CELEBRATING ANOTHER SUCCESS IN THE SUNNY OKANAGAN AT THE 21ST ANNUAL OKANAGAN FEST OF ALE

 

A crowd of nearly 5,000 flowed through the doors of the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre over the weekend to enjoy tastings of over 175 great beers and ciders from 55 amazing craft brewers at 21st Annual Okanagan Fest of Ale.

“It was another great year for the festival” says Randy Kirkoski, Okanagan Fest of Ale Society President.  “Not only did we hit a new record with 55 craft brewers onsite to showcase their best beers and ciders, the sun was shining and everyone was smiling.  We saw a definite increase in out of town guests to the event this year, and a great turn out of locals as well.”

“Patrons really seemed to enjoy the changes made to the entertainment set up this year. We had a stellar mix of talented buskers and main stages acts; it really worked well to create a great atmosphere”, says Kirkoski. “The choice of food was great and the selection of brews was incredible.”

The difficult job of determining top honours for Best in Fest – Judges’ Choice fell upon a panel of nine industry experts comprised of Joe Wiebe, Craft Beer Revolution; Jim Martin, Metro Liquor; Mike Garson, Mike’s Craft Beer; Jan Zeschky, beer writer with The Province, Jason van Rassel, beer writer The Daily Blog; Brady Strachan, reporter with CBC Radio; Jeremy Nemanishen, beer writer Craft Beer Vancouver; Stephen Smysniuk, editor of The Growler; and Chelsea Dawn, beer writer Brewtiful British Columbia.

“We were thrilled to once again have such an esteemed panel of judges” says Warren Everton, Okanagan 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. The winners represent an amazing collection of the best that BC has to offer. Make sure you visit your local liquor stores and try these award winners.”

In addition, the People’s Choice Awards were voted for by attendees of the festival. These awards include Best Beer, Cider, Food as well as awards for Best Label Champions and Runners Up from submissions from participating brewers displayed at the event.

The winners received beautiful awards that were created by local artisan Tim Tweed. They are handmade and crafted with passion each as unique as the award winning brews themselves.

  

The Awards were distributed as follows:

Best in Show, Judges’ Choice Award: 

Persephone Pale Ale – Persephone Brewing Company, Gibsons BC

           

Best in Class, Judges’ Choice Awards:

Pilsner/Golden Lager         Bohemian Pilsner – Hearthstone Brewery, North

Pale Ale                                 Persephone Pale Ale – Persephone Brewing

Wheat Ale                              Smoked Hefeweizen – Steel & Oak Brewing

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 BC

Dark IPA                                Disruption Black IPA – Category 12 Brewing

Dark Lager                            Black Lager – Tree Brewing, Kelowna BC

Belgian Strong                     Delirium Tremens – McClelland Imports

Stout/Porter                           Dry Irish Stout – Ravens Brewing, Abbotsford BC

Blender                                  Smoke & Mirrors Imperial Smoked Ale

Sour                                       Sour Raspberry – Old Abbey Ales, Abbotsford BC

Ciders                                     Calville’s Winter – Twisted Hills Craft Cider,

Fruit Beer                              Tropic Vice Tropical Fruit Ale – Dead Frog Brewing,

 

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

Best Beer                              Tropic Vice Tropical Fruit Ale – Dead Frog Brewing,

Best Cider                     Dominion Craft Cider – Dominion Cider Co.,

Best Food                             Brodo Kitchen, Penticton BC

Label Design Champion           Los Muertos Cerveza Negra – Bad Tattoo Brewing

Label Design Runner Up          Fat Tug IPA – Driftwood Brewery

Label Design Runner Up       Kingston’s Twist – Twisted Hills Craft Cider

Kirkoski summarized, “On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Okanagan Fest-of-Ale Society, we would like to extend thanks to all vendors, sponsors, supporters, volunteers, entertainers, judges, media and attendees for making this event an incredible success year over year. Thanks to the great work from the team at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and to Erick Thompson from ET2media for being the MC for the event. We are also very thankful to Get Home Safe for their support, to our local taxi operators and to The Coconut Express for shuttling our guests home safely.”

Not only does the festival host a venue for beer enthusiasts, but it also generates money for local Penticton charities. In its twenty-year history, the Okanagan Fest-of-Ale Society has gifted over $537,600 in net proceeds back to the community.  2016 Charitable grant applications will be made available online only April 18^th – May 31^st.For more information on the Okanagan Fest of Ale, visit www.FestOfAle.ca or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.