BC Beer Awards cancelled for 2020

It’s one of the biggest events of the year for the province’s craft brewery industry, but it won’t be happening this fall.

The 2020 BC Beer Awards have been cancelled due to COVID-19.

Even though the event wasn’t until October, the decision has been made well in advance to cancel the annual judging and festival.

“The premier recently announced BC’s Restart Plan. But even with these relaxed physical distancing measures, it remains unlikely the BC Beer Awards and Festival will be possible this year,” said a statement from organizers.

“Both events depend on large groups of people and have many points of potential risk.”

BC Beer Awards director Amanda Barry-Butchart says that with the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 infections in the fall, they felt it was the best decision to halt it now instead of down the road.

The plan is for the awards, which is a major event for many BC breweries, to return in the fall of 2021.