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The Best Beers In Canada, According To The 2025 Canadian Brewing Awards

Smithers Brewing Co. of Smithers, British Columbia was crowned Brewery of the Year at the 2025 Canadian Brewing Awards. Since 2000, the Canadian Brewing Awards have judged Canadian majority-owned breweries to determine the best beers available in the country. The Canadian Brewing Awards are the oldest national beer competition in Canada. In 2025, the Canadian Brewing Awards judged over 1,600 beers from breweries representing all provinces and two of the three territories of Canada. About 270 breweries sent beers to the competition. 'Entries were down about 10%,' say Ob Simmonds, head of innovation at the Canadian Brewing Awards, noting that many smaller breweries were struggling with cash flow in a tougher economic climate and dealing with uncertainly relating to input costs in light of tariffs. Breweries pay a fee to enter beers and incur expenses shipping beer to the judging location. Simmonds said he was aware of the difficulties some breweries have in entering competitions. Since taking over management of the competition last year, Simmonds has embarked on a journey to change the way the competition is run, to make it so that every brewery can participate. He noted that this year, a number of breweries that historically have never entered beer competitions entered the Canadian Brewing Awards. Among those, Godspeed Brewery of Toronto, not only won several medals, it was awarded Best of Show for its Irori, a peated scotch lager. In addition to awarding gold, silver and bronze medals in 47 categories, the gold medal winners from those categories are judged against each other with the best winning Best of Show medals. For 2025, the Best of Show gold medal winner, and arguably the best beer in Canada, is Irori from Godspeed Brewery. The silver and bronze Best of Show medals were awarded to Dunkelweizen from Four Winds Beach House & Brewery (Delta, British Columbia) and Bountii from Kilter Brewing Co. (Winnipeg, Manitoba), respectively. Based on the number of medals awarded to the competing breweries, the awards competition also names a Brewery of the Year. The 2025 Canadian Brewing Awards Brewery of the Year is Smithers Brewing Company of Smithers, British Columbia. Here are the category winners of the 2025 Canadian Brewing Awards: Gold: Bellhop Porter - Abandoned Rail Brewing Silver: Porter of Prov - Manitoulin Brewing Company Bronze: Baltic Porter - La Brasserie Nonsuch Brewing Gold: no medal awarded Silver: no medal awarded Bronze: Cat's Paws Amber Lager - Wild Winds Brewery Gold: White Noise - Giants Head Brewing Silver: Belgian IPA - Deadfall Brewing Company Bronze: Two Pillars Pale - Two Pillars Brewery Gold: Wedgehead Kolsch - Smugglers Trail Caskworks Silver: Pegasus American Pale Ale - Ol' Beautiful Brewing Company Bronze: Gahan Vic Park - PEI Brewing Company Gold: Salted Stout - Port Rexton Brewing Co. Silver: Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza - Maybee Brewing Bronze: Open Road - Troubled Monk Gold: Juicy! Double IPA - Garrison Brewing Company Silver: Hop Cone Syndrome - Rainhard Brewing Bronze: West Coast IPA - Flora Hall Brewing Gold: Kicksled Cream Ale - NWT Brewing Co. Silver: Bossman Lager - 70 Acre Brew Co. Bronze: Sittler 10 Point Lager - Something In The Water Gold: Amber Ale - Poco Brothers Brewing Co. Silver: Gahan Island Red - PEI Brewing Company Bronze: Le sage du bois de chauffage - Novum Boreas Microbrasserie Gold: Full Pleasure - Long Bay Brewery Silver: Island Breeze - Concession Road Brewing Company Bronze: Raspberry Sour - 70 Acre Brew Co. Gold: Binge Watch - Village Brewery Silver: Odyssey - Curious Creatures Beer Corp. Bronze: Broken Sun - Smugglers Trail Caskworks Gold: no medal awarded Silver: no medal awarded Bronze: Long Dark Voyage to Uranus - Sawdust City Brewing Co Gold: Dubbel - Meuse Brewing Company Inc. Silver: Cloister Quadrupel - Wave Maker Bronze: Two Pillars Dark Strong - Two Pillars Brewery Gold: Spontaneous Manifesto 2023 - Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company Silver: Rouge des Appalaches - Frampton Brasse Bronze: Dry Hop Series: Galaxy Saaz - Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company Gold: Tripel - Pie Braque Microbrasserie Silver: Red Mosquito - Tooth and Nail Brewing Company Bronze: Dominus Vobiscum Triple - Microbrasserie Charlevoix Gold: Saison de la Meuse - Meuse Brewing Company Silver: Quark, Strangeness and Charm - Pile O' Bones Brewing Bronze: Soccer Mom - Nickel Brook Brewing Gold: Flo Rida - Vaycay Brew Co Silver: Salz und Säuer Gose - Smithers Brewing Company Bronze: Salt Water Cowboy - Tatamagouche Brewing Co Gold: English Ordinary Bitter - Flora Hall Brewing Silver: English Pale Ale - Train Wreck Brewing Bronze: Tickity Boo - Twin City Brewing Company Gold: Operis - Four Winds Brewing Co Silver: Foeder Aged Margarita Gose - Flora Hall Brewing Bronze: Cherryoperis - Four Winds Brewing Co Gold: Secret Society - Tire Shack Brewing Co. Silver: Thrift Shop Stout - Lot 10 Brewing Company Bronze: Oats n' Hose - Brew Revolution Gold: Bountii - Kilter Brewing Co. Silver: Mocha Crunch - Sawdust City Brewing Co Bronze: Coffee Porter - Tire Shack Brewing Co. Gold: Bootlegger Brown Ale - Smithers Brewing Company Silver: Vintage Brown - Kilter Brewing Co. Bronze: Nail Bender - Kahnawake Brewing Company Gold: Czech Pilsner - Powell Brewery Silver: Jaro Pilsner - Land & Sea Brewing Co Bronze: German Pilsner - Anderson Craft Ales Gold: Big Dunc - Upper Thames Brewing Company Silver: 11 pm - Northern Superior Brewing Co Bronze: Vienna Lager - Gillingham Brewing Company Gold: Yard Sale Bock - Endeavour Brewing Company Ltd. Silver: Perpetuator - Steadfast Brewing Co Bronze: Lazy Dog - Paris Beer Co Gold: Blackboard Black IPA - Schoolhouse Brewery Silver: Blue Dream Hazy IPA - Four Winds Brewing Co. Bronze: Polar Vortex - One Great City Brewing Co Gold: Joy Hill Blaufränkisch - Ippon Silver: Grace - Strawberry & White Chocolate - White Stout - Banded Goose Brewing Company Bronze: Mujo - Ippon Gold: Imperial Pear Elderflower Love Buzz - Strathcona Beer Company Silver: Yuzu - Godspeed Brewery Bronze: Peach Wit - Britannia Brewing Co Gold: Dunkelweizen - Four Winds Beach House & Brewery Silver: Oie Blanche - Microbrasserie Des Beaux Prés Bronze: Hefe Weizen - Garrison Brewing Company Gold: Quick Witted - Grey Fox Brewing Silver: Gluten Free Pale Ale - Port Rexton Brewing Co. Ltd. Bronze: Buckwild Stout - Grey Fox Brewing Gold: Winter Ale - Mariner Brewing Silver: Ginger and Sansho Pepper - Ippon Bronze: no medal awarded Gold: Spruced Up Gose - Mountainview Brewing Co. Silver: no medal awarded Bronze: no medal awarded Gold: Queen Bee - Burnside Brewing Co Silver: Beez Nutz - Brew Revolution Bronze: no medal awarded Gold: Great Craic Irish Red - Smithers Brewing Company Silver: Ridgewalk Red Ale - Fernie Brewing Co. Bronze: Barn Burner - Beau's All Natural Brewing Co. Gold: Iron Eye Nitro Stout - Blood Brothers Brewing Silver: Patricius Irish Stout - Boxing Rock Brewing Company Bronze: Feck Off Irish Stout - Smither Brewing Company Gold: New England IPA - Black Bridge Brewery Silver: Widowmaker - Backcountry Brewing Bronze: Super Saturation - Cabin Brewing Company Gold: Ol'Woody Altbier - Sawdust City Brewing Co. Silver: Kolsch - Patina Brewing Bronze: High Country Kölsch - Mt. Begbie Brewing Company Gold: Joggeuse - Microbrasserie La Souche Silver: Annex Radler - Annex Bronze: Santa Fe - Microbrasserie Des Beaux Prés Gold: N/A Raspberry Lime Kettle Sour - Better Brother Brewing Co. Silver: Simple de même Gose sans alcool - Microbrasserie La Souche Bronze: Everyday Player - Left Field Brewery Gold: Marigold Belgian Golden Ale - Clifford Brewing Co Silver: Room For More - Ale Architect Bronze: no medal awarded Gold: Queen of Hops, Hoppy Lager - Coast Mountain Brewing Silver: Kome Forest - Curious Creatures Beer Corp. Bronze: no medal awarded Gold: Old Ale X - La Brasserie Nonsuch Brewing Co Silver: Two Rivers Baltic Porter - Tatamagouche Brewing Co Bronze: Salted Black Porter - Field House Brewing Gold: Scotch Ale - Pile O' Bones Brewing Silver: Old Man Winter - Smithers Brewing Company Bronze: Greenock - Saint Andrews Brewing Company Gold: Minor Force - Annex Silver: SloMo - MaBrasserie Bronze: Wild Matters Hazy Pale Ale - R&B Brewing Gold: Irori - Godspeed Brewery Silver: Das Winter Projekt - Frampton Brasse Bronze: Cote Fumée - Microbrasserie Des Beaux Prés Gold: Lillith Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Porter - Tatamagouche Brewing Co Silver: Barrel Reserve #267 - Paris Beer Co Bronze: Gahan Foeder Aged Passionfruit Blood Orange Sour - PEI Brewing Company Gold: Foeder Aged Chocolate Stout - Flora Hall Brewing Silver: Working Late - Espresso Stout - Trailway Brewing Company Bronze: Kentucky Imperial Stout - Nickel Brook Brewing Co. Gold: Horchata White Stout - Sawdust City Brewing Co Silver: Margarita Monday Tart Ale - Smithers Brewing Company Bronze: Blueberry Paczki Beer - Sons of Kent Brewing Co