Formerly Great Canadian Beer Thread

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Back in my university days we drank Labatt 50 ironically. I'm too young to have ever drunk from the stubby bottles, though.

Come to think of it, I resent the fact that Canada gave up the traditional stubbies and adopted the American long neck bottles. That was a cultural capitulation (yeah, I know, what a shocker).

The one beer guaranteed to give me a headache. Never knew why.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Really? To me Heineken's one of the most distinct of the macro imports. I would bet $100 that I could pick it out of a crowd of Bud, Coors, Molson, etc. and I only ever really drink it out of a semi-warm can on the golf course.

I admit it's been a long time since I had one but I recall it tasting very generic.

[MonctonRad]

Canadian Brewing Awards 2020 Winners - Atlantic Canada:

Bock – Traditional German Style
BRONZE: Bringing Sexy Bock | Garrison Brewing Company | Nova Scotia

German Style Kolsch
SILVER: Lighthorse Lagered Ale | Bogside Brewing | Prince Edward Island

Wheat Beer – German Style (Weiss)
SILVER: Wheat Kings County | Bogside Brewing | Prince Edward Island

Baltic Porter
GOLD: Two Rivers Baltic Porter | Tatamagouche Brewing Company | Nova Scotia

French and Belgian Style Saison
GOLD: Saison du Djâbe | Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault | New Brunswick

Belgian-Style Brett Beer
SILVER: Square One | Tatamagouche Brewing Company | Nova Scotia

German-Style Sour Ale Berliner-Style Weisse or Gose
BRONZE: Saltwater Cowboy Gose | Tatamagouche Brewing Company | Nova Scotia

North American Style Premium Lager
SILVER: Beach Chair Lager | PEI Brewing Company | Prince Edward Island

Light (Calorie-Reduced) Lager
BRONZE: Cracked Canoe | Moosehead Breweries | New Brunswick

Cream Ale
GOLD: The Specialist | Tire Shack Brewing Co. | New Brunswick

North American Style Pale Ale
SILVER: Uncle Leo’s Sunburst | Uncle Leo’s Brewery | Nova Scotia

New England Style India Pale Ale
SILVER: Creature Feature | Good Robot Brewing | Nova Scotia

American Style Imperial India Pale Ale
SILVER: Parkman Ave | Copper Bottom Brewing | Prince Edward Island

Fruit / Fruit Wheat / Field / Pumpkin Beer
GOLD: La Classic Rosé | Brasseux d’la Cote | New Brunswick

Session Ale
BRONZE: Setting Day | PEI Brewing Company | Prince Edward Island
SILVER: Azacca Session IPA | Propeller Brewing Company | Nova Scotia

Experimental Beer
GOLD: Moosehead Shaker Tropical Pina Colada | Moosehead Breweries | New Brunswick

Smoked Beer
SILVER: Moosehead Small Batch Rauchbier | Moosehead Breweries | New Brunswick

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I had a few bottles of Molson XXX back then. It certainly was terrible. For strong beers I used to drink (circa 1995-2000) ones made by Unibroue from Quebec. La Fin du Monde is 9% and you can still get it today. Tasted a lot better.

Labatt also had a strong one called Maximum Ice but I don't think it was actually that strong compared to XXX but I could be wrong. A friend of mine used to drink Labatt Wildcat Strong which was 6.1% but as cheap as any 5% discount brand.

I'm OK with beers in the 5.5-7ish% ABV range but anything above that is just too strong to be enjoyable for me. Not a fan of Fin du Monde...had it a couple of times in my younger days for the novelty but I would never buy it now. If I just want alcohol there's always vodka instead.

Also, I see that people love to dump on Coors Light but man, when you've been doing some work outside on a hot day, a cold one just goes down great.

[esquire]

Here's what was in my fridge over the summer... old school brands FTW:








This one only for the generous Air Miles bonuses I admit


Tastes like Winnipeg ICE WHL games




My favourite beer... named by Blue Bombers fans in honour of their team... it's true

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by harls

I remember back in my university days (early nineties) Moosehead was my go-to beer. You would always run the risk of getting a skunky batch. Still drank it anyway.

Anyone remember Molson XXX... it was something like 9.1%. I imagine it is like drinking lighter fluid or battery acid.

no, lighter fluid and battery acid tastes better than Molson XXX.

[jonny24]

I know it's owned by a foreign company, but I still see Sleeman advertising pretty regularly. Mostly their 2.0 low-cal beer. My brother drinks cases of their Original draft. When we went on their tour last year they said it's basically 50/50 whether 2.0 or Original is the higher selling in any given month.

I'm a homebrewer so I don't buy cases of anything very much at all, generally a mix of single cans. If I do need quantity for camping or a party I tend to grab Keith's for some reason. It was the first beer I got drunk and subsequently threw up on, but apparently I've come full circle. In college it was endless 8-packs of James Ready 5.5 - gotta get that extra .5% to get drunker! - but that was also when I started branching out into "fancy" and "dark" beers like Rickards REd and Guinness.

The complete abandonment of promoting the Canadian brands by the big multi-national is something I've noticed as well. Bud Gardens, Budweiser Stage, etc. Bud and Coors are all you see anywhere. Cross the border to Buffalo and Labatt branding is everywhere. Coors light isn't terrible, I'll take it over Bud Light every single time. Both go down real easy after a game or building a deck in the hot sun.

My dad used to be a dedicated Canadian Light drinker (how many even knew that existed?) and Canadian 67 when it replaced Light. But now he doesn't even have a "Canadian" (brand) option. Now I think he goes with Coors light out a lack of any particular interest in finding anything else, or sometimes I'll brew my dad beer* and bottle him a case now and then.

*Dad beer: Where no matter how little hops I actually put in, the review will always be: "A little hoppy, but pretty good". Like, single digit IBU's.

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

If anyone wants a nicer beer with a kick, Faxe Extra Strong has 10% alcohol and flavour to go with it.

My college rugby rookie initiation involved a sink full of those with hot water running over them for a few hours before consumption... it had a very short visit to my stomach before

Originally Posted by esquire

I admit it's been a long time since I had one but I recall it tasting very generic.

Has that classics green-bottle skunk. Decent beer but I agree, pretty identifiable.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Good grief, Molson Export. I had a roommate in Ottawa and when we went out we would buy Molson Export because it's the only beer you can order in the bar when you're too drunk to talk. Just cross your fingers.

My first bar beer was Pilsner (count the bunnies on the bottle). I pretty much drank that and Molson Export until beer changed. These days, I drink random offerings from the store, but I like Rebellion and District breweries which are local and I often have some of the BC offerings like Whistler and Okanagan Spring. I like Okanagan's advertising line of "let the OK times begin." Seems realistic.

My go to regular cheap beer is Rolling Rock from St. Louis. I like supporting places I've lived. Unfortunately, the beer I would want, Schlafly, is only available by special order.

What's wrong with Original 16? It's a reasonable choice by a group that saved their brewery from dying with corporate amalgamation. I do buy their beer, especially when it is the only thing available on tap that is local some places.

Where's SignalHillHiker in this thread? He'd have good local beer stories with the one brewery closing in St. John's. Black Horse was a rebranded usual suspect I think. Quidi Vidi was the local brewery with some nice options.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by jonny24

The complete abandonment of promoting the Canadian brands by the big multi-national is something I've noticed as well. Bud Gardens, Budweiser Stage, etc. Bud and Coors are all you see anywhere. Cross the border to Buffalo and Labatt branding is everywhere. Coors light isn't terrible, I'll take it over Bud Light every single time. Both go down real easy after a game or building a deck in the hot sun.

That's the part I don't understand, it would be one thing if the powers that be decided that Blue had its day and it was time to abandon the brand entirely. But that happened only in Canada really, with Blue still being fairly prominent in the rust belt states.

Why abandon it in its backyard but keep pushing it down there? What kind of corporate decision making went into that?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

My go to regular cheap beer is Rolling Rock from St. Louis. I like supporting places I've lived. Unfortunately, the beer I would want, Schlafly, is only available by special order.

What's wrong with Original 16? It's a reasonable choice by a group that saved their brewery from dying with corporate amalgamation. I do buy their beer, especially when it is the only thing available on tap that is local some places.

I've had Rolling Rock on tap a few times at a couple of bars in Winnipeg and it always tasted like the most watery beer. Even more so than Coors Lite, Bud Lite, etc. I'm generally not picky when it comes to beer but that is one that I didn't enjoy.

As for Original 16, it's a good beer, it's just not uncool enough for my tastes

In addition to my out of style domestic beers, my mom gets Polish beers from her friends with cottages in Kenora who buy from LCBO's impressive import selection. These are the ones I've been drinking lately:


Not great. Too strong for my tastes. Getting into Fin du Monde Unibroue territory. Although after a couple of these I would probably start forgetting about covid and Brian Pallister.



Also on the strong side, but generally lighter and easier to handle than Lomza. Goes well with pizza and a hockey game.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

That's the part I don't understand, it would be one thing if the powers that be decided that Blue had its day and it was time to abandon the brand entirely. But that happened only in Canada really, with Blue still being fairly prominent in the rust belt states.

Why abandon it in its backyard but keep pushing it down there? What kind of corporate decision making went into that?

At least here in Quebec (but I suspect elsewhere too) the impact of this pushing Bud and Coors to the front and Labatt and Molson to the back row has been to relegate all of their brands to Lucky Lager/Milwaukee's Best cheap swill status. (Was this the goal?)

I host a lot of pool parties (though not this summer of course) and I can't remember the last time someone brought a Molson's or Labatt's brand to my back deck. People don't bring Blanche de Bruges either, but since we're white collar professionals it's at least a level above what Labatt and Molson are perceived as these days.

Labatt and Molson are what guys like me take on a hunting or fishing trip these days - when you expect to drink lots and lots of beer so you want cheap stuff. There aren't many other occasions any more where we'd have a use for it. Perhaps the post-game beer in the locker room after a late night garage league hockey game?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

At least here in Quebec (but I suspect elsewhere too) the impact of this pushing Bud and Coors to the front and Labatt and Molson to the back row has been to relegate all of their brands to Lucky Lager/Milwaukee's Best cheap swill status. (Was this the goal?)

I host a lot of pool parties (though not this summer of course) and I can't remember the last time someone brought a Molson's or Labatt's brand to my back deck. People don't bring Blanche de Bruges either, but since we're white collar professionals it's at least a level above what Labatt and Molson are perceived as these days.

Labatt and Molson are what guys like me take on a hunting or fishing trip these days - when you expect to drink lots and lots of beer so you want cheap stuff. There aren't many other occasions any more where we'd have a use for it. Perhaps the post-game beer in the locker room after a late night garage league hockey game?

Yeah, that sounds about right. The formerly mainstream Molson/Labatt brands are maybe one rung above the cheap discount stuff (to the extent that any beers are cheap in provinces that don't have buck-beer ) , but the packaging, the labels, the image all speak to kind of a low end product, even though the likes of Molson Dry, Labatt Lite etc. are not really much cheaper than more popular mainstream brands. I wouldn't bring case of Blue over to someone's place, as you say.

If I offer someone one of those beers at my place it's usually met with a curious smile and some remark about nostalgia, like "wow, they still make this stuff?" And these are beers that would have been top 10 sellers barely 20 years ago!

[jawagord]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Question for older forumers. What would the stereotypical "beer snob" be drinking back in the 70's/80's? I imagine you were limited to some premium European imports from a specialty store or something.

Each province was (is) different, as beer had to be made in province so no Kokanee Gold or Moosehead in Alberta. I had a summer job one year at the local golf course clubhouse and stocked the beer cooler, they sold 6 brands of beer with Labatts Blue being the best seller (had 4 rows of cooler space). If you were a snob you drank Carlsberg.

Labatts Blue x 4
Molson Canadian x 3
Lethbridge Pil x 3
Calgary Export x 1
Carlsberg (Imported) x 1
Something else, maybe Alta 3.9

Never liked the stubby, glad it’s gone, an icon of government over regulation and beer company oligopolies.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

Love stubbies. A clear bottle though! Did it taste skunked?

Not really, it's a very light "lawnmower" macro.

I actually really enjoy such beers alongside the more socially prestigious and eccentric offerings from the small breweries.

[esquire]

^ I enjoy both types as well. People take this shit too seriously.

[Innsertnamehere]

I typically keep a 24 of Molson Canadian and Moosehead in the basement at any given time and supplement it with a wide mix of craft breweries.. I like Lake of Bays Brewery's stuff in particular.

I really do prefer craft, but it's significantly more expensive so I keep domestics around to keep my booze budget in check. A Molson costs like $1.40 after bottle deposit, while craft is $3.00+.

In the summer I'll buy a 24 of Corona and it'll last me the whole summer to have on a hot day.

All the "light" options are crap, I honestly don't understand why people drink it. Molson is a plain enough flavour as it is. I don't mind Bud, but prefer Molson.

The "import" beers from Europe are overpriced for what they are, I may as well just by craft.. so I tend to avoid them. Plus it's a hard pill to swallow to pay a big premium for Heineken all the time then go to the Netherlands to see it's the cheapest beer on the menu..

[Denscity]

It's all BC IPAs over here:

Tailout Single Spey
Begbie's Nasty Habit
And any IPAs from Vancouver's Philips, Russel or Twin Sails.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I really do prefer craft, but it's significantly more expensive so I keep domestics around to keep my booze budget in check. A Molson costs like $1.40 after bottle deposit, while craft is $3.00+.

I'm not sure if they deliver to Hamilton, but you can order a 2-4 of Great Lakes Brewing's blonde lager for $48, and slightly stronger (and tastier) Canuck Pale Ale for $54. That's for 473ml cans so it works out to more or less the same price. I've been ordering delivery from them throughout COVID - it's free for orders over $50 and shows up the next day! I think you can get cases at the Beer Store too - unit price is higher at the LCBO/grocery stores as they are sold as singles.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

French and Belgian Style Saison
GOLD: Saison du Djâbe | Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault | New Brunswick

This great beer name made me think of the Fils du Roy brewery and distillery on the other side of New Brunswick, in the Acadian Peninsula.

https://distill3.mywhc.ca/fr/nouveau-brunswick/

They have an Évangéline (brown walnut beer) and a Gabriel (spruce beer) beers that when mixed together make a cocktail called the "Philadelphie-Acadien".

For those who don't know, Évangéline and Gabriel are the legendary couple of Acadian lore. According to the story they were deliberately separated by the British during the deportation in 1755. They never saw each other for decades but spent their adult lives looking for each other. The story ends when an aged Évangéline finally finds an ailing Gabriel on his deathbed. He then dies in her arms.

The ending of the story takes place in Philadelphia. Hence the name of the cocktail.

[MonctonRad]

Interesting concept for a "beer cocktail"

Of course Evangeline & Gabriel weren't real people. I'm pretty sure that they were concoctions of Longfellow's imagination.

Cream Ale
GOLD: The Specialist | Tire Shack Brewing Co. | New Brunswick

The Tire Shack Brewery opened in Moncton just last year (but to rave reviews). It is located in an old tire shop in the downtown west end, hence the name. The young married proprietors are beer aficionados who decided to move home from Alberta, and somehow hired a brewmaster from Brazil to work with them. Obviously he must be very good if they can win a national award in their first year of operation.