Niagara Falls craft brewery strikes gold at Canada Beer Cup
Published October 27, 2023 at 4:18 pm
Craft brewery Blackburn Brew House in Niagara Falls not only hosted the second annual Canada Beer Cup over the past two nights (Oct. 25-26), it struck gold in the competition.
Blackburn was the top entry in the Bock-Helles Bock category for their beer, General Bock. Behind them for silver and bronze in the category were entries from Sooke Oceanside Brewery in B.C. and Toronto’s Paniza Brewing.
The 2023 Canada Beer Cup Champion was presented to Deadfall Brewing of Prince George, BC for Basal Brown, entered in the American Style Brown Ale style category.
For the second year, the competition was organized by Stephen Beaumont, one of the world’s most authoritative voices on beer, as well as the author or co-author of 15 books, including the brand new third edition of the international best-seller, The World Atlas of Beer.
When it was first announced, Beaumont said he was thrilled to partner with Blackburn Brew House.
“Blackburn has generously come on as our venue sponsor and will be hosting our panel of international and Canadian judges this October as they judge hundreds of entries from across Canada,” Beaumont said.
One of the reasons Blackburn was approached was the fact the Ontario Craft Brewers Conference landed in the nearby Niagara Falls Convention Centre, also on Oct 25-26, meaning there will be dozens of provincial brewery top guns already in town.
Opened in May 2020, Blackburn is still something of a local newcomer but it is a massive operation with over 38,000 square feet of floor space. As well as their own beers, the brewery creates a large number of contract beers for other breweries.
The competition presents awards in 66 distinct style groups across 11 categories, as evaluated by a panel of elite Canadian and international beer experts. As an added bonus, $2 from every entry will support the Canadian Craft Brewers Association’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts.
While Blackburn was the only Niagara winner this year, the region had an excellent showing in last year’s inaugural Cup, especially the Niagara College Teaching College, which took two golds in the Scottish Style Wee Heavy/Scotch Ale category, as well as the Bock bracket.
Bench Brewing collected a silver in the Canadian Style Beer category while Niagara-on-the-Lake’s The Exchange Brewery captured a bronze in the Grisette/Farmhouse Ale grouping.