Brewers in British Columbia took some time off to celebrate their craft on Friday evening at the B.C. Beer Awards, even as continuing uncertainty clouds the industry.The annual awards and beer festival took place for the second year at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, closing out the B.C. Craft Brewers Conference.Taking home the marquee awards this year were Smithers Brewing Company, which won best in show for its Smithersbräu Festbier, and Camp Beer Co. in Langley, which was named brewery of the year after being awarded one gold and four silver medals for its beers.Paul Hadfield, who co-founded the pioneering Spinnakers brewpub in Victoria in 1984, was given the legend award, while the Rookie of the Year award went to Checkerhead Brewing in the small Vancouver Island community of Shirley.Winning multiple awards for their beer were Penticton-based Tin Whistle Brewing (two gold, one silver, two bronze), Burnaby’s Dageraad Brewing (two gold, one silver, one bronze), Smithers Brewing (two gold, one bronze) and Phillips Brewing in Victoria (one gold, two bronze).A total of 883 beers were judged for the 2025 awards. (B.C. Beer Awards)Storm brewing since COVIDA total of 883 beers were judged across 30 style categories for the awards, which first took place in 2010, as the province’s craft beer scene began to boom.The industry has fallen on hard times since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, with high inflation, supply-chain issues and rising costs for everything from equipment to ingredients and rent causing some of the province’s 200-plus breweries to curtail operations or close completely.”It has been chaos since COVID … we’ve never recovered,” said Ken Beattie, executive director of the B.C. Craft Brewers Guild, who also cited factors like the war in the grain-growing hub of Ukraine, U.S. tariffs, and climate-related events like wildfires and the 2021 floods in southern B.C.The most recent challenge is the ongoing job action by the B.C. Government Employees’ Union, with government liquor stores currently closed and beer deliveries stalled. Bigger independent breweries who rely on the government system for deliveries are now scrambling to deliver their product themselves, while pallets of their beer remain behind picket lines in Liquor Distribution Branch warehouses, Beattie says.He estimates these bigger craft breweries are currently losing on average 50-60 per cent of their sales every day.The job action is “exposing issues around how beer is sold and distributed in this province,” he said. “It really exposes how fragile the industry is. It shows how only a few people control the supply chain.”But Beattie still has room for optimism, with Friday’s awards an important opportunity to celebrate what’s great about the province’s craft beer industry and community.His hope is that attendees will be inspired to visit their local breweries while government liquor stores remain closed.”It’s the beer business — we’ve got to be optimistic,” he said.Awards trophies for the 2024 B.C. Beer Awards (B.C. Beer Awards)Here’s the complete list of winners of the 2025 B.C. Beer Awards:International LagerGold Tin Whistle Brewing — Black Widow Silver Yellow Dog Brewing — El Perro Cerveza Clara Bronze Hoyne Brewing — Por Favor Cerveza Pale Malty European Lager Gold Smithers Brewing — Smithersbräu Festbier Silver Bomber Brewing — Oktoberfest Munich lager Bronze Trading Post Brewing — Helles LagerPale Bitter European Beer Gold Hoyne Brewing — North Star Light Lager Silver The Beer Farmers — Kolsch Bronze Slackwater Brewing — Headwaters PilsnerCzech Lager Gold Four Winds Beach House — Antithesis Silver Gladstsone Brewing — Gladstone Pilsner Bronze Kelowna Beer Institute — PilsnerGerman Pils Gold Parallel 49 Brewing Bierfest — German PilsnerSilver Four Winds Brewing — Huftgold PilsnerBronze Slow Hand Beer Co. — Mediterranean Pilsner American Light Lager Gold Red Truck Brewing — Red Truck Lite Lager Silver Camp Beer Co. — Camp Light Bronze Neighbourhood Brewing — Amigos Crisp LagerGerman Wheat Beer Gold Brassneck Brewing — UmlautSilver Shaketown Brewing — Banana Brown Bronze Mariner Brewing — HefeweizenAmber and Dark British Beer Gold Mountainview Brewing — Serpent’s Back Carribean StoutSilver Camp Beer Co. — S’mores Milk Stout Bronze Whitetooth Brewing — Dogtooth Rover RedAmber and Dark European Beer Gold Sherwood Mountain Brew House — Munich LagerSilver Vancouver Island Brewing — Hermann’s Dark Lager Bronze Mile Zero Brewing — Porter Pale Commonwealth Beer Gold Off The Rail Brewing — Kama Citra Silver Russell Brewing — A Wee Scotch Ale Bronze Copper Brewing — House IPA American Pale AleGold Vancouver Island Brewing — Mystic Haze Pale Ale Silver Beach Fire Brewing — High Tide Pale Bronze Wildeye Brewing — Ramble on Pale Ale American IPA Gold Smithers Brewing Co. — Hipster Fuel IPA Silver Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Co. — Jagged Face IPA Bronze Steel & Oak Brewing Co. — The Breaks Hazy IPA Gold Fern & Cedar — Organized Chaos Silver Boombox Brewing — Juicy AF Bronze Fern & Cedar Brewing — Stick Together NEIPA Specialty IPA Gold Beere Brewing — Okay, Bye Silver Driftwood Brewery — Naughty Hildegard Bronze Beach Fire Brewing — White IPA Standard American Beer Gold Slackwater Brewing — Lo-Tide Light Lager Silver Dageraad Brewing — Dart Lager Bronze Tin Whistle Brewing — Coyote Lager Strong American Ale Gold Beva Brewing + Blending — Triple Denim Silver Camp Beer Co. — Merchants Of Barley Bronze Streetcar Brewing — Double West Coast IPA American Amber and Brown Beer Gold Deadfall Brewing — Basal Brown Ale Silver Gladstone Brewing — Gladstone Red Ale Bronze Bayview Brewing — Cowichan Valley Common American Porter and Stout Gold Camp Beer Co. — Barrel Aged Flannel Pyjamas 2025 Silver Herald Street Brew Works — Archfiend Bronze Abandoned Rail Brewing Co. — Bellhop Porter Specialty and Historical BeerGold Tin Whistle Brewing — Cherry Blossom Japanese Lager Silver No Brainer — Brassneck Brewing Bronze Smithers Brewing — Let’s Get Ready to CrumbleMixed Style Beer Gold Superflux Beer Co. — FOMSilver Patina Brewing — Italian Pilsner Bronze Tin Whistle Brewing — Real Good Light Beer Alternative Fermentables Beer Gold Abandoned Rail — Gluten Schmuten Gluten Free Citrus Pale Ale Silver Camp Beer Co. — Tequila Sunrise Bronze Whistler Brewing — Whistler Forager Grapefruit Ale Non Alcoholic Gold Steamworks Brewing Co. — Non-Alcoholic Lions Gate Lager Silver Strange Fellows Brewing — Nevertheless IPABronze Central City Brewery — Street Legal Pilsner Specialty and Spice/Fruit Beer Gold Twin City Brewing — Vanishing Act Silver Land & Sea Brewing Co. — Sunset Gose Bronze The Office Brewery — Circle Back Raspberry Porter Fruit Beer Gold Phillips Brewing + Malting Co. — Dinosour Dragonfruit Lychee Silver Deadfall Brewing — Cherry Porter Bronze Phillips Brewing & Malting — Dinosour Passionfruit Orange GuavaSpiced Beer Gold Category 12 Brewing — Spruce Tip IPASilver Tin Whistle Brewing — Glorious Hazelnut Coffee Milk Stout Bronze Phillips Brewing & Malting — Crooked Tooth Nitro Wood Beer Gold Mountainview Brewing Co. — Barrel-Aged Serpent’s Back Silver The Patch Brewery — 1879: The Patch Pilsner Bronze Rustic Reel Brewing Co. — Barrel-aged Whiskey Stout Belgian Ale Gold Dageraad Brewing — Field Theory Silver Driftwood Brewery — White Bark Bronze R&B Brewing — Picnic Table Beer Belgian Strong AleGold Dageraad Brewing — Blonde Silver KPU Brewing — Dubbel Date Bronze Dageraad Brewing — Antigoon European Sour Ale Gold Copper Brewing — Oud Bruin Silver 33 Acres — Mezcal Lime Gose Bronze Ile Sauvage Brewing Co. — Pinot Sour American Wild AleGold Whistle Buoy Brewing — Fuzzy Peach Silver Beva Brewing & Blending — Sprezza Bronze Sooke Brewing Co. — Saison BrettBEST IN SHOW Smithers Brewing Company — Smithersbräu FestbierBREWERY OF THE YEARCamp Beer Co. LEGEND AWARDPaul Hadfield, Spinnakers ROOKIE OF THE YEARCheckerhead Brewing
These are the best beers in B.C., according to the 2025 B.C. Beer Awards
