Tonight, via internet livestream, the winners of the 2020 Alberta Beer Awards were announced. The big winners were Cabin Brewing and Alley Kat Brewing, but there was plenty of celebration to go around. Forty-eight different breweries won medals, showing an impressive bench strength in the industry, and a scan down the medal lists will find more than a few surprises.

Originally planned as a gala ceremony as part of the Alberta Small Brewers’ Association conference, the event, like most things recently, had to shift to digital format. While the broadcast lacked the atmosphere of a live event, the emcees, Don Tse and Kathe Lemon, kept us entertained in our social distancing.

The big prizes were, as usual, close races. Brewery of the Year was scooped up by Calgary’s Cabin Brewing, who are quickly building a reputation for being haze kings among other styles. They were closely followed by Canmore Brewing and Edmonton newcomer Campio Brewing, who tied for silver.

Best of Show was a mix of old and new. Winning the biggest beer prize of the night was Alley Kat’s longstanding classic Olde Deuteronomy barley wine. Silver was won by Blindman Brewing’s 24-2 Brett Stock Ale. Bronze went to Sunshine Rain by Cabin Brewing.

I was fortunate enough to judge the Best of Show round and I can say the judges went back and forth for a long time around which of these beer should win. It was very hard to decide which deserved the gold.

New Brewery of the Year, open to breweries who opened in 2019 and haven’t entered the competition before, was also a tight race. Odd Company Brewing in Edmonton edged out Lethbridge’s Spectrum Ale Works for the gold, and there was a tie for bronze between Long Hop Brewing (Calgary) and Sheepdog Brewing (Canmore).

I am not going to walk through each of the 29 categories individually. Instead I have drawn up a document that lists every medal winner by category. You can download it below.

Instead, allow me to offer a few observations on the results and what I think it says about the state of Alberta beer.

The ABAs continued their growth with almost 400 entries across 27 categories (and one soda category) from 71 breweries (there was a cap of six entries per brewery). I am told 95 breweries were eligible (i.e., ASBA members). I have mentioned before (here) that I feel like it was the highest quality of entries yet.

The most glaring, and encouraging, observation is the wide distribution of medal winners. Two-thirds of breweries who entered picked up at least one medal. No one won more than four medals (Cabin and Canmore each picked up four), which is one of the reasons the New Brewery and Brewery of the Year races were so tight.

I believe this also speaks to the maturation of the industry. Increased competition and what has been (before the disaster of the last few weeks) a sluggish economy has forced breweries to hone their craft and make sure they are putting out the best possible product.

A scan of the list also points to an encourage mixture of newcomers and long appreciated beer winning. I fully suspect every reader will see a few personal favourites on the list as well as a few they haven’t even tried yet, no matter how determined they are to try all Alberta beer. There are a number I haven’t tried, even after judging for an entire weekend.

I think this year marks the full emergence of the next wave of Alberta breweries to pay attention to. Last year, Cabin Brewing, The Establishment Brewing Company and Campio Brewing – all in their infancy at the time – scored a medal or two. This year they took centre stage, each winning multiple medals and showing something close to dominance in certain areas.

But we would be premature in writing off some of the hardened veterans. Alley Kat didn’t have the multi-medal results this year as in the past two, but it still found away to walk away with Best of Show. I notice that mainstays Brewsters, Grizzly Paw, Village, Tool Shed and others quietly scoop up a medal or two every year, showing their ability to consistently brew quality beer.

It may just be me, but I am re-assured by the fact that every year we see a mixture of repeat victories in some categories – some beer seem to show up on the podium every year – and newcomers that no one saw coming. It gives me confidence about two things. First, that the judging – which is fully blind – is top notch, meaning quality beer rises to the surface. Second, is that the separation between the top handful of beer in a category are quite small. I can speak from personal experience doing the judging that often the decisions between third and fourth were some of the hardest. Someone lost out on a medal, or even the gold medal by the thinnest of hairs.

That is a good sign.

Looking through the results of this and past years has me curious to see if there are some noticeable patterns and trends (I can’t help it, it is the researcher in me). So, I think in the coming days I will do an analysis of the first three years of ABA medals, just to see if anything interesting turns up. I will, of course, share my results with all of you.

In conclusion, while this year lacked the drama and excitement of a live event (at least this year no one fell of the stage), the third iteration of the Alberta Beer Awards make me optimistic about the state of the industry, despite the troubling, difficult times in which we are mired.

It will be a different industry when we emerge, and some of the breweries who competed, and maybe even won, will not be with us at the end. But the Alberta beer industry will survive.

The Alberta Beer Awards will continue to evolve and improve, but we will be there to see that the best the industry has to offer is celebrated.