In normal times, when my day job wasn’t consuming all my writing energy, I would have posted a few times about the first ever Prairie Beer Awards. I would have talked about them before the competition, shared my experiences as a judge, and, obviously, posted about the results. But my last year hasn’t been normal. I won’t get into why, but just trust I would have posted if I could. Judging took place in May and the awards were announced in June.

So, I am late to the game on the Prairie Beer Awards. But it is significant enough for beer on the prairies that I feel the need to offer at least a short missive on how they went, even if I am late. So here goes.

For the uninitiated the Prairie Beer Awards were created late 2021 as the first serious beer competition for Saskatchewan and Manitoba breweries. It was actually born at the 2021 Alberta Beer Awards where myself and Owen Kirkaldy (as the co-founders of the Alberta awards) talked Winnipeg-based beer judge Dave Cole into starting a competition for the two prairie provinces not named Alberta.

Not only did he take us up on the idea, he grabbed it by both hands and created something not seen in this part of the world before. I didn’t know it at the time but Cole is a VERY driven and high energy guy. He single handedly (literally – it was all him) created the most impressive awards debut I have ever seen.

First, he assembled the most impressive roster of judges I have seen for a competition in Canada. Four Master-level BJCP judges (including me) among some of the most experienced beer judges in the country. Second, he made sure that the judging experience was positive. Cole organized evening events, including a brewery crawl after the judging was complete, to keep us together and entertained. I learned how to sabre a beer on one of the crawls, so that was cool (opening a bottle with a sharp blade by sliding up the neck). Third, he built in a number of BJCP exams in and around the judging, which both maximized the use of judges and gave both locals and judges opportunity to write exams (which can be hard to schedule). An impressive organizing feat, in particular because it was achieved mostly by one person.

More importantly the competition provided insight into where the beer industry is at in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. There were a couple hundred entries, which is good for a first go-round. From my personal experience and talking with other judges, I come to the conclusion that there is excellent, world-class beer being made in the region. There is also a lot of middling beer – well made but not inspirational. There were also examples of beer with noticeable flaws. They were in the minority but clearly present. You can see the list of medal winners here.

The big winners include Rebellion Brewing (4 medals plus gold and silver Best of Show), Little Brown Jug (5 medals plus bronze Best of Show), Black Bridge Brewing (5), Churchill Brewing (4), Great Western Brewing (4), Torque Brewing (4) and Low Life Brewing (4).

What this says to me is that these provinces have a young industry. Both provinces have relatively few breweries (25 in Saskatchewan, 20 in Manitoba). Most are small and many located in small towns. Most are quite young – less than 5 years old. In both provinces locally made beer has not yet taken root and where it has is mostly the larger cities. Internal competition has not yet taken root, which is something needed to push quality upward.

The first Prairie Beer Awards reminds me of the first Alberta Beer Awards. Some amazing stuff, mostly decent but unremarkable beer and a not insignificant number of beer with flaws. Over the last few years the latter category (flaws) has dropped away dramatically. The middle group is mostly a factor of where consumers are at and not a statement about the quality of the brewery.

Impressively 28 different breweries won awards (I am excluding the cider, mead and other beverages categories), with 17 winning more than one. Overall the medal distribution was fairly even, with no one winning more than 5 category medals. This is a good sign. Now, some of the categories had few entries, but every competition has that issue.

What this tells me is that there is a lot more going on in Saskatchewan and Manitoba than people realize. They are making great beer out there. Yes, not all of it meets the standard of excellence. So you do have to be somewhat selective in your choices. But this is also just a sign of an industry in its early stages. Alberta was there a few years ago, and we can already see the difference more competition makes here.

Thank goodness for the Prairie Beer Awards. Someone needed to create an event to showcase the best of prairie beer (not named Alberta). So, therefore, thank goodness for Dave Cole.