Billo Premium Cannabis was honored earlier this month earning five awards at the THC Classic hosted by Rooster Magazine.

“We have employees that put their blood, sweat and tears, and their heart and soul into this as a business that they want to be the best,” said Dave Wittlinger, Billo’s marketing director. “It’s just like Mythology Distillery where they want not just to make spirits; they want to make great spirits. … It’s the same for us. We have guys that have been with the company for many years that really take this very seriously, and they take great pride in what they do. They have perfected the craft of growing these plants.”

Billo earned two second-place awards including one for Mexpresso in the Best Live Resin category and for Banana Mac in the Best Live Resin Vape category. Billo also earned third-place medals for Deep Fried Oreoz in the Best Indica Strain category, Sour Sage in the Best Sativa Strain category and Peking Duck in Best Hybrid Strain category.

The contest is one of the state’s largest cannabis and hemp competitions, and it’s a blind-judging cannabis competition where the products in each category are presented to judges in unlabeled, unmarked containers. The event is open to licensed dispensaries, wholesalers and manufacturers that enter categories for best flowers, concentrates, edibles, vape pens and infusions in the Colorado marketplace across 23 categories.

Every entry is awarded a score that determines its place in each category, and the judges also name a grand champion for the product with the highest overall score in the competition. This year the House of Dankness took home the top honor for Soap, a sativa-leaning hybrid.

Wittlinger said a panel of five judges reviewed each entry and scored them based on a set of criteria including attributes like appearance, flavor, quality of the effect and potency. There were over 400 submissions this year, making these awards one of the most competitive in the competition’s 11-year run.

“It’s such an honor to be recognized for the fifth year in a row. It highlights how hard the team has been working and how we continue to focus on quality above all,” said Dave Kulberg, head of grow operations at Billo. “It feels good to come home with trophies in a wide range of different categories, and it further solidifies that Billo is a well-rounded company, making premium products from flower to extracts.”

Billo was founded in 2017 by a group of local business owners who envisioned putting Steamboat Springs on the state’s map of great cannabis cultivators.

The ownership group is firmly planted in the community. There are currently 36 people employed by Billo, and many of them have been with the company for over four years. Billo’s grow operation and lab are in Steamboat Springs, along with a retail outlet at 3150 Ingles Lane. Billo also distributes products to more than a dozen dispensaries across the state.

“What we value so much about this particular competition is how it’s blind-judged by cannabis experts,” said Charlie Peddie, Billo’s chief of operations. “It takes all of the brand bias out of the final selections and allows the best products to win.”