That would apply as much to Imperial Stout as it would IPA.

You could very well be right. It would be nice to see the full list of entries. Maybe I'm biased, but of the limited RIS that I have tried and made, I like them to be a significantly roasty beer and big beer.

I saw a quick blurb in the Herald about Garrison winning the awards today. You would think it's about time for the brewer's to get together and issue one press release for all winners.....

BTW, if you get a chance, give Cass at Bar and Towel a little reminder to check his e-mail to activate accounts. I've got a couple barrels for some of the comments on the CBA thread there....