By Times Chronicle Staff
Oliver’s Firehall Brewery has fittingly pocketed two beer prominent awards for “smoked” beers at a BC-wide and also national beer contests.
At the 13th Annual BC Beer Awards, Firehall was awarded 2nd Place in BC for its Holy Smoke Stout (Smoke & Oak Aged Beer Category). On the national stage it picked up a Silver at the Canada Beer Cup for a collaboration beer brewed at Jackknife Brewing, the “Zweihänder” Oak-Smoked Farmhouse Ale (Smoked Beer Category).
The Holy Smoke Stout is a dry Irish style of stout brewed with a portion of German smoked malt and was the second recipe brewed by Firehall upon its inception, and has won more awards than any other Firehall beer. As a result it is continuously available on-tap at the Firehall Brewery, and for take-home sales in cans, bottles and growlers.
The “Zweihänder” Oak-Smoked Farmhouse Ale is a merger of Nordic farmhouse fermentation techniques using Tomasgård kveik yeast from Norway, and a nearly-forgotten oak-smoked wheat ale recipe hailing from Poland called Grodziskie.
The Zweihänder was featured at the first annual Firehall Smokeshow this past spring, poured alongside a selection of smoked beers and smoked foods from local culinary artists. The Zweihänder is currently sold out, but Firehall is intending to brew another smoked beer to be featured at the 2025 Firehall Smokeshow in Oliver.
The 13th Annual BC Beer Awards is the signature event of BC Craft Beer Month and sees over 1,000 entries reviewed across 30 beer-style categories from 124 breweries around the province, adjudicated over six days by a panel of professional beer judges.
The Canada Beer Cup is a national competition celebrating independently owned and operated breweries across Canada, with professional judges from Europe, the U.K., the United States and across Canada. The 2024 edition of the Canada Beer Cup saw approximately 1,500 beers judged in various categories.
