Beach Break
Lake of Bays Brewing Company

I will preface my post by saying I have always loved beers from Lake of Bays Brewing Company in Baysville, Ontario. However this offering was less than favourable.

Beach Break ~ Lager with Lime is 3.5 percent and 10 IBUs. As a light beer it is fine. Watery and refreshing with a dry finish, but unremarkable overall.

The problem I have with it though is there is no lime smell or taste.

So it does not meet expectations.

Final grade: C+

Pale straw yellow under a big soapy looking head. Slightly hoppy lime-tinged nose. Thin bodied. Not high end stuff. Feeble hops, hint of lime, metallic. Another below average effort by LoB.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Apr 15 2019 and served well chilled.

Pours clear, pale straw-yellow, sporting half an inch of loose, frothy white head that lasts for little more than a minute. A thin collar is the only surviving remnant; no cap, and not a speck of lace to be seen. Looks like a typical light beer. Subtle and clean on the nose, with only a few hints of lime zest and gritty, grainy pale malts to speak of.

Tastes tolerable - but with only some grainy pale malts and concentrated lime flavouring comprising the flavour profile, there's not much of anything here to offend the senses. Just a touch of grassy, floral hops at the finish; limey-ness takes over in the aftertaste, but fails to linger for long. Light in body, with zippy carbonation levels that enthusiastically prickle and prod the palate, beautifully accentuating its citrusy flavour; pretty sessionable, though I think the lime flavouring would become tiresome after a while.

Final Grade: 3.38, a B-. Lake of Bays Beach Break is a prototypical light lime beer, which makes it pretty unremarkable overall. I feel as if this one is ten years too late - maybe I'm wrong, but I think the Bud Light Lime craze is mostly over at this point. Either they're hoping for a revival of that trend, or they're just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. As far as light beers go, this is above average, but it's not something I'm likely to return to in the future.

473 ml can from the LCBO for just under $3 CDN. Served cold into an MGD pint glass. Did not realize this was 3.5% ABV when I bought it, I'm thinking this is a craft solution for Bud Light Lime. Reviewed right after working in the yard, so this is what this brew is intended for.

Appearance - Super pale straw color, little bit of haze and a small half finger of head that fizzles out in seconds. No retention no lacing and modest amount of visible carbonation.

Smell - Grainy, adjunct lager like with a hint of lime.

Taste - Surprisingly intense flavor, although it's an unrefined grainy flavor, subtle bits of lime at first although seems like an additive.

Mouthfeel - Light bodied and reasonably well carbonated, but there's a rough around the edges quality here that isn't becoming of a light lager.

Overall - Hard pass, although for what it is it's acceptable. Not certain whether it is better or worse than Bud Light Lime.

June 16 2019