Best BC Beer, Breweries and Events

The Best BC Craft Breweries, Beer and Events – As Voted By You!

Best BC Beer, Breweries and Events

Your Votes Count! The Best in BC Craft Breweries, Beer and Events for 2014.

2014 Beer Me BC Craft Beer Survey Results Part 3

 

In this year’s Beer Me BC Craft Beer Survey we asked for your opinion on the best beers, breweries and events in British Columbia. With more than 1500 respondents the results took some time to calculate but the final tabulations are in. You may notice some oddities in categorization such as a Winter Seasonal Beer having been released in the summer. These results were not filtered and have been published as voted on by survey respondents. The only category that has been edited is ‘Best New BC Craft Brewery’. In this category all breweries which opened prior to November 1, 2013 were eliminated from contention.

 

Here are the results of this year’s survey and the People’s Choice for craft beer in BC for the year of 2014.

 

 

Great Canadian Beer Festival Best BC Craft Beer Event

1. Great Canadian Beer Festival
2. Vancouver Craft Beer Week
3. BC Craft Beer Awards
4. Okanagan Fest Of Ale
5. Hopscotch

Driftwood Brewery Fat Tug IPA ReviewMost Frequently Consumed BC Craft Beer

1. Driftwood Fat Tug IPA
2. Phillips Blue Buck Amber Ale
3. Red Racer IPA
4. Phillips Bottle Rocket ISA
5. Hoyne Dark Matter
6. Parallel 49 Gypsy Tears Ruby Ale
7. Lighthouse Switchback IPA (A.K.A. Shipwreck IPA)
8. Hoyne Hoyner Pilsner
9. Brassneck Passive Aggressive IPA
10. Bridge Brewing North Shore Pale Ale

Howe Sound King Heffy Imperial HefeweizenBest Summer Seasonal BC Craft Beer

1. Howe Sound King Heffy Imperial Hefeweizen
2. Hoyne Summer Haze Honey Hefeweizen
3. Whistler Paradise Valley Grapefruit Ale
4. Red Racer ISA
5. Parallel 49 Tricycle Grapefruit Radler
6. Parallel 49 Seedspitter Watermelon Witbier
7. Phillips Raspberry Wheat Ale
8. Vancouver Island Beachcomber Summer Ale
9. Phillips Electric Unicorn White IPA
10. Driftwood White Bark Witbier

Granville Island Lions Winter AleBest Winter Seasonal BC Craft Beer

1. Granville Island Lions Winter Ale
2. Driftwood Sartori Harvest Fresh Hop IPA
3. Vancouver Island Hermannator Ice Bock
4. Howe Sound Pumpkin Eater Imperial Pumpkin Ale
5. Driftwood Singularity Russian Imperial Stout
6. Whistler Valley Trail Chestnut Ale
7. Howe Sound Father John’s Winter Ale
8. Tree Vertical Winter Ale
9. Parallel 49 Salty Scot Scotch Ale
10. Parallel 49 Ugly Sweater Milk Stout

Driftwood Brewery Fat Tug IPA Review

Best BC Craft Beer

1. Driftwood Fat Tug IPA
2. Crannog Back Hand of God Stout
3. Four Winds Juxtapose Brett IPA
4. Hoyne Dark Matter
5. Red Racer IPA
6. Phillips Blue Buck Amber Ale
7. Driftwood Sartori Harvest IPA
8. Phillips Longboat Chocolate Stout
9. Parallel 49 Gypsy Tears Ruby Ale
10. Driftwood Naughty Hildegaard ESB

Steel & Oak Brewery's Jorden FossBest New BC Craft Brewery (Opened in past 12 months)

1. Steel & Oak
2. Bomber
3. Dageraad
4. Yellow Dog
5. Barkerville

VCBW Driftwood BreweryBC Brewery Which Brews the Best Craft Beer

1. Driftwood
2. Phillips
3. Parallel 49
4. Four Winds
5. Hoyne
6. Central City
7. Brassneck
8. Howe Sound
9. Crannog
10. Townsite

Phillips Brewery - Victoria BCBest BC Brewery Overall

1. Phillips
2. Brassneck
3. Parallel 49
4. Driftwood
5. Central City
6. Four Winds
7. Moon Under Water
8. Persephone
9. 33 Acres
10. Hoyne

 

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with the results?

Tags: awards, survey

About Author

Dustan Sept

Dustan Sept is the founder of Beer Me BC. His passion for craft beer drove the creation of beermebc.com in 2012. To learn more about the beermebc.com editorial team visit beermebc.com/the-beer-me-bc-team/.

Comments

  1. mikescraftbeer
    mikescraftbeer 28 December, 2014, 12:50

    It’s a fun exercise for sure. I disagree personally with a large majority of it but that is to be expected. Tastes are wildly different person to person. I will agree on the best new breweries though. Congrats to Steel & Oak for best new brewery!

    Reply this comment
    • dustansept
      dustansept Author 28 December, 2014, 12:53

      Agreed, Preferences vary greatly. There are some expected and unexpected results in the list but overall a very interesting mix.

      Reply this comment
  2. The Trends of BC Craft Beer Drinkers – Comparing 2013 and 2014 Consumer Preferences | Beer Me British Columbia 28 December, 2014, 13:12

    […] View the Top Breweries, Beer and Events Article Here […]

    Reply this comment
  3. beerscout
    beerscout 28 December, 2014, 13:26

    The results are interesting and show the wide audience that this site draws! As a certified beer nerd, I am surprised to see Phillips doing so well because I haven’t been impressed by much from them for a long time. Bomber beating Yellow Dog makes no sense, except that most probably haven’t been able to try YD’s wares yet. GI Winter Ale is geared towards the casual drinker and thus a bit surprising to see at the top.

    My whole-hearted support for Brassneck, Four Winds, Steel & Oak, and Yellow Dog, and glad to see them at least on the board!

    Reply this comment
    • mikescraftbeer
      mikescraftbeer 28 December, 2014, 13:29

      Looking at the results makes me think that these results have been swayed by the average craft beer beginner not the beer nerd. Just my observation.

      Reply this comment
    • dustansept
      dustansept Author 28 December, 2014, 14:26

      The ‘Beer Nerds” out there will likely contest many of these results but you can not overlook the more mainstream options. This is where the quantity of beer is sold and any shift in this represents an overall trend. The Granville Island Winter Ale is a favourite for many and is often a gateway to other big winter beers.

      Thanks mikescraftbeer and beerscout for the comments.

      Reply this comment
  4. beer gal
    beer gal 28 December, 2014, 18:49

    Happy to see Hoyne and Four Winds getting lots of recognition! And of course it’s wonderful to see that Fat Tug is holding strong as a favourite in BC. Thanks for putting together this survey, Beerme BC!

    Reply this comment
  5. beerwithoutborders
    beerwithoutborders 30 December, 2014, 12:57

    What’s that called — a “grandfather clause?” While I’m sure the inclusion of Lions Winter Ale leaves a bad taste in some beer nerds’ mouth, it still tastes like winter to me and has since long before Molson got involved.
    Fret not about the placings of your various favourites, instead marvel at the bountiful array brewed in B.C.

    Reply this comment
  6. beerlover
    beerlover 30 December, 2014, 14:38

    Wow, Bomber #2, really? Is this a list of the worst or the best?

    Reply this comment
    • beerlover
      beerlover 30 December, 2014, 14:41

      And GIB Winter beat Singularity. I don’t want to live on this planet anymore. I hope this survey doesn’t influence any brewery decisions. Go S&O, Yellow Dog and Dageraad! Keep being awesome and ignore this stupid thing.

      Reply this comment
  7. ilikebeermore
    ilikebeermore 30 December, 2014, 14:55

    why is GIB even considered “craft” beer? I feel like if you sell out to the big boys you should have your status revoked

    Reply this comment
    • beerlover
      beerlover 30 December, 2014, 14:59

      And why isn’t Shock Top on this list. If Molson can make “craft”, Anheuser-Busch can too, amiright?

      Reply this comment
  8. dustansept
    dustansept Author 30 December, 2014, 15:43

    The conversation is great here Ilikebeermore and Beerlover. Your opinions are great but these are the results as craft beer drinkers in BC voted. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but this is an amalgamation of 1500 different people’s thoughts on the matter.

    We are all different and have different tastes. Let’s give it another year and see how things shape up then!

    Reply this comment
    • ilikebeermore
      ilikebeermore 30 December, 2014, 17:02

      I completely agree that everyone has a right to an opinion, even if it is wrong ;)

      My comment around GIB not being a “craft” beer is based on the definition of such. Small, Independent, Traditional. At what point does a Molson owned, large scale operation cease to be considered craft?

      Reply this comment
      • mikescraftbeer
        mikescraftbeer 30 December, 2014, 18:01

        Hey ilikebeermore i personally only consider the Bombers made by Granville Island Brewery craft as they are crafted on the island in false creek. Don’t forget size is probably not a good measurement though as look at American craft such as New Belgium Brewing, Stone Brewing, Sierra Nevada to name a few. They are all huge but independent and also awesome. Look at Brewdog in Scotland it is massive with bars all over the world now but is owned by the people that work there and fans that buy in the “equity for punks” deal. I think the definition has to fall more into the ingredients used and their quality first. Next places like Granville Island, Goose Island, Boulevard Brewing and the likes that were purchased by Molson or AB-Imbev have roots in quality craft while things like shock top are low quality shadow brands created by Macro Companies trying to dupe people into thinking it’s craft.

        Reply this comment
        • ilikebeermore
          ilikebeermore 31 December, 2014, 09:02

          I’m sure John Molson and John Labatt once made what we would consider “craft” beer. How far back does this grandfather clause go?

          Granville Island has been around 30 years and have changed dramatically. If you look at Storm for instance, who’ve been around 20 years, they still hold true to the nature of craft beer brewing

          Reply this comment
  9. 2014 Beerdies at Barley Mowat 1 January, 2015, 12:25

    […] Run a poll on your blog for a few weeks and you’ll wind up handing Granville Island Brewing a Gold Medal for the liquid vanilla-in-a-bottle what is Lions Winter Ale. This is proof that democracy just […]

    Reply this comment

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