Canadian Beer, eh!

[Lew_Bryson]

Agreed, lots of good Canadian beers. I drank a lot of Ex in my younger days, and really enjoy Unibroue and St. Ambroise now, like Wellington Arkell and County when I can get them.

But let's settle one thing right now: Canadian beer is not stronger than U.S. beer.

While that may be true, you are forgetting the dreaded Molson XXX and Labatt Maximum Ice which are in the range of 7% alcohol!

But I'm not, bubba, any more than you're forgetting Old English 800, Colt 45, Camo, Steel Reserve, and St. Ides, which are all right in that same skull-blasting range! Believe me, having tasted both country's big crap beers, NO ONE gets bragging rights on these babies!

[Chef Fowke]

I enjoy Labatt Ice when it is one looney per bottle in tons of bars I have been to in Canada. Canada beats the pants of the mid-atlantic US in drink prices.

Labatt isn't by any means a quality craft brew, this is true, but it still beats the pants off of most US megabrews.

Has anyone else tried the Upper Canada stuff? My roomate picks up multiple cases every time he goes through the Duty Free, should he be looking at something else?

Upper Canada Brewing Company is a 10/10! Really committed to great products. But still...the best Canadian beer, by FAR, is Creemore. Period. No debate...done!

But they are the best because they are small, locally brewed and distributed. I would hate to see them go the way of Sleemans and sell-out and become CRAP!

[rgruby]

Labatt isn't by any means a quality craft brew, this is John Labatts Extra Stock (a bit like Molson Brador) and Labatts Velvet Cream Porter were two that I really enjoyed yet they never found their way to the US market (at least where I lived). Neither was a microbrew but I'd put them up against any of today's "premium" products and believe they'd do respectably.

I believe both of those brews are long gone now. My memory of them is that they were both quite flavourful - darker and caramelly, and with actual ale flavours. I find most of the gruesome twosome's products virtually indistinguishable. Could anyone here taste Ex and determine if it is an ale as advertised? (As a side note - does anyone know if they actually use an ale yeast for the beers they call ales. They all taste like lagers to me, but maybe its because I have to drink 'em pretty much ice cold to choke them down.) I've recently discovered that Molson's Stock Ale is actually drinkable - I actually think it might be an ale, and has a caramel flavour that seems like it may actually be from grains as opposed to caramelized sugar.

I'm not really sure that the Canadian majors are much if any, better than their American counterparts. Both countries have fine micros. But I'd give the edge to the Americans for this reason - most of the Canadian microbrews (and their breweries) are fairly conservative - a lager, a pale ale maybe, maybe a wheat beer. But they tend to be fairly middle of the road - which isn't to say they aren't excellent or well crafted - but I am trying to say most of our brewers aren't making anything with their own style. I'm thinking of the highly hopped beers of the Pacific Northwest, for example. Mill St brewery has just released a quite hoppy pale ale, but at the moment its only available from the LCBO, which is not convenient to me at all. Unibroue is a possible exception to my argument, and I don't know the BC scene that well, but I don't see a range of fruit beers like New Glarus does, and I'm hard pressed to think of a micro thats even doing an IPA here in Ontario. How many make a brown ale? Black Oak's is good, but I think Brooklyn's is better. Does anyone else make one in Ontario? Porters? Few and far between. Lots of lagers - but again, Creemore makes a damn fine one, so why try to slice the rest of the micro lager pie even finer by introducing yet another international style lager (even if it is far superior to the major brands) when there is still a whole range of beer styles barely represented on our shelves? I think about all the beer available in Rochester, a city about a tenth the size of Toronto, and I realize, beer-wise, we don't have it very good here at all.

And, I heard C'est What is closing (a pub featuring virtually only Ontario and Quebec micros on tap). Is this true? If so, put a stake through its heart. We're done. It's over. OK - I'm editing this to say that I've now found out that only the live music room is being closed. It's not over. Long live C'est What.

Cheers,

RGRuby

Edited August 11, 2004 by rgruby (log)

[yoopernut9]

Probably not widely available, but McAuslan's Apricot Wheat is a lovely summer brew out of Quebec.

[turophile]

and now Coors and Molsons may be merging togeather ....one corporate identity.

I AM CANADIAN.. No Wait! I am American! No! I AM...Oh Geez I am so confused!

I 'll just stick with Big Rock, Unibroue (Now part of Interbrew Conglomerate.) and St. Ambroise

[turophile]

and now Coors and Molsons may be merging togeather ....one corporate identity.

I AM CANADIAN.. No Wait! I am American! No! I AM...Oh Geez I am so confused!

I 'll just stick with Big Rock, Unibroue (Now part of Interbrew Conglomerate.) and St. Ambroise

[Line Cook]

Unibroue is far superior to anything brewed in the U.S. I discovered it at a beer/wine tasting event and now serve it at my restaurant. In my opinion, these are the finest beers available.

[Chrisser]

Probably not widely available, but McAuslan's Apricot Wheat is a lovely summer brew out of Quebec.

←

MY personal favorite as well, the whole range of McAuslan brews is impressive, the most popular being St. Ambroise blonde.

[arielle]

From Unibroue: Maudite, Trois Pistoles, Fin du Monde, et 11.

From Camerons: Auburn Ale, and Lager.

Creemore: Lager.

Niagara Falls: Gritstone.

McAuslin: Abricot Wheat.

Ummmm, can't think of much else at the moment.......

Grasshopper wheat!

[Chef Fowke]

and now Coors and Molsons may be merging togeather ....one corporate identity.

I AM CANADIAN.. No Wait! I am American! No! I AM...Oh Geez I am so confused!

I 'll just stick with Big Rock, Unibroue (Now part of Interbrew Conglomerate.) and St. Ambroise

←

So true! It is quickly becoming on country on region! Thank god for Kookaney! Need that pure mountain water to brew, otherwise it would also be brewed in Sudbury!

[reverendtmac]

McAuslan's St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout is my favorite Canadian beer by a country mile; only ever had it on tap a couple of times, at the Lunar Rogue in Fredericton. Have to stop in there now that I'm at least within driving distance. I pretty much lived on Unibroue and Big Rock when I was out west - Blanche de Chambley and Black Amber Ale, respectively. And of course, the backup's Keith's.

Prince Edward Island surprises me with the variety of the big brews they bring in; I'm currently whittling at a case of Carlsberg, which I couldn't get in Saskatchewan. But I can't get my Big Rock, and I don't know if they carry Unibroue or not. Their single malt prices are so screamingly low that I can't resist buying that instead...

[aiki_brewer]

Any chance, after Tuesday, that we can get our Good Friends Up North to annex California? I promise we'll bring all of our breweries (Anchor, Sierra, Speakeasy, Stone, Anderson Valley, Bear Republic, Bison, Buffalo Bill's, Firestone Walker, Lagunitas, Lost Coast, Mad River, Mendocino, Moylan's, North Coast, Pete's, Sudwerk, and St. Stan's, to name a few) with us! (And maybe Pyramid and Rogue, too, if we can get WA and OR to come with us.)