VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - June 13, 2012) - Russell Brewing Company (TSX VENTURE:RB), a Western Canadian craft brewery, won a silver medal for Nectar of the Gods Wheat Wine Ale at the Canadian Brewing Awards in Montreal on Saturday June 9^th, 2012 in the Wood and Barrel Aged Strong Beer Category.

Nectar of the Gods Wheat Wine Ale is the company's first barrel-aged beer. It is a true single-batch brew that was carefully aged in Tennessee Whiskey barrels for over four months providing the beer with layers of flavour complexity including a fruity-ester character and vanilla-like flavours and tannins. A premium selection of malts were used including Wheat Malt and a combination of Pilsner and Munich Malts. The hops were sourced from the USA and France. The US Columbus Hops provide a firm bitterness and the French Strisselspalt Hops offer a lusty black currant flavour and balanced finish. After the barrel-aging, the beer was bottle-conditioned which resulted in natural carbonation and sediment. The 2011 vintage was completely pre-sold to specialty retailers in BC. 2012 vintage will be released mid-summer.

"Nectar of the Gods is our first barrel-aged beer and we are thrilled that it received a silver medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards," said Andrew Harris, President, Russell Breweries Inc. "We are committed to brewing speciality beers and want to thank all the loyal retailers that help propel the craft beer industry by supporting the diverse range of beer styles being brewed in Canada today. It is through their support that we can continue to create unique, single-batch beers like Nectar of the Gods Wheat Wine Ale."

About Canadian Brewing Awards

The Canadian Brewing Awards are the premiere competition for judging the quality of Canadian brewed beer. The contest is the only truly national competition that invites breweries of all sizes from across the country to compete in a blind tasting to see who brews the best beer in a variety of style categories. A Canadian Brewing Award medal is now a widely recognized symbol of brewing excellence in Canada. A panel of approximately 25 Certified Beer Judges (BJCP) consider five criteria: aroma, appearance, flavour, mouth-feel, and overall impression when judging the beer. This year, there were 559 beers in 37 categories entered into this year's competition from 96 Canadian breweries.

Russell Brewing Company

Russell Brewing Company is a small-batch brewery located in the Strawberry Hill area of Surrey, British Columbia specializing in brewing high-quality flavourful ales and lagers. Russell Brewing Company has a sister craft brewery in Manitoba called Fort Garry Brewing Company. Both Russell and Fort Garry are wholly owned subsidiaries of Russell Breweries Inc., a public company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RB" (TSX VENTURE:RB). [ www.russellbeer.com ] | [ www.fortgarry.com ]

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