Local craft beers from Sassy Britches Brewing and Meuse Brewing were recognized at the Ontario Brewing Awards gala on January 17, 2025.
The Ontario Brewing Awards are an annual sanctioned brewing competition that celebrates excellence in craft beer within the province. Craft breweries can submit their brews across 38 different categories, with awards distributed annually. This year’s gala included a ceremony to announce the winners, food, and samples of the 2024 award-winning beers.
Sassy Britches, located in Brantford’s Cordage Heritage District, attended the awards gala and took home silver for their Cheeky Lass beer in the category of “Brown British Beer.”
Sassy Britches is a rebrand of the former Mash Paddle, and opened in March 2024 under the new name. Owner Tracey Shaw said it was “pretty exciting” to be at the awards within their first year of brewing.
“All of your hard work and the effort that you’ve put in over the eight months leading up to that, it just made it all worth it,” Shaw said. “We know we’re making a good product, but it’s nice to be recognized by your peers when you’ve done that.”
Meuse Brewing, in Scotland, won gold for their Saison de la Meuse in the category of “Strong Belgian Ale.” It’s their fourth consecutive year being recognized for this beer, which won silver in 2023, gold in 2022, and gold in 2021.
Winning multiple years for their beer feels “phenomenal,” said Estelle van Kleef, who owns the brewery along with her husband, Mischa Geven.
“We run our brewery with a focus or an emphasis on Belgian styles. So we’re really passionate about that kind of niche part of beer culture,” van Kleef said.
The Saison is their flagship beer. Being recognized for it year over year is “really helpful for us to kind of show that we’re not just putting something together, but we take our product seriously,” van Kleef said. “It’s reassuring that we’re doing something right… that it’s a good representation of the style.”
Winning the awards has a direct impact on their business, bringing out local customers to try a particular beer every time they win an award, van Kleef said. Since winning, they’ve received “lots of messages, lots of congratulations, and it’s great to get that kind of engagement with people.”
Several breweries from neighbouring counties were also recognized at the awards, including Wishbone Brewing in Waterford, Oranje Son Brewing in Caledonia, and Concession Road Brewing and The Blue Elephant in Simcoe.
For Meuse, having these local breweries honoured as well helps highlight the whole area.
“We have roughly around 10 breweries in our immediate area that year over year, more of us having been placing at the awards,” van Kleef said. “The local community gets really excited then that they’re in a beer region where the breweries are making really good beer.”
