Niagara College the only regional brewery to win a 2023 Canadian Brewing Awards medal

Way back when we created a Top-5 Craft Breweries In Niagara Region list last September, we knew there was going to be some backlash.

With 30 breweries in the Niagara Region now, everyone has their favourites so we got a lot of “How can you include X Brewery but not Y Brewery?”

The reason is simply only five spots. But the one we got the most grief over was our placement of Niagara College Teaching Brewery on the list – the very place on the Niagara-on-the-Lake campus where young wannabe brewers learn how to create the suds from old pros.

Well, when the Canadian Brewing Awards were held June 1 to 3 in Halifax, only one Niagara brewery scored a medal and yes, it was awarded to Niagara College Teaching Brewery.

The teaching brewery’s Beer 101 – Strong Ale won bronze in the Irish and Scotch Ale category and it’s not the beer’s first accolade.

Beer 101 Strong has won silver (2018) and bronze (2019) at the Canadian Brewing Awards; as well as gold (2016) and silver (2019 and 2020) from the Ontario Brewing Awards.

At the U.S. Open Beer Championship, it has won gold (2018 and 2021), silver (2020), and bronze (2019, 2017, 2016 and 2014 – the latter for its bottled version, Brewmaster Strong). As Strong Ale, it also won a silver in 2015 at the Dublin Cup.

The inaugural Canada Beer Cup held in October 2022 saw the Beer 101 Strong won gold in the English Style Old Ale/ Scottish Style Wee Heavy/ Scotch Ale category, and Beer 101 Bock won gold in the Bock category.

At that time, Brewmaster Professor Jon Downing said, “As this was the first time this Canadian competition – using a panel of both national and international judges – was held, it was great to have two of our student-brewed beers be awarded gold medals.”

“The fact that both Beer 101 Bock and Beer 101 Strong have previously won golds in other national and international competitions highlights the consistency and quality of the brewing education that our students are receiving when the same brews win when brewed by different people – something that all students and graduates can be proud of.”