Longwood Brewery and White Sails Brewing won two silver and one bronze between them at the 2020 Canadian Brewing Awards. (Longwood Brewing/White Sails)

By Alex Rawnsley

BANNER BEERS

Two Nanaimo craft breweries earn podium finishes at national beer awards

Sep 16, 2020 | 4:42 PM

NANAIMO — A pair of local craft breweries have further cemented their reputation for making some of Canada’s best beer.

Longwood Brewing captured silver in two categories for their Honey Hop Pale Ale and Bourbon Barrel Aged Triple Stout. White Sails Brewing won a bronze for their Snake Island Cascadian Dark Ale.

Longwood brewmaster Harley Smith told NanaimoNewsNOW competition is becoming more fierce in the craft brewing market, with more breweries each year.

“We’re in our eighth year now and I think there were 45 breweries back then and we’re over 200 now in B.C.,” Smith said. “It brings almost every flavour of beer you can possibly conceive to the market, there really aren’t any boundaries these days.”

Longwood submitted five of their creations and said the recognition is a validation for the work they’re doing. Smith estimated around 1000 breweries from across the country entered at least one beer for judging.

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White Sails Brewing general manager Brian McCarthy said the third place prize was a nice way to wrap a ‘crazy’ year.

He added community is a big part of craft brewing success in the last decade.

“At the end of the day we’re all fighting against macro beer, different hard seltzers…new trends that hit the market. We’re all fighting for consumer dollars but I think together as a craft beer industry we’re better off working together,” McCarthy said.”

White Sails and Longwood are actively working on a collaboration beer, using local hops from a farm just outside of Duncan.

Alberta’s Common Crown Brewing Co. won brewery of the year while breweries from British Columbia won 11 of the 55 categories.

The Canadian Brewing Awards are considered the industry standard for craft beer excellence. Craft breweries from across Canada submit beers in a 55 different categories to be judged in blind tasting.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley