Campbell River brewery wins gold at Canada Beer Cup

Those who already know and love Campbell River brewery Beach Fire Brewing’s Ember Red Ale wouldn’t be surprised that it took home the gold medal at this week’s Canada Beer Cup.

Head Brewer and owner Darrin Finnerty has been brewing that particular beer since the homebrew days, and he says it’s the beer whose recipe has changed the most since then. However, it has become a fan — and recently judge — favourite.

“They gave us a heads up ahead of time,” Finnerty said. “They sent out an email saying ‘hey, you won… something.’”

He got an invitation to the ceremony in Niagara Falls, but was unable to make the trek all the way to Ontario. Instead, he and the team watched the ceremony live on the screen at the brewery. Beach Fire had entered a few different categories, so their hopes rose and fell throughout the evening.

“We saw the bronze, then the silver and were like, oh too bad. Then they announced we won… we didn’t expect that,” he said.

Finnerty says the Ember Red Ale is a Scottish Ale, which is an older beer style.

“I first started brewing this probably 15 years ago as a home brewer,” he says. “It’s just always been one of my favourite styles. It’s a rich, malty beer with low hops. It’s all about the malts. It’s got coffee, caramel and chocolate notes. It seems kind of simple, but it’s got a lot of complexity going on.”

Finnerty and some partners started the brewery about seven years ago.

“I was just brewing more and more all the time,” he said about this home-brewing hobby. “I got to the point where people were coming over and getting a growler of beer. I was charging a bit to buy more equipment, and then I thought ‘this is getting silly.’ I was brewing twice a week … then it kind of just happened.”

When the official business started, the Ember Red Ale was one of the first beers on the list.

Beach Fire doesn’t distribute too far. Finnerty says he prefers when the beer is tapped directly from the vat behind the wall. There’s no kegging process, just a simple pipe leading right to the vat. Now in front of the tap labelled “Ember Red Ale” the team has written “Gold Winning.”

Which is something the long-time customers could have predicted.

“People that drink the red, that’s all they drink. It’s all the time,” he said. “It’s funny now that it has won the gold, they’re like ‘see? I knew it was good.’”

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