An award-winning Burnaby brewery has taken home yet another major win this month.
Dageraad Brewing has won Brewery of the Year at the 2018 Canadian Brewing Awards, Canada’s national competition for Canadian-manufactured beer. The brewery won three gold medals for their Belgian-style craft beer in a blind tasting competition where judges choose the best beers in 55 style categories from across the country.
Photo courtesy Dageraad
The company also won 10 medals over the last two years at the annual B.C. Brewing Awards, five in 2017, and five in 2016.
All this recognition in both the provincial and national competitions has been very satisfying to owner Ben Coli.
“It’s a long process setting up a business like this; there’s a lot of moments of self-doubt,” he told the NOW. “After this long road, to get this kind of recognition on a national level, it’s incredible.”
Coli attributes his success to their willingness to go forward with something different – the brewery specializes in a niche Belgian-style beer – and to hone in on perfecting his craft, almost obsessively.
“I think it’s nerdery and passion,” he laughed. “Just being obsessed with the details and focusing and keeping good notes and re-iteration, just doing it again and again and again until it’s right.
“You have to love the beers to be able to do this, to pay that kind of minute attention to a beer.”
Dageraad Brewing won gold medals at the Canadian Brewing Awards for Entropy Series No. 6 in the Belgian-Style Brett Beer category, Antwerpen in the Belgian-Style Tripel category, and the Burnabarian in the Belgian Style Abbey Ale/Pale Ale category.
The Burnabarian, a “silly word” Coli says he made up, is lighter, but still complex and lightly spiced. It’s a beer he drinks the most after a long day of work.
The Antwerpen is a Belgian-style tripel, a blonde beer that is high in alcohol, with complex, layered flavours, including floral notes, spicy notes, fruity notes.
The third beer, Entropy Series No. 6, is limited series barrel-aged beers with only 20 cases, now sold out.
