The Rossland Beer Company has once again impressed the province’s premiere beer palates with its creativity and inspiration.
The Rossland Beer Company took home second-place honours for its Spruce Tip IPA entry in the Specialty IPA category at this year’s BC Beer Awards.
The first awards show since 2019 celebrated the best beers brewed in B.C. at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver on Saturday, Nov. 5,
In all, 120 breweries participated in the awards, which featured 31 categories and a total of 977 entries.
Rossland Beer Co. head brewer and co-owner Ryan Arnaud was the mastermind behind the Spruce Tip IPA, made with the actual tips from spruce trees, with assistant brewer Brad Brown helping in the brewing process.
“This was a seasonal beer that we hope to bring back yearly, if possible,” said Arnaud. “We were lucky enough to have a very good friend Dale Hunt from Invermere hand pick the spruce tips and deliver them to us.”
A total of 44 judges sipped through the suds over several days in late September and early October determining the top three brews in each category and an occasional honourable mention.
“We feel super lucky and appreciative to win an award from the BC Beer Awards because the standard has become so incredibly high. We knew we had something special with all of the great feedback from so many amazing customers.”
Courtenay’s Gladstone Brewing Company was the big winner of the night, taking home the Brewery of the Year award along with an impressive haul of four gold awards and one silver for its individual beers.
More than 60 breweries won at least one award, a significant sign of the broad distribution of the individual beer awards, as well as the diversity and depth of quality in beer brewed in cities like Rossland and across the province.
“We are crazy lucky to have such amazing customers who appreciate good beer, but seeing the consistency in how Ryan pumps out high quality beer each week is remarkable,” said RBC CEO and co-owner Petri Raito. “It’s all part of this crazy insane ride, that with our beautiful team and wicked community make this whole dream a reality.”
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