Ontario crowned King of the IPAs at the CBA

Step aside, Quebec. Take a seat, B.C.  Canada’s craft beer champion – and the undisputed King of the IPAs – is the Province of Ontario.

As an IPA lover and a supporter of Ontario craft beer I have to give props to my province for a near perfect Canadian Brewing Awards performance last weekend in the three categories that really matter: North American Pale Ale, India Pale Ale and Imperial India Pale Ale.

Ontario breweries took eight of the nine available medals in those categories, sweeping the IPA and Pale Ale brackets and taking two of three in the Imperial IPA class,

Ontario also swept the American-style Black Ale category (with the top two being of the Black IPA kind) and took the top two honours in the English-style IPA category as well.

Hell, Ontario had so many outstanding IPAs this year they had to put Boneshaker from Amsterdam in the Amber/Red Ale category. Gold Medal there too.

The real star at the annual event was Great Lakes Brewery of Toronto, which not only swept the classic India Pale Ale category, but capped the evening with its second straight Brewer of the Year title, a very impressive accomplishment for the 27 year-old brewery.

The 1-2-3 IPA finish for Great Lakes was led by Thrust! IPA (gold), followed by Karma Citra (silver) and My Bitter Wife in the bronze position.

That’s the first time any brewery has swept the IPAs in the Canadian Brewing Awards’ seven-year history and 2014 is the third year in a row Karma Citra has found itself near the top, taking top honours in the category the past two years before being squeezed off the gold medal podium this year by brewery mate Thrust.

I’ve had all three, with My Bitter Wife (sooo good) being my personal favourite as well as my go-to beer this spring, but a bronze – matching the bronze the beer received in 2010 – will have to do this year.

Burlington had the spotlight for North American Pale Ales, with Rhyme & Reason (Collective Arts) and Naughty Neighbour Pale Ale (Nickel Brook) earning the top two spots. Pinball Wizard, the product of Get Well Brewery’s nano-brewery in Toronto’s Little Portugal, finished third in the voting.

With Collective Arts and Nickel Brook merging this year to form Arts and Science Brewery, that’s a pretty good one-two PA punch for the ‘new’ brewery.

In the Imperial IPA category another Nickel Brook hop monster – Immodest IIPA – took the silver medal this year, with Shoulders of Giants from Barrie’s Flying Monkeys winning the gold medal.

I’ve had Immodest but once and raved about it. I ran into Shoulders at my favourite craft beer bar in Oshawa – Buster Rhino’s – and came back each night for nearly a week until the keg was blown. That’s how good these two beers are. Fantastic, world class IIPAs.

American-style Black Ale medalists this year included Big Rig Black IPA (Big Rig Brewery) and Malevolent Black IIPA (Nickel Brook), as well as Grizzly Beer from Bellwoods.

Mill Street Brewery’s IPA took home gold in the English-style IPA class, with Magnotta Brewery’s True North India Pale Ale finishing runner-up.

All told Ontario won 16 gold medals in the annual competition, held this year in Fredericton, New Brunswick, far ahead of traditional rivals B.C. (which did boast the Beer of the Year, Sasquatch Stout from Old Yale Brewing) and Quebec, which finished with nine and eight gold medals, respectively.

Stand proud, Ontario. The best beers in Canada are brewed right here in the land of the Trillium. As for the nation’s best IPAs? It’s not even close.

*

With Great Lakes being the star of the Canadian Brewing Awards and me being in Toronto last week, it was only natural that I drive 10 miles or so out of my way to visit the brewery, which is located in south Etobicoke, just a few wobbly minutes from Rob Ford country.

This is a brewery I was actually planning on visiting months ago, after googling ‘Great Lakes Brewery’ and finding a whole slate of IPAs to try. “We gotta go,” I told my friend Cat.

A couple of days pass and I re-check the web page, only to discover that I had been looking at the home page of Great Lakes Brewing of Cleveland, Ohio.

Damn.

Turned out the Toronto Great Lakes Brewery (henceforth to be known as GLB, to avoid any confusion) had no IPAs at the bottle shop at that time, so I dismissed them out of hand and we visited Amsterdam Brewery instead.

I have long since learned the error of my ways and, in fact, adopted My Bitter Wife as my top IPA choice throughout the spring. As soon as I saw one in the LCBO, I bought one. And repeat.

It’s a simple but effective strategy.

So, a few days before GLB was named Brewer of the Year – for the second straight year – and swept the IPA category at the Canadian Brewers Awards, I found myself at the brewery. And oh happy day, they were having a party for me.

Live band, fried meat, Argonaut cheerleaders. The whole nine yards.

And beer. I had a Limp Puppet, a session IPA that is perfect when you’re in a bit of a hurry and have a long drive ahead. The bottle (and the chalkboard sign at the bar) says it’s 3.2 per cent ABV, but the GLB buy who sold it to me said they lied. It’s 3.8 per cent, he insists.

Either way it’s the most sessionable IPA I’ve ever heard of, much less tried. The citrusy hops were a bit muted but still noticeable and there was enough malt backbone to make it agreeable. But, at just 25 IBUs it’s hardly a proper IPA.

As a summer backyard session beer, however, Limp Puppet does the trick.

Perhaps not the most appropriate name as well, especially with beautiful Argo cheerleaders around – my pal Steve hated it (the name, not cheerleaders) – but who can argue with the two-time Canadian Brewer of the Year, who lately have been getting everything right?

Well, they could have stocked more IPAs in the bottle shop. My Bitter Wife, for one.

But I think that’s how this story started.

Cheers!