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Barkerville Brewing beers among best in B.C.

AleFest tickets went on sale just as the province was learning about the gold that glitters in northern B.C.'s fizzing craft beer industry. Barkerville Brewing Company took home some heavy hardware at this year's B.C. Beer Awards held Saturday night.
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AleFest tickets went on sale just as the province was learning about the gold that glitters in northern B.C.'s fizzing craft beer industry.

Barkerville Brewing Company took home some heavy hardware at this year's B.C. Beer Awards held Saturday night. They won three awards, two of them first place honours.

The Quesnel-based upstart beer haven took top prize with their Demimondaine Dunkelweizen flavour, winning in the prestigious and heavily contested German Wheat Beer category.

Another first place came their way for their 52 Foot Stout brand in the British Stout category.

In the Belgian Ale category they took home the bronze medal with their White Gold Witbier.

In all, more than 750 beers were entered by 83 different B.C. breweries in 30 categories.

"Indeed, the BeerMeBC blog ranked Barkerville's winning haul as (eigth) best overall when comparing how the B.C. breweries stacked up," said a statement issued following the big event in Vancouver.

The biggest brewery winners of the night were Burnaby's Dageraad (three gold, one silver, one bronze, one honourable mention), Steamworks Brewing Company of Vancouver (three gold, one bronze and the overall Best In Show for their Flagship IPA), Nelson Brewing, 33 Acres Brewing Company of Vancouver, and Central City Brewers + Distillers of Surrey.

Barkerville Brewing was the only suds factory in the northern B.C. region to bring home any of the awards. A large array of those companies will be in person at Kiwanis AleFest, this coming January. The area has a quickly rising number of small-batch breweries, including Crossroads Brewing Company currently under construction on historic George Street, the aforementioned Barkerville factory in Quesnel, Three Ranges Brewing Company down the highway a short bit in Valemount, and Wheelhouse Brewing in Prince Rupert.

Terrace has microbrewer Sherwood Mountain Brewhouse, plus Skeena Brewing Company in its early stages.

Prince George knows better than any northern city how advantageous it is for beer fans to have their own local brewery. The oldest craft brewery in the province is now the biggest one in B.C., the 1957-born Pacific Western Brewery, now with its Cariboo and Scandal subcompanies. There are other startup local brewing operations as well, such as Pulp City Brewing and efforts by the owners of Caribou Brew Masters.

"People really enjoy the opportunity to sample in one place such a variety of small-batch, hand crafted beers from across B.C., including our own northern B.C. breweries," said Amy Dhanjal, one of the Kiwanis AleFest organizers. The event happens Jan. 27-28 at Two Rivers Gallery. Ticket information is available at www.kiwanisalefest.ca and the proceeds goes to Kiwanis charitable causes.

Northern B.C.'s growing beer culture is part of a province-wide momentum. The minister responsible for liquor distribution in B.C. is Coralee Oakes, who also happens to be from Quesnel where all the trophies coincidentally went this particular year.

Oakes just used this past weekend - being the middle of Craft Beer Month - as the launchpad for a new service for the industry. The BC Ale Trail is a guide to the all-local bubbly nectar throughout the province.

"With the booming growth of craft breweries in B.C. - going from 54 breweries in 2010 to more than 125 today and more on the horizon - British Columbia is continuing to grow its reputation as the craft beer capital of Canada," Oakes said.

"Together, these breweries produce more than 40 different types of beer each day in every part of the province. The BC Ale Trail is an interactive website with detailed itineraries that include maps, restaurant and lodging, unexpected sites, and a variety of craft beer suggestions that encourages beer lovers locally and from afar to continue to explore craft beer in B.C."

Oakes added that these small-batch companies also gave gainful niche employment to towns all over the B.C. map, stimulated those local economies, Pacific Western Brewery was now making a beer using 100 per cent B.C. ingredients (the only such brew in existence so far), and in the case of Barkerville Brewing Company revived a derelict building into a hive of activity.

She thanked founder Russ Ovans for all his efforts to establish this small, successful agribusiness.

"Besides brewing delicious beer and creating local jobs, I have seen Barkerville Brewing Co. support the community by sponsoring sports teams, providing prizes for fundraisers, and reviving our downtown core," she said.

"This brewery really exudes the spirit of B.C.'s small businesses by creating positive change in Quesnel. And since the brewers believe that craft beer is art, Barkerville supports other artists by contributing to local festivals and even co-hosting a concert series."

Craft beer employs more than 4,000 people province wide.