“Saskatchewan has one of the best craft brewing cultures in the world and the success of Saskatchewan’s brewers is the proof positive of that.”
A collaboration between two prominent Saskatchewan breweries has won the top prizes at the 2024 Canada Beer Cup.
Regina’s Pile O’Bones Brewing Company and Nokomis Craft Ales partnered on a Belgian witbier called QUARK, Strangeness and Charm, which received best of show Friday evening during a national awards presentation at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, B.C., according to the Canadian Craft Brewers Association, which runs the competition.
The QUARK, Strangeness, Charm brew includes barley, wheat, oats, coriander and sweet orange peel and was conceived by Pile O’Bones brewmaster Nathan Kary and Nokomis brewmaster Jeff Allport.
“Saskatchewan has one of the best craft brewing cultures in the world and the success of Saskatchewan’s brewers is the proof positive of that,” Allport said in a press release.
The QUARK, Strangeness, Charm can features the work of Torrie Ironstar, an Indigenous, two-spirit, deaf artist based in Regina who frequently works with Pile O’Bones, which is proudly partially Métis-owned and is a Verified Saskatchewan Métis Business.
“I’ve been one of Torrie’s biggest fans since day one, and if you walk into my house or our brewery, we have the artwork to prove it,” said Pile O’ Bones President Josh Morrison in the press release.
Pile O’ Bones, founded in 2016 by Morrison, Kary, Brent Babyak and Glenn Valgardson, and Nokomis, founded in 2014 by Allport, merged their businesses last year, but maintain separate brewing operations. QUARK, Strangeness, Charm is their latest collaboration.
Pile O ’Bones will display the Canada Beer Cup trophy in the taproom over the next year.
The Canada Beer Cup is put on annually by the industry for the industry, and judged by some of the top beer judges in the world. This year, there were more than 1,500 entries from 250 breweries across more than 55 categories.
Pile O’ Bones also won a gold medal for Playing Space Barley Wine and a bronze for Facemelter dry-hopped Sour. Nokomis took home gold for its Schwingungen sour and silver for its Levitation Wood Aged beer.
The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.