100+ Medals & Counting
Awards & Recognition
No other club in Canadian homebrewing history has won as many national medals in as short a time. Here's BeerShack's competition record.
The Record
Only Club to Win NHC + GCHC in the Same Year
That headline isn't marketing — it's a verified fact. BeerShack is the only homebrew club in Canadian history to take top honours at both the National Homebrew Competition and the Great Canadian Homebrew Championship in the same year. Learn about how we built this record.
These aren't small events. The NHC draws thousands of entries from across North America. The GCHC is the proving ground for Canada's best homebrewers. Winning one is an achievement. Winning both in the same year — that's never been done before or since by any Canadian homebrew club.
Verified Results
Medal Highlights
Brown Brawler
Brew Slam 2019 — Canada's Largest Homebrew Competition
BJCP 13B: English Brown Ale
Louis De Bourbon — BeerShack Brewers
BOS Panel Invitation
Canadian Brewing Awards
Ed Koren
BeerShack Brewers
National Homebrew Competition (NHC)
Only club to win NHC + GCHC same year
BeerShack Brewers
Great Canadian Homebrew Championship
Only club to win NHC + GCHC same year
The Count
100+ National Homebrew Competition Medals
One hundred national homebrew medals is a record in Canadian homebrewing. It's also not the full count — it's just the national-level ones. Regional wins, local competitions, and BJCP-sanctioned events add more to the tally. Meet the master brewers behind the medals.
The medals span every major BJCP style category: ales, lagers, Belgians, stouts, porters, IPAs, English bitters, brown ales, wheat beers, and specialty styles. BeerShack doesn't specialize in one thing — we compete across the board and win across the board.
Each medal represents a beer that was brewed, bottled, shipped to a competition, and evaluated blind by BJCP certified judges against dozens of other entries. There's no name recognition in blind judging. The beer has to speak for itself.
That's the part we're most proud of. Every single one of those homebrew competition medals was earned by the quality of the beer in the glass — not the name on the entry form. See what we brew.
Where We Compete
Homebrew Competitions We Enter
National Homebrew Competition
American Homebrewers Association
The world's largest amateur homebrew competition. Thousands of entries from across North America, evaluated in multiple rounds by BJCP-certified judges. BeerShack has won at the highest level.
Great Canadian Homebrew Championship
GCHC
Canada's premier homebrew championship. The proving ground for the country's best amateur brewers and the competition where BeerShack made Canadian homebrewing history.
Brew Slam
GTA Brews · Toronto, ON
Canada's largest homebrew competition. In 2019: 819 entries, 281 brewers, 9 provinces, 77 certified judges over 3 days. Lou's Brown Brawler took gold.
On The Other Side
We Judge Too
Competing is one thing. Being trusted to judge is another. Lou has served on judging panels at major Canadian competitions, including the Best of Show panel at the 2010 Canadian Brewing Awards — where the top beers from every category are evaluated head-to-head. Lou is active in the BJCP judging community and regularly volunteers at homebrew competitions across Ontario.