Tops in Canada, London craft brewer’s cream ale now best in world

Article content

London is home to some of the best beer in the world.

Anderson Craft Ales on Elias Street won top honours at a global beer contest, winning best cream ale at the Word Beer Festival.

The cream ale also was a gold medal winner in Canada and named the country’s best cream ale, owner Gavin Anderson said.

“It is definitely a great honour; it is a great beer and has won national awards, already,” he said.

Article content

The world beer awards were held in August in Norwich, England. The competition featured 10 categories and the best cream ale is in the pale beers category.

“For me, it is just a very drinkable beer,” Anderson said. “It hits that sweet spot where it has enough character, it is not another generic beer. It has a nice flavour and is easy to drink, not too heavy.”

In addition to winning best Canadian cream ale at the same beer awards event, the brew also has brought home five Canadian brewing awards and a silver medal at the U.S. Open Beer Championship.   

“It’s an amazing accomplishment to be named best in the world, but it’s no surprise given the commitment and care Gavin and his team put into each and every one of their quality, locally produced craft beers,” Scott Simmons, president of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association, said in an email.

“London is home to many fantastic local breweries, and supporting local never tasted so good.”

Anderson brews four core beers: an IPA, cream ale, gold lager and an amber. It also brews seasonal beers such as a summer pilsner or a marzen in the fall.

Article content

Anderson Craft Ales opened in 2016 and has been entering competitions since 2018.  It has won seven national, six provincial, and two international brewing awards, as well as the best of London winner for six consecutive years.

The brewery has won more than a dozen awards in total for its collection of beers including stouts, dark lagers, amber, and a marzen as well as a strawberry sour.

“We have a great team here and they make great beer. Everyone is passionate about what they do,” Anderson said.

Anderson employs about 24 staff. It brews about 450,000 cans of cream ale a year and its total annual production for all its beers is more than 1.5 million cans.

The company sells its beers across Ontario from Windsor to Ottawa but the bulk of its sales are in Southwestern Ontario.

There were a total of 18 winners in the pale beer category all for different types of pale beer, including two other Canadian brews, a Belgian style blonde from Unibroue, in Chambly, Que., and a bitter from Las Voix Maltee, in the Saguenay region of Quebec.

Other categories included dark beer, flavoured, IPA, lager, sour and wild, specialty, stout and porter and wheat beer.

Canadian breweries from across the country fared well in some of these other categories, winning for brown ale, sour and wild beer, IPA or India Pale Ale, specialty beers and wheat beer.  

ndebono@postmedia.com

Article content