The 8th Annual Golden Tap Awards

The 8th annual Golden Tap Awards were handed out on Saturday night at Toronto's beerbistro before a large group of brewery and licensee representatives... and passionate craft beer drinkers.

The GTAs, as the are affectionately known, are hosted by Cass Enright of Bar Towel fame and are meant to celebrate the best in the Ontario beer industry; recognizing breweries, pubs, and the people dedicated to growing and building the industry.

I sit on the panel that determines the Editor's Circle awards and it was a pleasure to come up with the four winners this year. It keeps getting harder and harder to come up with our list as the beer landscape in Ontario continues to evolve. There is so much going on now, so many individuals out there working to take the industry to the next level and festival's continue to emerge in this province that focus on providing quality experiences in intimate settings.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Best Microbrewery in Ontario:
Beau’s All-Natural Brewing Company

Best Brewery for Cask-Conditioned Ale in Ontario (presented in partnership with CASK!):
Granite Brewery

Best Bar for Draught Beer Selection in Ontario:
C’est What

Best Bar for Bottled Beer Selection in Ontario:
Bar Volo

Best Brewpub or Tied House in Ontario:
Granite Brewery

Best Bar for Cask Ale in Ontario (presented in partnership with CASK!):
Bar Volo

Best Regularly-Produced Beer in Ontario:
Beau’s Lug-Tread Lagered Ale

Best Seasonal or Specialty Beer in Ontario:
Black Oak Ten Bitter Years

Best Cask Ale in Ontario (presented in partnership with CASK!):
Granite Hopping Mad

Editor’s Circle Award: Great Lakes Caskapalooza
Editor’s Circle Award: Drinkvine
Editor’s Circle Award: Milos Kral & Chancey Smith’s
Editor’s Circle Award: Brian Morin & beerbistro
Best Beer of the Festival: Church Key Black IPA

Golden Tap Awards - 2010 Voting Launches

Back on May 20th I posted some information (Save the Date) about the 2010 edition of the Golden Tap Awards and Wednesday night, during the first annual Cass' & Troy's Pub Crawl, Cass Enright, the founder of Bar Towel.com, officially launched this years voting.

Toronto, ON - The Bar Towel is proud to announce the launch of voting for the 2010 Golden Tap Awards, a leading awards event recognizing the best craft beer achievements in Ontario. Now in its eighth year, the Golden Tap Awards is a democratic awards event, with all voting taking place online at www.goldentap.com until August 10th.

The Golden Tap Awards recognizes the best in beer from across Ontario, and you can vote for whomever you wish in each category, including:

* Favourite craft brewery and brewery for cask-conditioned ales in Ontario
*Favourite craft regularly-produced beer, cask-conditioned ale and seasonal or speciality beer in Ontario
*Favourite craft beer bar, both for draught, bottled and cask-conditioned ale selection in Ontario
*Favourite brewpub or tied house in Ontario

The Golden Tap Awards party will take place on Saturday, August 21st at beerbistro in Toronto. At this gala event all winners will be announced at a special Ontario beer festival featuring only Ontario craft beers. There will also be a real-time Golden Tap Awards vote for the best beer available at the festival.

New this year will be a special Golden Tap Awards craft beer dinner on Friday, August 20th. This dinner will feature a seven-course dinner with exclusively Ontario craft brewers, including Beau’s, Black Oak, Denison’s, Grand River, Granite, Great Lakes and Mill Street. Each brewery will have one of their beers paired with a course created by Chef Brian Morin. More details and ticket information will be announced soon at www.goldentap.com.

Vote now!