Beer brews success for Niagara College

Niagara College’s Beer 101 Strong Ale is a recipe for success when it comes to bringing home medals, recently winning bronze in an international competition.

In a release, the college said the beer took the bronze medal at the U.S. Open Beer Championship on July 9 for its Beer 101 Strong Ale in the old ale/strong ale category.

The college said the U.S. Open Beer Championship — it drew more than 7,000 beer entries representing more than 130 styles — is the only one to include beers from professional breweries and awardwinning home brewers, with judges from the United States, Canada and England.

“Winning a medal for one of our student-crafted beers at a major international competition like the U.S. Open is a testament to the quality of the applied education we offer our students,” said Steve Gill, general manager of the college’s learning enterprises.

The 7.5 per cent Scottish ale first brewed at the college as a version of its teaching brewery’s multiple-award-winning Christmas beer, Rudolph’s Red Nose Ale, took gold in 2013 at the Ontario Brewing Awards; silver in 2015 for the bottle version, Brewmaster Strong Ale, at the Dublin Craft Beer Cup; gold in 2016 and silver in 2018 at the Ontario Brewing Awards; bronze in 2017 and gold in 2019 at the U.S. Open Beer Championships; and silver in 2018 and bronze in 2019 at the Canadian Brewing Awards

“Our brewmaster students are equipped with the skills they need to succeed and lead the industry in the future, as well as hands-on experience with crafting quality products that are applauded as among the best in North America,” Gill said.

Dow Scoggins, director of the U.S. Open Beer, College and Cider Championship, said that over the years, Niagara College’s students “have consistently medalled at this competition — a pretty amazing feat considering they are competing with some of the world’s best brewers.”