Ontario Craft Brewing Awards gala = awesome

Before Christmas, the Toronto Festival of Beer had some package deals for sale, and one of them included tickets to the festival, a subscription to Taps magazine, and tickets to the Ontario Craft Brewing Awards gala. I got this deal for Jeff because I thought it sounded like a neat experience.

I think Jeff was a little uncertain about the gala part, thinking it would be a formal sit down and we might feel out of place.

Thankfully, it wasn't like that at all.

We arrived at the Gladstone Hotel on April 30 and for Jeff, it was a bit like being at a rock concert. Except in this case, the brewers were the rockers and they were getting a drink at one of the four stations just as we were. Jeff (who may be a tad embarrassed I'm saying this) was a bit starstruck. He'd point people out he'd met during one of his stops at a brewery and I'd say, "Go say hi." He'd shake his head - he couldn't do that.

(If you're a fan of the TV show Parks and Recreation, there is one episode that centers around Ron Swanson going to an awards gala for woodworking. In it, Ron is downright giddy when he sees a man known for perfecting a certain technique, and when his girlfriend suggests he should go talk to the guy, Ron says he couldn't dream of it because the man must get bothered all the time. Then there's a shot of the man, standing alone, drinking a coffee. I felt like Jeff was a bit like Ron Swanson that night.)

Anyway, Jeff and I enjoyed three hours of beer samples, people watching and, eventually, Jeff worked up a little nerve (with the help of liquid courage) to talk to a few brewers. The food, in my mind, was OK, but not spectacular (there was a mystery meat lollipop at one station that may have been chicken?), but thankfully, no one was really there for the food.

The guys from Nickel Brook.

We got to see George from F&M Brewery here in Guelph take home a few awards (they're jumping on the Bandwagon, by the way, and are releasing an IPA finally). The hometown Wellington crew was also on hand.

Along with others in the crowd, we were a bit shocked that Labatt's Shock Top won in the Belgian Style Wheat Beer category.

It was also fun to see breweries we had never heard of before: Get Well, gluten-free brewer Snowman, and Big Rig.

This event turned out to be a lot of fun and I'd suggest any fans of craft beer in Ontario who can make it into Toronto midweek should consider going next year. It's a great event for people who just love beer.

And one observation Jeff made while we were there stuck out in my mind: There are so many awards galas where people are in competition with each other and view each other as the enemy. Not brewers. Jeff said instead, brewers are like musicians who just want to jam in each others' basements. They work together on collaborative beers and congratulate each other on wins. That was the most amazing thing to see - nearly everyone had this attitude that they are all friends with a similar passion: To brew amazing beer.

**Sorry this took me so long to post - had to take the laptop into the shop.