OTTAWA, ON – The Canadian Craft Brewers Association has announced that the inaugural edition of its Canada Beer Cup competition is being postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.
As announced last November, breweries were invited to submit their beers before December 20th, and judging for the competition was set to take place later this month with a panel of local, national, and international judges headed by Stephen Beaumont.
However, guidelines announced last week by the Ontario Government in response to the rapid surge in cases of the Omicron variant limit indoor gatherings to a maximum of five people, making it impossible for in-person judging to take place at this time.
“One of the goals of The Canada Beer Cup is to showcase the greatness of Canadian breweries to the world,” said Rick Dalmazzi, Executive Director of the Canadian Craft Brewing Association, in a statement. “With all due respect to the many fine Toronto and Southern Ontario judges who will be involved, we want to do everything in our power to also include the many international and cross-Canada judges who have committed to our event.”
“With the situation as fluid as it is, we didn’t want to hold on to beer samples and watch them slowly grow stale while we waited to reschedule the competition,” added Beaumont. “By reimbursing breweries for their expenses we can start with fresh beer across the board when the competition resumes.”
New timelines for beer submissions, judging, and the awards ceremony will be announced when it is safe to proceed. For more details, see the Canada Beer Cup website.
Source & Photo: Canadian Craft Brewers Association