Mt. Begbie Brewing is one of the older members of the Canadian craft brewing industry. When Bart & Tracey Larson started the brewery in Revelstoke in 1996, there was only a small number of breweries in the province, and even less that could be considered craft brewers.
Over the years, they’ve won many awards for their beer. On Saturday, they won the big one — Brewer of the Year at the Canadian Brewing Awards – beating out 650 breweries for the title.
“I think we were all a little surprised and really happy,” said Bart Larson. “We’ve been around for 20 years. I think it’s in part recognition for a job well done.”
The brewery won gold medals for its High Country Kolsch and Cream Ale, and a bronze for its Brave Liver Scotch Ale.
Larson said the fact they won gold medals for their lighter beers was a testament to their brewing process.
“I guess we’re most impressed that the Kolsch and Cream Ale, our lighter beers, won golds in those categories just because we work so hard to produce quality products,” he said. “It’s a well known thing in the brewing industry is you taste a brewery’s light beers to know how good their process is.”
James Bell
James Bell, the companies head brewer was the only member of the team in Ottawa for the awards. The rest of the staff watched a live stream of the awards from Bart & Tracy’s home.
“Brewery of the Year blew our minds,” said marketing manager Darryn Shewchuk.
The award comes after a long couple of years for the brewery as they built a new and expanded facility in Johnson Heights. The new brewery nearly doubles their capacity.
Larson hopes the win will expand Mt. Begbie’s recognition. He said he regularly encounters people who have never heard of his company, despite being around for 21 years. He especially hopes it makes it easier to get their beer on the shelves in liquor stores.
“It’s now because there’s so many beers in the market place, it’s becoming a struggle to get a product listed,” he said. “Hopefully this will help a little with that, give us recognition in the eyes of the authorities that we should give these guys their listings and carry their products in more stores.”
With the new brewery open, Larson said the focus will be to continue to sell their main products – Tall Timber, Kolsch and Nasty Habit – while also expanding seasonal offerings and special series like the new heritage beers. He’s also considering installing a small brewing system to create experimental beers in small batches.
“I think we want to do more of the same and give people even more reason to try local beers,” he said. “There’s almost no reason to try anything else because we will do the variety.”
