Thursday night, 33 brewers from across Ontario gathered at the Six Pints Beer Academy (75 Victoria St.) for the 9th Annual Ontario Brewing Awards. The brewers were vying for top prizes in 24 different categories, including Beer of The Year and Newcomer of The Year.

As co-organizer and host Roger Mittag of Thirst for Knowledge Inc pointed out, the evening wasn't about "micro vs. macro," but rather about people who love beer being recognized for their talents.

In addition to the plethora of beer on hand for sampling, the highlights of the evening included big wins for Hogsback Brewing Company, a brand new brewery based in Ottawa. They won Gold for their Hogsback Vintage Lager in the North American Lager category and also took home the Newcomer of The Year award.

Hogsback was joined by a few other big winners from the Ottawa area including Kichesippi Beer Co. and Clocktower Brew Pub, but Toronto's own Mill Street Brewery took home the Beer of The Year award with their Mill Street Coffee Porter.

The awards ceremony marked the first public event to be held at The Beer Academy at 75 Victoria Street, which was formerly the home of Duggan's Brewpub and is now owned by Molson Coors' craft beer division, Six Pints Specialty Beer Company.

Under Six Pints, the space has become--as their Trade Brewer Todd Fowler noted--"a mecca to beer." In addition to the impressive brewing facilities there, the walls are lined with a historic timeline detailing the progress of beer production and all manner of beer memorabilia (or Breweriana, if you must) is on display in glass cases.

Some of the local brewers who submitted beer for consideration at last night's awards ceremony included Black Creek Brewing, Double Trouble Brewing Company, Junction Craft Brewing, Kensington Brewing Company, Magnotta, Spearhead Brewery, Black Oak Brewing, Cameron's Brewing Company, Cool Beer Brewing Company, Flying Monkey's Craft Brewery, Great Lakes Brewery, Mill Street Brewery, and Steam Whistle Brewing

Each category featured a Gold and Silver winner and the entrants were judged based on decisions from the skilled paletes of

BJCP-certified judges. Each category also featured a People's Choice award, which was weighed by recent graduates of the Prud'homme Beer Certification program.

Apparently, the task of choosing the best among all these great beers was not an easy one. As Peter Campagna, one of the People's Choice judges told me, simply picking their favourite among the 15 lagers vying for top spot was a gruelling task that took almost three hours.

Yeah. Sounds really rough...

The winners in each category were as follows:

North American Light Lager
Gold: Cool Beer Brewing - Stonewall Light
Silver: Labatt Breweries of Canada - Rolling Rock Extra Pale
People's Choice: Labatt Breweries of Canada - Rolling Rock Extra Pale

North American Lager
Gold: Hogsback Brewing - Hogsback Vintage Lager
Silver: Labatt Breweries of Canada - Labatt Blue
People's Choice: Hogsback Brewing - Hogsback Vintage Lager

European Style Lager
Gold: King Brewery - King Pilsner
Silver: Kichesippi Beer Co. - Kichesippi Natural Blonde
People's Choice: Kichesippi Beer Co. - Kichesippi Natural Blonde

Amber Lager
Gold: Cool Beer Brewing Company - Millennium Buzz
Silver: Great Lakes Brewery - Red Leaf Smooth Red Lager
People's Choice: Nickel Brook Brewery - Nickel Brook Märzenbier Bavarian Style Red

Dark Lager
Gold: Cameron's Brewing - Cameron's Dark 266
Silver: King Brewery - King Dark Lager
People's Choice: Mill Street Brewery - Mill Street Rauchbier

Bock
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Amsterdam Spring Bock
Silver: Cameron's Brewing - Cameron's Deviator Doppelbock
People's Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Amsterdam Spring Bock

Honey/Maple Beer
Gold: F&M Brewery - Stone Hammer Maple Red Ale
Silver: Railway City Brewing Company - Railway City Honey Elixir
People's Choice: F&M Brewery - Stone Hammer Maple Red Ale

German Style Wheat Beer
Gold: Denison's Brewery - Denison's Hefeweizen
Silver: Magnotta Brewery - True North Wonder Weisse
People's Choice: Denison's Brewery - Denison's Hefeweizen

Belgian Style Wheat Beer
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Amsterdam Orange Weisse
Silver: Mill Street Brewery - Mill Street Belgian Wit
People's Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Amsterdam Orange Weisse

Cream Ale
Gold: Muskoka Brewery - Muskoka Cream Ale
Silver: Grand River Brewing - 1913 Traditional
People's Choice: Muskoka Brewery - Muskoka Cream Ale

British Pale Ale
Gold: Black Oak Brewery - Black Oak Pale Ale
Silver: Grand River Brewing - Plowman's Ale
People's Choice: Grand River Brewing - Plowman's Ale

North American Pale Ale
Gold: Nickel Brook Brewery - Naughty Neighbour Pale Ale
Silver: Great Lakes Brewery - Crazy Canuck Pale Ale
People's Choice: Black Creek Historic Brewery - Black Creek Pale Ale

British India Pale Ale
Gold: Grand River Brewing - Curmudgeon IPA
Silver: Mill Street Brewery - Mill Street IPA
People's Choice: Mill Street Brewery - Mill Street IPA

North American India Pale Ale
Gold: Cameron's Brewing - Cameron's Rye Pale Ale
Silver: Muskoka Brewery - Mad Tom IPA
People's Choice: Cameron's Brewing - Cameron's Rye Pale Ale

Amber Ale
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Big Wheel Deluxe Amber
Silver: Clocktower Brew Pub - Clocktower Red
People's Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Big Wheel Deluxe Amber

Dark Ale
Gold: Muskoka Brewery - Muskoka Dark Ale
Silver: Black Oak Brewery - Nut Brown Ale
People's Choice: Black Oak Brewery - Nut Brown Ale

Porter
Gold: Mill Street Brewery - Coffee Porter
Silver: Black Oak Brewery - Nutcracker Porter
People's Choice: Mill Street Brewery - Coffee Porter

Stout
Gold: F & M Brewery - Stone Hammer Oatmeal Coffee Stout
Silver: Railway City Brewing Company - Black Coal Stout
People's Choice: F & M Brewery - Stone Hammer Oatmeal Coffee Stout

Imperial Stout
Gold: Wellington Brewery - Wellington Imperial Russian Stout
Silver: Nickel Brook Brewery - Bolshevik Bastard Imperial Stout
People's Choice: Wellington Brewery - Wellington Imperial Russian Stout

Fruit or Vegetable Flavoured Beer
Gold: Amsterdam Brewery - Amsterdam Framboise
Silver: Clocktower Brew Pub - Clocktower Raspberry Wheat
People's Choice: Amsterdam Brewery - Amsterdam Framboise

Flavoured Beer
Gold: Grand River Brewing - Highballer Pumpkin Ale
Silver: Sawdust City Brewing - Skinny Dipping Stout
People's Choice: Cameron's Brewing - Cameron's American Whiskey Barrel

Strong Beer
Gold: Niagara College Teaching Brewery - Rudolph's Red Nose Ale
Silver: Mill Street Brewery - Mill Street Ambre de la Chaudière
People's Choice: Niagara College Teaching Brewery - Rudolph's Red Nose Ale

Beer of the Year (decided by the beer with highest overall score)
Mill Street Brewery - Mill Street Coffee Porter

Newcomer of the Year (decided by the new brewery with the highest overall scores)
Hogsback Brewing

Check out more local breweries on our Toronto Beers Pinterest Board.

Photos by Mark Sivilia