Skip to content

Vancouver Island Brewery celebrates triple win at World Beer championships

“These are truly wonderful honours and we could not be more proud,” said Murray Langdon, General Manager of Vancouver Island Brewery.

Vancouver Island Brewery, a pioneer in B.C.’s craft beer industry, has been honoured on the world stage. The brewery has been awarded three medals at the Tastings.com World Beer Championships; two seasonal beers and one of its recent launches each won silver medals in their respective categories.

These are truly wonderful honours and we could not be more proud,” said Murray Langdon, General Manager of Vancouver Island Brewery. “It is a great feeling to have our commitment to quality and creativity recognized.”

Beachcomber Summer Ale took silver in the Weizen Hefe category, scoring 86 points; Black Betty, a blackberry saison, won silver in the burgeoning fruit beer category with 87 points; Sabotage India Session Ale earned 89 points, also good for silver in the American Style IPA category.

To have all three entries receive awards is a remarkable feat,” added Langdon, “and to have both established beers and one of our new launches recognized shows that Vancouver Island Brewery’s history of innovation and creativity is alive and well.”

The brewing team, led by Brewmaster Ralf Pittroff, expressed gratitude in winning the three awards.

This is a great honour,” said Pittroff, a Bavarian-born and trained brewer. “We want to make the best beer possible. That is why we use only the best ingredients and take such great care in creating our product.”

Pittroff said the recognition reflected the time, energy and hard work put in by the brewing team of Gordie Kingma, Pat Lueders and Garritt Lalonde.

This is a team that is committed to excellence. We push ourselves to reach the highest standards each and every day.”

This year marks the 30th anniversary for the Victoria-based brewery, which started in 1984 as a small, hand-built brewhouse. Today, it is a leader in the craft beer industry with its award-winning brands having been recognized at the regional, national and international level.