A local brewery in Chatham has been recognized for three of its brews -- a seasonal beer, a hazy IPA, and an oatmeal stout.
The Ontario Brewing Awards were held online on Saturday night. Sons of Kent Brewing Company won gold for its Scotch Ale, silver for Juice Box, and bronze for Don't Panic.
Co-founder and head brewer Colin Chrysler said these are the first awards the brewery has won. He said he's very excited and proud of the products and the team that helped make it happen.
"We're always trying to improve our recipes and trying to make the best possible beers we can," he said. "We submit beers to these awards sometimes and we hope for the best but this year we're really proud and really lucky."
Chrysler said like many businesses, Sons of Kent has faced challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic but the current circumstances have allowed them to experiment more.
"We have been putting out a lot of new, different beers because of the current situation with the pandemic so we've had more of an ability to package more unique beers as more people are coming in to take beer home with them," he said. "We've been able to experiment a lot this year and this is definitely an inspiration to do more."
Don't Panic was a successful experiment at the brewery as it was released at the beginning of the pandemic.
"It's a nod to one of our favourite writers Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker's Guide series but it was also a beer that we put out when the crazy toilet paper shortages were going on," said Chrysler. "People were panicking -- if you will -- so we wanted to put a beer out that was kind of an homage to that."
Chrysler said the hazy IPA category is very competitive in Ontario and is considered a popular beverage in the "craft beer world" so winning an award for Juice Box was very exciting.
"For us to get a silver in the is huge," he said. "[Since] it's available in the LCBO, we're constantly improving that beer and trying to make it as best as we can as it is somewhat of a challenging beer-style to do very well."
The Scotch Ale is a seasonal beer offered around the holiday season and will be available in the LCBO this year.
"We didn't know if we would win anything for that beer," said Chrysler. "We knew it's a really good beer but the fact that it's going to be in the LCBO for December makes it even more exciting because people across Ontario will now get a chance to try our gold medal award-winning beer."
The Scotch Ale will be available this week and Chrysler said there will be more beers available for the holidays.
"We have quite a few other releases coming up before the holidays. Some of them are still going to be a surprise but we'll have some of our fan-favourites [and] some old beers that are coming back again," he said.
Chrysler said sales at the LCBO and Beer Store have helped give the brewery a boost during the pandemic but Sons of Kent also has an online store, which went up early on in the pandemic.
"That has been a nice boost for us," he said. "People can actually order beer online and have it delivered right to their home across Ontario so win-win."