TORONTO, ON – The 2017 winners of the Golden Tap Awards, representing the best of beer and brewing in Ontario, were announced last night at beerbistro in Toronto.
This annual awards event is overseen and organized by Cass Enright, founder of The Bar Towel, a website and forum dedicated to covering and promoting the Ontario craft brewing scene.
The winners as selected by online voting by the general beer-drinking public were as follows:
- Best Brewery – Beau’s All Natural Brewing, Vankleek Hill
- Best Bar for Draught Beer Selection – Bar Hop, Toronto
- Best Bar for Packaged Beer Selection – Birreria Volo, Toronto
- Best Brewpub or Tied House – Bellwoods Brewery, Toronto
- Best Regularly-Produced Beer – Beau’s Lug Tread Lagered Ale, Vankleek Hill
- Best Seasonal, Limited Release or Specialty Beer – Great Lakes Octopus Wants To Fight! IPA, Toronto
- Best Cidery – West Avenue Cider, Freelton
- Best Design & Branding – Collective Arts Brewing, Hamilton
- Most Innovative Brewery – Bellwoods Brewery, Toronto
- Best New Bar – Arabella Park, Kitchener
- Best New Brewery – Merit Brewing, Hamilton
- Best Beer Event – Cask Days, Toronto
- Best Staff – Beau’s All Natural Brewing, Vankleek Hill
- Best Beer Writer – Ben Johnson, London
- Brewmasters’ Choice – Tooth & Nail Vim & Vigor, Ottawa (chosen by brewers from across the province who were asked to vote for their favourite beer from any other Ontario brewery)
- Best Beer of the Festival – 555 Brewing Footprint IPA, Picton (chosen by attendees at the GTAs who were asked to vote for their favourite beer from those being poured at the event)
Four Editor’s Circle awards were also handed out, recognizing significant achievements in the Ontario beer industry, as determined by Enright and a panel of Bar Towel members and associates: