This week’s beer column will look a little different.
Instead of highlighting a specific beer or brewery, I’m using this weekend’s column as a chance to shine a light on the inaugural Best Beer Community Competition.
The new competition is being put on by the BC Ale Trail, an online publication that highlights the province’s hundreds of breweries and splits them into 21 “Ale Trails” throughout BC.
If you’re heading on vacation to a certain region in BC and want to get up to speed on the beer scene there, the BC Ale Trail is your ultimate guide.
So it makes sense that they would be the ones to create this competition, which is meant to highlight the vibrant, spirited communities that bring BC’s craft beer scene to life.
The competition runs from Monday, Sept. 9, through Sunday, Oct. 6, and people will be able to vote for not only their favourite beer community, but their favourite brewery as well.
“Every vote matters and could be the one that tips the scale,” says a release from the BC Ale Trail.
In an effort to avoid the vote being simply a popularity contest based on population, there will be three separate tiers:
- Communities with 1-2 breweries
- Communities with 3-5 breweries
- Communities with 6+ breweries
Anyone who votes over the four weeks will be entered to win a Grand Prize Sip + Stay package, which will include perks like complimentary stays, swag and attraction passes.
The communities will win more than bragging rights too, as they’ll be featured in exclusive BC Ale Trail content like blogs, social media spotlights and a mini campaign to boost their profile.
Click here to learn more about the BC Ale Trail’s first ever Best Beer Community Competition.
And just in case you came to the column this week hoping for a recommendation, try The Magnificent Mangose from Parallel 49 Brewing!
The relatively new release is a mango chili gose and it’s a perfect pick for what’s set to be a hot September weekend.
Josh Duncan is the NowMedia news director and a craft beer lover. Reach him at josh@nowmediagroup.ca. His beer column appears every Saturday afternoon in this space.