Three Norfolk County craft breweries garnered recognition at the 2022 Ontario Brewing Awards.
Meuse Brewing Co. near Scotland won a gold medal for the second consecutive year in the strong Belgian category for their Saison de la Meuse.
The brewery also received a bronze medal in the Monastic Ale category for its Extra brand.
“It was really special,” said Estelle van Kleef who, with partner Mischa Geven began their farmhouse-style brewing operation just three years ago. “Winning twice in a row solidifies that it’s a pretty good product.”
The brewing couple have won eight awards to date, including a best of show in 2020 for their Rouge Cuvee.
“We have a little shelf in our space where we’ve put (the awards) up, but we might have to expand that a little,” van Kleef said, adding they were able to open a beer garden on their 25-acre farm , which this year was certified organic.
“The barley that we grow now for the beer is organic, and we’re using that in our different beers,” she noted. “It’s a nice accomplishment to get to. There’s a nice community building up around the brewery.”
Backyard Brewing Company in Simcoe was awarded a bronze medal in the spiced beer category for its Roasted Banana Pepper Ale entry.
Brewing out of Blue Elephant Artisan Brewery on Norfolk Street where the beer is also sold, head brewer John Harris and his wife Barb Rideout have been in operation for just under two years.
“Brewing has been a passion of John’s, so it’s nice to know you’re doing something right,” said Rideout. “He didn’t go to school for it, but essentially learned from a couple of other brewers. We’ve just started brewing our own beer as of June.”
In its first year, Backyard Brewing Company produced 47 different beer recipes.
“The business model and philosophy is that we never try to duplicate the same thing,” Harris noted. “If we do go back to a style we have done before we will change it up and do something different with it.”
As craft beer enthusiasts for many years, Rideout said that while most people have a staple brand they buy most often, having something a bit different makes for a nice change.
“We really focus on small batch one-off’s,” she explained. “We think it’s a niche market that’s up and coming, and we think there are more people out there like us.”
Tyler Ferguson, owner of Wishbone Brewing Company in Waterford, was delighted to have received two honorable mentions – for Celebration 2.0 in the fruit beer category, and Ground Rules in the spiced beer category– at this year’s Ontario Brewing Awards.
“When you get recognition, especially two years in a row, it shows consistency which is really nice,” he said. “It shows that we keep our processes the way we want them, and with a focus on quality, we get good results.”
Celebration 2.0, a guava gose semi-sour and tart salty beer was brewed at Wishbone in collaboration with Concession Road Brewing.
“It was nice to do recipe development together,” Ferguson explained. “That beer is bright pink, fun-looking, and very tasty. There’s tons of fruit in it so we thought it would match nicely in that category.”
Ground Rules is a coffee vanilla stout using Tahitian vanilla beans with coffee from Seventh Coffee Company in Brantford.
“We brought Ground Rules to a couple of beer festivals this summer and the response was great,” he said. “It was kind of a no-brainer to submit that beer and see what happens.”
The competition is open to all Canadian-owned commercial breweries whose brands are produced and packaged in Ontario.
The 2022 Ontario Brewing Awards competition attracted more than 500 entries in 38 categories, from over 100 Ontario-based craft breweries. Winners were announced on Nov. 18.