Atlantic Canada Beer News

The 2024 Canadian Brewing Awards & Conference is in the books and this year’s awards ceremony saw a very strong showing for Atlantic Canadian breweries, one we believe is the best we’ve ever seen from the region. A total of 25 medals are being brought home from Hamilton by some very proud brewers, amongst those are 7 gold, 10 silver, and 8 bronze spread across all four provinces, with seven from New Brunswick (3G/2S/2B), two from Newfoundland & Labrador (1S/1B), twelve from Nova Scotia (4G/6S/2B), and four from Prince Edward Island (1S/3B).

The biggest story for Atlantic Canada, and Nova Scotia in particular, is the 3 golds and the “Brewery of the Year” title won by Shelburne’s Boxing Rock. This is the first time since 2012 when Picaroons won, that a brewery from this end of the country has taken home the biggest prize. A huge congratulations from us to Emily and Henry and their entire team at Boxing Rock who will have something extra special to celebrate at their 11th Birthday Party in July.

Other multiple winners included Fredericton’s Grimross, Halifax newcomers The Brewery by Quinn’s, Mahone Bay’s Tanner & Co, and Tatamagouche Brewing. The full list of our region’s winners appears below. You can also view the entirety of the results at the CBAC site (check out the rad map link if you’re planning a beer-drinking trip this summer and want to sample some bangers!)

Big ups all around to all the breweries who brought home hardware to our little corner of the world and to those who stuck their noses (and wallets) out to participate. We suggest you celebrate all of them with a beer! No word yet on the location for the 2025 Awards & Conference, but we’ll keep you in the loop once we hear!

New Brunswick

Newfoundland

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

ps. We’re thrilled to be back and publishing, and have some Profiles in the works for the region’s expanding beer, cider, and mead landscape! Chat again soon!

This past weekend was a big one in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as breweries and brewing industry folks descended into town bringing welcome gifts in liquid form, not unlike the rain pouring down to quell the nearby wildfires. It was a weekend that people could get together within the industry to celebrate, learn, and grow against a backdrop of some good ol’ East Coast hospitality, for the second time in 5 years. 

While we celebrate all the winners across the 59 categories of the Canadian Brewing Awards, your pals here at the ACBB are here to bring you the AC summary of the CBAs. Last year, we had 19 Atlantic Canadian award-winners across all categories and this year we’ve added eight more on top of last year’s tally. In total, 18 different breweries from our region brought home accolades.

Here’s a breakdown by province of the 2023 award winners:

Starting at the top of the table, New Brunswick hit big with three gold winners in the following categories:

The other gold on the board came from a big weekend winner out of Newfoundland:

Secret Cove, specifically out of Port au Port, also brought home another 2 awards, to complete the trifecta.

  • Irish And Scotch Ales – Red Vinyl , Secret Cove Brewing – SILVER
  • American Style Imperial India Pale Ale – The Great Auk, Secret Cove Brewing – BRONZE

Two other Nova Scotia breweries also scored a treble, interestingly enough, these two just released the Twin Shores collaboration beer together. 

  • Belgian-Style Sour Ale – Barrel Aged Lambic Style Ale, Propeller Brewing – BRONZE
  • English Style India Pale Ale – India Pale Ale, Propeller Brewing  – BRONZE
  • American-style Brett Beer – Wilder Brett IPA, Propeller Brewing  – BRONZE
  • Baltic Porter – Two Rivers Baltic Porter, Tatamagouche Brewing – SILVER
  • Cream Ale – Apres, Tatamagouche Brewing – BRONZE
  • Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer – Tempest, Tatamagouche Brewing – HON. MENTION

We had a few breweries bring home a pair of awards as well and one of them has a Gold listed above, so we’ll list the rest of those doubles below:

  • Oatmeal Stout – Boat Traffic, Lone Oak Brewing – HON. MENTION
  • Low Alcohol Beer – Noble, Lone Oak Brewing – SILVER
  • Barley Wine-Style Ale – Ol’ Fog Burner, Garrison Brewing – BRONZE
  • Historic/Regional Beers – Spruce Beer, Garrison Brewing – BRONZE

Here is the full list of winners broken down by Province for the Atlantic Canadian winners:

New Brunswick

  • English Style Pale Ale – Golden Grover, Foghorn Brewing – SILVER
  • French and Belgian Style Saison – Cheval D’or, Grimross Brewing – GOLD
  • Porter – Black Door, Hampton Brewing – BRONZE
  • European Style Lager (Pilsner) – Operation Feed Pilsner, Long Bay Brewery – BRONZE
  • Cream Ale – 8 Secondes, Novum Boreas – GOLD
  • Belgian-Style Brett Beer – Into the Wild, O’Creek Brewing – BRONZE
  • Belgian-Style Sour Ale – Pretty Please, Trailway Brewing – SILVER
  • Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer – Event Horizon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, Trailway Brewing – GOLD

Newfoundland & Labrador

  • Session Ale – Liquid Sunshine, Boomstick Brewing – HON. MENTION
  • Gluten Free Beer – Gluten Free Lager, Port Rexton Brewing  – BRONZE
  • Irish And Scotch Ales – Red Vinyl, Secret Cove Brewing – SILVER
  • North American Style Blonde or Golden Ale – James Blonde 00709, Secret Cove Brewing – GOLD
  • American Style Imperial India Pale Ale – The Great Auk, Secret Cove Brewing – BRONZE

Nova Scotia

  • Wood and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer – Bière de Coupage, 2 Crows Brewing – SILVER
  • North American Style Amber/Dark Lager – Toller Red, Burnside Brewing – BRONZE
  • Barley Wine-Style Ale – Ol’ Fog Burner, Garrison Brewing – BRONZE
  • Historic/Regional Beers – Spruce Beer, Garrison Brewing – BRONZE
  • German-Style Sour Ale – Girl, Hold My Earrings, Lunn’s Mill Beer Company – BRONZE
  • North American Style Amber/Red Ale – Right Some Red, Nine Locks Brewing – BRONZE
  • Belgian-Style Sour Ale – Barrel Aged Lambic Style Ale, Propeller Brewing – BRONZE
  • English Style India Pale Ale – India Pale Ale, Propeller Brewing – BRONZE
  • American-style Brett Beer – Wilder Brett IPA, Propeller Brewing – BRONZE
  • Baltic Porter – Two Rivers Baltic Porter, Tatamagouche Brewing – SILVER
  • Cream Ale – Apres, Tatamagouche Brewing – BRONZE
  • Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer – Tempest, Tatamagouche Brewing – HON. MENTION

PEI

  • Oatmeal Stout – Boat Traffic, Lone Oak Brewing – HON. MENTION
  • Low Alcohol Beer – Noble, Lone Oak Brewing – SILVER

Congratulations to all of our winners and we hope all who visited Halifax for the awards and conference enjoyed our part of Canada; we hope that our readers can mark these breweries and beers for further exploration during their travels!

For the full gamut of winners from coast to coast, head on over to the Canadian Brewing Awards

On Saturday September 18, 2021, the Canadian Brewing Awards and Conference got back to business with their 19th annual ceremony. This year’s event was held in Quebec City and breweries from all across Canada were represented. While we congratulate all breweries from across our great nation (and look forward to visiting many of the winners), we’re going to highlight our medalists from our Atlantic Region. Below is a summary of categories and winning beers from our Atlantic Canadian friends:

Wheat Beer – North American Style

GOLD – BarramBrasseux d’la Cote

SILVER – SelkieRough Waters Brewing

North American Style Pale Ale

GOLD – BroadsideCopper Bottom Brewing

American Style Imperial IPA

GOLD – Parkman AveCopper Bottom Brewing

Smoked Beer

GOLD – Smoked PorterUncle Leo’s Brewery

German-Style Sour Ale

SILVER – Sou’WesterRough Waters Brewing

Sweet or Cream Stout

SILVER – Deja Moo!Garrison Brewing Company

Gluten-Free Beer

SILVER – Gluten-Free PorterPort Rexton Brewing

New England Style IPA

SILVER – Galaxy IPAPropeller Brewing

Oatmeal Stout

BRONZE – Ken’s StoutCopper Bottom Brewing

North American Style Amber/Red Ale

BRONZE – Havre St-PierreFour Rivers Brewing Co

Baltic Porter

BRONZE – Baltic PorterGrimross Brewing

French and Belgian Style Saison

BRONZE – Cheval D’orGrimross Brewing

Cream Ale

BRONZE – Maritime Cream AleGrimross Brewing

Belgian-Style Tripel

BRONZE – TripelModern Brewer’s Village Green

Imperial Stout

BRONZE – Russian Imperial StoutQuidi Vidi Brewery

Barley Wine-Style Ale

BRONZE – Giantess Barley WineTatamagouche Brewing

 

What a showing! We are proud of our region and encourage you to get out to try any of these if and when possible. For those keeping track, that’s 5 medals (1 Gold and 4 Bronze) for New Brunswick breweries, 4 medals (2 Gold and 2 Bronze) for Prince Edward Island Breweries, 4 medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze) for Nova Scotian breweries, and 4 medals (3 Silver and 1 Bronze) for Newfoundland and Labrador breweries.

If you want to check out a full event livestream (Runtime: 80min, hosted by Garrison Brewing’s own Daniel Girard), check out the link here.

Also be sure to check out the CBA website for all the winners from years past as well. The full list of 2021 Winners has not yet been published as of the timing of this post, but we expect them any minute.

In 2022, the CBAs will return to their regular May timing with Calgary as the host city.