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Banner year for Fest of Ale

The 21st annual Okanagan Fest of Ale saw about 5,000 people coming through its doors, we've got the judges selections for best of fest.
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21st Annual Okanagan Fest of Ale

Around 5,000 people came to Penticton to celebrate everything craft beer at the 21st annual Okanagan Fest of Ale.

The two-day event, held April 8 and 9 at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, featured 175 different beers and ciders from 55 craft brewers.

A panel of craft beer experts had the tough task of determining the top brews of the festival. Judges’ Choice was determned by a pannel of nine industry experts including Joe Wiebe, author of Craft Beer Revolution; Jim Martin, Metro Liquor; Mike Garson, Mike’s Craft Beer; Jan Zeschky, beer writer with The Province; Jason van Rassell, beer writer at The Daily Blog; Brady Strachan, CBC Radio reporter; Jeremy Nemanishen, Craft Beer Vancouver; Stephen Smysniuk, editor of The Growler and Chelsea Dawn, Brewtiful British Columbia.

The Judges’ Choice award ended up with Persephone Pale Ale, from Persephone Brewing Company out of Gibsons B.C.

There were no Penticton breweries named for best-in-class by the judges panel in terms of brews, however in the people’s choice awards, voted on by attendees of the festival, Brodo Kitchen took home the Best Food award, and Bad Tattoo Brewing Company won Best Label design by local tattoo artist Alex Black.

“We were thrilled to once again have such an esteemed panel of judges,” said Warren Everton, Fest of Ale judging chair. “They had a difficult job tasting and evaluating 106 different beers and ciders to determine the best entries in 14 different categories, and then to agree on the overall Best in Show award.”

Winners recieved hand-crafted awards created by local artisan Tim Tweed, eaching taking on a unique look for the different categories.

Winners

Best in Class, Judges’ Choice Awards:

Pilsner/Golden Lager           Bohemian Pilsner - Hearthstone Brewery, North Vancouver

Pale Ale                                 Persephone Pale Ale - Persephone Brewing Company, Gibsons

Wheat Ale                             Smoked Hefeweizen - Steel & Oak Brewing Company, New Westminster

Belgian Golden/Saison        Old Barn Saison - Fernie Brewing Company, Fernie

Amber/Dark Ale                   A Wee Angry Scotch Ale - Russell Brewing, Surrey

IPA                                        Slingshot Session IPA - Fernie Brewing, Fernie

Dark IPA                               Disruption Black IPA - Category 12 Brewing, Victoria

Dark Lager                           Black Lager - Tree Brewing, Kelowna

Belgian Strong                     Delirium Tremens - McClelland Imports

Stout/Porter                          Dry Irish Stout - Ravens Brewing, Abbotsford

Blender                                 Smoke & Mirrors Imperial Smoked Ale - Coal Harbour Brewing, Vancouver

Sour                                      Sour Raspberry - Old Abbey Ales, Abbotsford

Ciders                                   Calville’s Winter - Twisted Hills Craft Cider, Cawston

Fruit Beer                             Tropic Vice Tropical Fruit Ale - Dead Frog Brewing, Aldergrove

The People’s Choice Awards, voted for by guests at the event:

Best Beer                             Tropic Vice Tropical Fruit Ale - Dead Frog Brewing, Aldergrove

Best Cider                            Dominion Craft Cider - Dominion Cider Co., Summerland

Best Food                             Brodo Kitchen, Penticton

Label Design Champion     Los Muertos Cerveza Negra - Bad Tattoo Brewing Company, Penticton

Label Design Runner Up    Fat Tug IPA - Driftwood Brewery, Victoria

Label Design Runner Up    Kingston’s Twist - Twisted Hills Craft Cider, Cawston