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Photo: Drinking beers with friends/Shutterstock

It’s the festive season, so let’s celebrate all the incredible craft beer being brewed in our province—and what better way to do that than with the Growler’s 2019 B.C. Craft Beer Readers’ Choice Awards!

Unlike other craft beer awards and contests, the Growlies (as we like to call them) are decided by you, the beer-drinking public.

Close to 200 breweries around B.C. produced thousands upon thousands of different beers this year. So we gathered a panel of more than 25 professional cicerones, certified beer judges, beer writers, industry insiders and altogether massive beer nerds to whittle down the field to 10 nominees in each category. Of course, if you didn’t like the judge’s choices, you still had the opportunity to vote for your favourite, no matter what it was.

Abbotsford’s Field House Brewing was the big winner this year, with nine gold medals, including Brewery of the Year. For the second year in a row, Driftwood’s Fat Tug IPA took the gold in the West Coast/Specialty IPA category, and moved up from silver last year to take the coveted Beer of the Year title. Four Winds took home nine awards—including gold for Best Farmhouse/Wild/Brett Ale (Juxtapose), Best Wood-Aged Beer (Norwood) and Best Sour Ale (Nectarous)—while Port Alberni’s Twin City Brewing won seven medals, including the Unsung Hero award for best small market brewery.

So without further ado, here are the full results, as decided by you…

Brewery of the Year

1)Ìý

2)Ìý

3)Ìý

Beer of the Year

1)Ìý – Fat Tug IPA

2)Ìý – Widowmaker IPA

3)Ìý – Dreamboat Hazy IPA

Best West Coast/Specialty India Pale Ale

1) Driftwood Brewery – Fat Tug IPA

2)Ìý – Passive Aggressive

3) Twin City Brewing ­– Run Of The Mill IPA

Best East Coast/Hazy IPA

1)Ìý – Juice Plus

2)Ìý – Juicy Data

3) Parkside Brewery – Humans, an IPA for the People

Best North American-Style ale

1) Twin Sails Brewing – Dat Juice

2)Ìý – Talisman Pale Ale

3) Four Winds Brewing – Velo

Best UK-Style Ale

1) Driftwood Brewery ­– Naughty Hildegard ESB

2)Ìý – Appleton ESB

3)Ìý ­– Working Class Hero Dark Mild

Best Dark Ale

1) Hoyne Brewing – Dark Matter

2) Field House Brewing – Salted Black Porter

3)Ìý – Backhand of God

Best Light/Amber Lager

1)Ìý – Simple Things

2) Four Winds Brewing – Huft Gold

3) Hoyne Brewing – Helios

Best Dark Lager

1) Field House Brewing – Toasted Coconut Black Lager

2) Steel & Oak Brewing – Dark Lager

3)Ìý – Dark Lager

Best Belgian-Style Ale

1)Ìý – Blonde

2) Four Winds Brewing – Triplicity

3) Strange Fellows Brewing – Reynard

Best Farmhouse / Wild / Brett Ale

Four Winds Juxtapose Wild IPA

1) Four Winds Brewing – Juxtapose

2) Field House Brewing – Sauvignon Blanc Wild Farmhouse Ale

3)Ìý – Ferocious Wild IPA

Best Wood-aged Beer

1) Four Winds Brewing – Norwood

2)Ìý – Feu Vert

3)Ìý – Rum Barrel Midnight Train

Best Imperial Ale/Lager

1)Ìý – Hermannator

2)Ìý – Double Infinity (Citra)

3) Driftwood Brewing – Singularity

Best Sour Ale

1) Four Winds Brewing – Nectarous

2) Yellow Dog Brewing – Sour Red Ale

3)Ìý ­– Black Lime Gose

Best Wheat Ale

Would Crush Raspberry Wheat Ale by Twin Sails Brewing. Photo courtesy BC Ale Trail

1) Twin Sails Brewing – Would Crush

2)Ìý – De Witte

3)Ìý – This Is Hefeweizen

Best Fruit Beer

1) Field House Brewing – Dark Sour: Blackberry + Blueberry

2) Île Sauvage Brewing – Raspberry Sour

3) Twin City Brewing – Late Bloomer

Best Collab Beer

1) Yellow Dog/Superflux – Friends With Benefits

2) Yellow Dog/ – Patience is a Virtue

3) Four Winds/Dageraad/ – Ten: VCBW 10th Anniversary Collab

Best Low-Alcohol Beer

1) Field House Brewing – Sour Wheat Gose

2)Ìý – Tricycle Radler

3) Four Winds Brewing – Sour Weisse

Best New Brewery

1) House of Funk Brewing

2) ÃŽle Sauvage Brewing

3)Ìý

Unsung Hero

1) Twin City Brewing (Port Alberni)

2)ÌýÌý(°­±ð±ô´Ç·É²Ô²¹)

T-3)ÌýÌý(²Ï³Ü²¹±ô¾±³¦³Ü³¾)

T-3) Slackwater Brewing (Penticton)

Best Tasting Room

1) Field House Brewing

2) The Parkside Brewery

3)Ìý

Best Food Program

1) Field House Brewing

2) Twin City Brewing

3) Vice & Virtue Brewing Co.

Best Branding / Packaging

1) Driftwood Brewery

2) Field House Brewing

3) Superflux Beer Co.

Best Local Homebrewing Store

1)Ìý

2)Ìý

3)Ìý

Best Craft Beer Bar

1)Ìý

2)Ìý

3)Ìý

Best Craft Beer Retail Store

1)Ìý

2)Ìý

3)Ìý (all locations)

Best Craft Beer Festival / Event

The Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­Craft Beer Week Festival returns to the PNE Fairgrounds June 8 and 9. Photo by Claudia Wyler

1)Ìý

2)Ìý

3)Ìý

Best place to take a Tinder Date

1) Field House Brewing

2) Brassneck Brewery

3)Ìý

Best Board Game Selection

1) Twin City Brewing

2)Ìý

T-3)Ìý

T-3)Ìý

Best Place to Drink in the Afternoon Without Judgement

1) Field House Brewing

2) Twin City Brewing

3)Ìý

Best Brewery to Bring the Kids

1) Field House Brewing

2) The Parkside Brewery

3) Yellow Dog Brewing

Most Dog-Friendly Brewery

1) The Parkside Brewery

2) Yellow Dog Brewing

3) Field House Brewing