The Ontario Brewing Awards, the annual gala celebrating beer made in Ontario, took place last night at the Gladstone Hotel.

Organized by Beerlicious and Roger Mittag of Thirst for Knowledge, the blind-judged awards have historically been known to have some less-than-obvious winners. They also sometimes include beers winning in categories you wouldn't expect them to win. Molson Coors, for example, took home a bronze last night in the Belgian Witbier category for Rickard's White and oddly, the Gold Medal winner for English Pale Ales was Muskoka Cream Ale.

More than just an awards ceremony, the OBAs are a rare chance for the province's brewing industry folks to gather and congratulate one another and to sample and sniff some of each other's wares. Some of the interesting offerings on hand last night to sip while awards were handed out included Harbinger American Pale Ale from new guys Descendants Beer & Beverage Co. in Welleseley, Angry Moose Imperial IPA from Sudbury's Stack Brewing, and Accidental Tourist Belgian Blonde from London's Forked River Brewing.

Some of the big winners last night included Big Rig from Ottawa, who took home nine awards, and Peterborough's Publican House who took home the coveted Newcomer of the Year award.

The complete list of winners in each category, listed by Gold, Silver, and Bronze are as below.

North American Light Lager
Brick Laker Light
F&M Stone Hammer Light
Flying Monkeys Antigravity Light

North American Lager
Hogsback Vintage Lager
Lake Of Bays Top Shelf Classic Lager
Amsterdam Natural Blonde

Pilsner
Brick Waterloo Pilsner
Molson Coors Rickard's Blonde
King Pilsner

Amber Lager
Hop City Barking Squirrel Lager
Great Lakes Red Leaf Lager
King Vienna Lager

Dark Lager
Side Launch Dark Lager
Brick Waterloo Dark
King Dark

Bock
King Bock
Cameron's Deviator Doppelbock
Mill Street Weizenbock

Honey / Maple Beer
F&M Stone Hammer Maple Red
Mill Street Royal York Stinger
Bayside Honey Maple

Hefeweizen
Big Rig Hefe
Denison's Weissbier
Magnotta True North Wunder Weisse

Belgian Witbier
Mill Street Belgian Wit
Amsterdam Boxer
Molson Coors Rickard's White

Flavoured Wheat Beer
Amsterdam KLB Raspberry Wheat
Clocktower Raspberry Wheat
Beyond The Pale Pink Fuzz

Farmhouse Ales
Stack Portes De L'enfers
Big Rig Saison
Big Rig Belgian Blond

Lagered Ales
Publican House Ale
Clocktower Kรถlsch
Big Rig Gold

British Pale / Bitter
Muskoka Cream Ale
Black Oak Pale Ale
Highlander Scottish Ale

American Pale Ale
Great Lakes Johnny Simcoe
Collective Arts Rhyme & Reason
Great Lakes Crazy Canuck

British IPA
Mill Street IPA
Kensington Baldwin FishEye-PA
Brick Waterloo IPA

West Coast IPA
Cameron's R.P.A
Muskoka Twice As Mad Tom IPA
Beyond The Pale Imperial Super Guy

Dark IPA
Big Rig Black IPA
Flying Monkeys Netherworld
Wellington Terrestrial India Brown Ale

Amber Ale
Kilannan New Zealand Red
Clocktower Red
Sawdust City Ol' Woody Alt

Dark Ale
Magnotta True North Copper Altbier
F&M Stone Hammer Dark
Amsterdam Downtown Brown

Porter
Nickel Brook Maple Porter
Highlander Blacksmith Smoked Porter
Six Pints Beer Academy Porter

Stout
F&M Stone Hammer Coffee Stout
Sawdust City Skinny Dipping Stout
Big Rig Stout

Fruit Beer
Amsterdam Framboise
Mill Street Frambozen
Turtle Island Smash Cherry Pale Ale

Vegetable Beer
Grand River Highballer Pumpkin
The Ship's Rations
Big Rig Pumpkin

Flavoured Beer
Amsterdam Full City Double Tempest
Sawdust City Red Rocket Cinnamon Vanilla Cayenne Coffee Stout
Big Rig Triple Chocolate Cherry Stout

Strong Beer
Descendants Prologue Belgian Blonde
Sawdust City Princess Wears Girlpants
Amsterdam Vicar's Vice

Gluten Free
Nickel Brook Gluten Free
(Nickel Brook's beer was the only entry in this category)

Barrel Aged & Whisky
Amsterdam Double Tempest
Wellington Frost Quake Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine
Cameron's Bourbon Barrel Deviator Doppelbock

Barrel Aged & Wine
Amsterdam Rye Peppercorn Saison
Sawdust City ODB
Great Lakes Gary

Imperial Stout/Baltic Porter
Muskoka Brewery Winter Beard
Big Rig Imperial Stout
Wellington Russian Imperial Stout

Newcomer Of The Year
Publican House Brewery

Beer Of The Year
Muskoka Cream Ale

Ben Johnson also writes about beer over on Ben's Beer Blog. Follow him on twitter @Ben_T_Johnson if you know what's good for ya..