Pipeline Lager
Roughneck Brewing

355ml can. Like its sibling, the Drillers' Ale, this is now made at Hog's Head. Thanks once again to Jim from the brewery for the sample.

This beer pours a clear, medium golden yellow colour, with two fingers of rather bubbly, very loosely foamy dirty white head, which leaves little beyond a few specks of sudsy lace around the glass as it quickly dissolves.

It smells of sweet pale malt, of the corn mash and rice pudding variety, a bit of barley for good measure, some mildly sour apple fruitiness, and leafy, floral, almost perfumed hops. The taste is more multivariant grains of the underclass - sweet corn grist, husky rice, and older brother barley, in a bit of an embarrassing cameo - with some middling overripe apple, and weak floral, earthy hops.

The carbonation is agreeably sedate, no rough edges here, the body medium-light in weight, and actually workaday smooth. It finishes well off-dry, the sugary sweetness - from the aforementioned sources - combining with the floral essence of the otherwise unremarkable hops to push things into buck-a-beer diabetes territory.

Kind of weird, that the ale from this brand has been recast into something more desirable, yet this lager here has been left to the wolves, all bottom-shelf sweet grain inanity. Blah, I'm hoping that the new owner is willing to spend a bit of time rejigging this particular stepchild - otherwise, it's back to the orphanage, I'm afraid.

Man, I CAN't wait to get this beer in the pipeline of The CANQuest (TM)! It seemed to take forever to get the picture approved, but now, it's full steam ahead.

From the CAN: "Roughneck Brewing Company is a craft brewery locally owned and operating in Alberta, Canada. Our beer is a celebration of the lifestyle and good times here in Western Canada. Brewed for your enjoyment, we guarantee this beer will be satisfying."; "Pipeline Lager is a traditional Canadian lager with a light gold colour and a clean crisp taste."; "All our beer is brewed in small batches using only the best malted barley, hops, filtered water, and yeast. The result is a great tasting all natural beer."; and they translate the ingredients as follow - Water (Eau), Malt (Malt), Hops (Houblon), and Yeast (Levure). That may prove to be useful someday.

The Crack revealed another CAN filled nearly to the rim. The Glug generated just over a finger of thick, foamy bone-white head with decent retention. Color was an unusually (for a lager) cloudy lemon-yellow. I have come to expect clarity from these beers, but it may not make a difference. Nose had a malty sweetness, about right for a non-adjunct lager. Once again, this is a welcome relief from the steady diet of AALs that The CANQuest (TM) has had me on for some time. Mouthfeel was unexpectedly full and kind of creamy with a metallic flavor on the tongue. I do not want to hear about it coming from the CAN as that is a myth in this day and age. Instead, it just was not terribly pleasant. Finish continued to have an off flavor, not just metallic, but also a strange bitterness, like an off fermentation, perhaps too hot for the yeast? I would not bother with this one.

Can from trade:

I'll give this new brewer the benefit of the doubt and suspect this first batch has "issues". Hopefully it will improve.

Thin, off tastes form poor attenuation, fast finish... malts are there but can't cover the poor brewing processes.

Will rerate if this outfit lasts a year.

355ml can poured into pint glass oct27 2009

A clear straw yellow with decent carbonation, and a two finger head that was gone before I typed the above sentence.

S some sweet grains and mild hops with the smell of a field after the snow melts in the spring

T not a bad beer but not worth bragging about, it tastes as it smells similar too Canadian macros

M its thin and light with lots of carbonation helping its cause

D easy too drink and the price is right

not a lot of beers being made in Alberta so I was bound to try it sooner or later, for a cheap beer it's pretty good

355 ml gold can, similar label as their Driller Ale.
From the label: "Roughneck Brewing Company is a craft brewery locally owned and operating in Alberta, Canada. Our beer is a celebration of the lifestyle and good times here in Western Canada. Brewed for your enjoyment, we guarantee this beer will be satisfying. Pipeline Lager is a traditional Canadian lager with a light gold colour and a clean crisp taste. All our beer is brewed in small batches using only the best malted barley, hops, filtered water, and yeast. The result is a great tasting all natural beer."

Gold colored with a foamy white head. Minimal lace or retention. Grainy, wet grass smell. Typical 'beer' flavor, same any other Pale Lager. Medium body, crisp finish. Don't want to sound too negative, but not much else to speak of. OK, not great, I will support a locally made product in the future.

$9.19 + tax / 6 pack