‘Humbling honour’: Longtime Penticton brewery owners win big at B.C.-wide event

‘Humbling honour’: Longtime Penticton brewery owners win big at B.C.-wide event

Published 2:07 pm Saturday, October 17, 2026

There was no shortage of Penticton representation at the 2026 BC Beer Awards.

This year’s honours were handed out in New Westminster on Friday, Oct. 16, with Cannery Brewing and Tin Whistle Brewing among the big local winners.

Tin Whistle won best beer in show for its Black Window Dark Lager.

After celebrating 25 years in business earlier in 2026, Patt and Ron Dyck, owners of Cannery, were presented with the Legend award.

“Wow, this is an amazing and humbling honour for us both,” Patt said in a recorded video. “Look at B.C. craft beer today, we’ve come so far and achieved so much.”

Cannery marketing director Kim Lawton accepted the award on the Dycks’ behalf, with Patt and Ron unable to attend the ceremony.

“Patt and Ron created a place where we all belong,” said Lawton, who started working with the pair almost 20 years ago. “They care deeply about every member of our team. Everyone brings passion and loyalty to their jobs because of the leadership of Patt and Ron. They inspire us to take on more, to be better, to move the business forward.”

When the Dycks started Cannery in 2001, the term “craft beer” wasn’t commonly used, according to Joe Wiebe from BC Ale Trail.

“It was an exciting and awfully lonely time,” said Patt, who helped run one of two breweries in the South Okanagan at the time (Tin Whistle).

“We were craft beer missionaries. It was all about trying to get people to try beer that had flavour, and to get them to move outside the box of mainstream lagers, mostly.”

In the video, with Ron by her side, Patt recalled her husband driving across the province delivering beer in one-litre bottles to promote their product.

“It was one beer-drinker at a time, one community event at a time, endless tastings, endless miles, and we’re grateful for it all,” she added.

The Legend award is handed out annually to “individuals who have made significant contributions to British Columbia’s craft beer industry,” according to the awards website.

Tin Whistle, meanwhile, also topped 14 other entries in the specialty and experimental category, taking home first place for its Cherry Blossom Japanese Lager.

Other breweries with Penticton locations to take home awards were Abandoned Rail Brewing (third place in the Alternative Fermentables Beer category for its Gluten Schmuten) and Yellow Dog Brewing (third place in the International Lager category for its El Perro Cerveza Clara).

The BC Beer Awards had 31 categories. Judges received 900 entries from 95 breweries.