Even though Shelburne’s Boxing Rock Brewing Company is a relative newcomer to the craft brewery scene, it now has a medal in every colour from the Canadian Brewing Awards.
Boxing Rock earned a silver medal at the 2018 Canadian Brewing Awards and Conference, held May 24-26 in Halifax.
This is Boxing Rock’s third Canadian Brewing Awards medal since opening in 2013. The only South Shore brewery to win a Canadian Brewing Award this year, Boxing Rock won the silver medal for its Temptation Red Ale in the North American Style Amber/Red Ale category.
Temptation Red Ale is one of Boxing Rock’s original three beers — the other two being Hunky Dory and Vicar’s Cross — and is still in regular production.
In 2017, Boxing Rock won the gold medal for its Stayin’ Alive Bock in the Bock — Traditional German Style category, and in 2014, the bronze medal for its Vicar’s Cross Double IPA in the Imperial India Pale Ale category.
Beers from all over Canada are entered in 55 style categories at the Canadian Brewing Awards. A panel of judges evaluates these beers in blind taste tests to choose the three best ones in each category.
Boxing Rock co-founder Henry Pedro notes that this award is special because it recognizes Temptation Red, one of Boxing Rock’s regular brews, rather than a specialty brew. “That’s why I was so stoked about it. People will ask us, ‘Where do you get Red?’ I’ll say, ‘Everywhere.’ If you want to drink a medal-winning beer, we’ve got it.”
Awards offer welcome recognition of a job well done, but Pedro is quick to point out that that’s not why he’s in the craft brewery business.
“We certainly don’t brew Red to win awards. We brew Red because we like it and we think it’s good. But it is nice to get a pat on the back every now and then,” Pedro says. “But that’s not really the pat on the back I’m looking for. The pat on the back I’m looking for is people coming in the front door, saying, ‘Hey, this is really good stuff.’ That’s what gets our motor turning.”
In another milestone for Boxing Rock, Boxing Rock’s other co-founder, Emily Tipton, served as the keynote speaker at the 2018 Canadian Brewing Awards and Conference. Tipton has the distinction of being the conference’s first female keynote speaker.
In her hour-long speech, Tipton emphasized inclusion and the community-building aspect of craft brewing.
“I tried to explore the idea of why we do this,” Tipton recalls. “I talked about entrepreneurship and the importance of making tangible things that are rooted in communities, and why building a community is actually a big part of craft beer. I talked about women in brewing, and why proactive inclusivity is really important for us as an industry.”
Besides her work with Boxing Rock, Tipton is also president of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia.
