Port Alberni’s Twin City Brewing has been named Brewery of the Year at the BC Beer Awards.
The brewery picked up four awards in total at the event, which took place in Vancouver on Saturday, Oct. 21. Twin City won first place in the Hoppy UK Ale category for their beer Tickity Boo, second place in the Specialty Fruit Beer category for Out On A Limb and first place in the Belgian Ale category for Nocturne, as well as Brewery of the Year.
Twin City owner Aaron Colyn said the Brewery of the Year award is based on how their beers scored at the awards and how many they submitted.
“It came totally out of the blue,” he admitted. “This year was just a big shock for us.”
Twin City has been entering the BC Beer Awards every year since they opened in 2017—the year they won Rookie Brewery of the Year—and they have picked up plenty of medals along the way, but this is their first time winning Brewery of the Year. It’s especially impressive for a brewery that had to pivot their beer-making plans over the summer due to a wildfire along Highway 4, flying in some supplies from Cumberland Brewing Company to get around the road closures.
READ MORE: Twin City Brewing able to continue making beer despite Highway 4 closure
Colyn explained that the closures ended up having a silver lining for the brewery, because it allowed the brewers to take a “deep dive” into their beers.
“We took advantage of [the road closure] and dove into our recipes,” he explained. “By the end of the summer we had a really good collection of beers to submit. That’s what paid off for us.”
Colyn said the brewery’s goal has always been to create a variety of beers for the community, providing a “good representation” of craft beer for the Alberni Valley.
“Making it onto the podium was a vote of confidence for us,” said Colyn. “We’re even more excited and more passionate about what we make.”
Vancouver Island as a whole was well-represented at the BC Beer Awards this year, with more than a dozen breweries from Victoria all the way up to Courtenay picking up hardware.
The BC Beer Awards weren’t the only wins for Twin City Brewing last month, as they also picked up some awards at the Canada Beer Cup on Oct. 25, earning gold for Big Yikes in the Double IPA category and silver in the Belgian Dark Strong for Nocturne.
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