Alberta Genuine Draft
Big Rock Brewery

Alberta Genuine DraftAlberta Genuine Draft
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Big Rock Brewery
 
Alberta, Canada
Style:
American Lager
Ranked #307
ABV:
5%
Score:
66
Ranked #28,269
Avg:
2.59 | pDev: 30.89%
Reviews:
26
Ratings:
45
Status:
Active
Rated:
Sep 07, 2022
Added:
Feb 01, 2003
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  13
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by imfinished:
Photo of imfinished
Rated by imfinished from Canada (BC)

2.59/5  rDev 0%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75

Sep 12, 2015
More User Ratings:
Photo of ChrisCage
Reviewed by ChrisCage from Canada (AB)

3.17/5  rDev +22.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
A- Pours a light pale yellow color, and has a white, very fizzy head that dissipates quickly. There is very little in terms of lacing, and the carbonation looks to be of large aggressive bubbles rising in swift fashion toward the top of the liquid. Overall this has very little excitement and looks to be Big Rocks' version of a macro lager.

S- Yup, this has the makings of a macro! Big aromas of boiled cow corn, grits, perhaps some muted barley extract, diacetyl, and even scented rice. Little to no hop profile.....just a slightly better version of a BMC brew!

T- Now the flavor isnt really that bad here! The malt profile shows up a little stronger and this tastes like how a better than macro brew should be! Bready notes, barley, both malted and raw, dry grasses, still some boiled corn or rice in the mash and the finish does show some faint hop profile. Overall I cant complain in this department.

M/O- Mouthfeel, as to be expected, is light and crisp with aggressive carbonation keeping the palate cleansed. The drinkability is decent enough, and would be a good pairing with greasy pub grub. Overall, its not a go to, but for the price, I find if on the high end of the cheap beer spectrum. Give it a shot anyhow!
Sep 07, 2022
Photo of harangatang
Reviewed by harangatang from Canada (NS)

2.84/5  rDev +9.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.75
Packaged: 03-11-2020
Purchased: 11-01-2021

12 oz can into 16 oz glass

Look:
- Appearance is average for style. Nice rich gold colour like a Dortmunder, but marred by poor head retention. So clear you could see through miles of the stuff. Lacing is non-existent.

Smell:
- Unfermented wort dominates. It smells like a brew day. Not a bad thing, but unusual, because this is definitely fermented, and you'd expect hop aroma in some amount.
- Freshly baked bread
- Faint DMS
- Hints of hops are detectable. I don't even think there were any late hop additions.

Taste:
- Bready, with a little sweetness
- Hop bitterness appears in the background (nominal IBU of 12)
- Unfermented wort flavour is subdued
- Hint of cooked corn
- Overall, a more clean taste than the smell lets on

Feel:
- Carbonation is firm but not too high like many adjunct lagers (assuming AGD contains adjunct and isn't merely corny from low-quality pale malt)
- Finishes well; still has that malty weight. Their website claims "this is a pure malt beer" with no additives or pasteurization.

Overall:
- The beer is a little off-balance. Should've sprung for a bit more hops.
Jan 16, 2021
Photo of TerryW
Reviewed by TerryW from Canada (ON)

2.75/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
Short lived head gives way to nuthin'. Slightly less than clear bright gold. Artificially fruity nose,some nominal grass and malt. Malt sweet, corn to taste. Some sparkle from carbonation. Got meh written all over it. Big Rock generally manages better.
Nov 03, 2020
 
Rated: 2.02 by aklavall from Canada (AB)

Aug 07, 2020
Photo of Tony787
Reviewed by Tony787 from Canada (ON)

3.32/5  rDev +28.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3.25
bought at Loblaws grocery store in Ontario .
It's a very light tasting beer not much head goes away quickly when drinking it
Beer is ok maybe would buy again if there was a sale price
Cheers.
Jun 14, 2020
Photo of Pmicdee
Rated by Pmicdee from Canada (ON)

3.25/5  rDev +25.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
December 23 2019
Dec 24, 2019
Photo of LocalBeerGuy
Reviewed by LocalBeerGuy from Canada (SK)

3.3/5  rDev +27.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
bought 15 pack of it for about $26 pours out light tan dark like color to it very little head goes away fast taste is a bit sweet with hint of nugget and small amount of hops with little Carbanion.
Sep 28, 2019
Photo of thehyperduck
Reviewed by thehyperduck from Canada (ON)

2.88/5  rDev +11.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3
Tallboy can from Superstore; best before Oct 5 2019 and served well chilled. Just for laughs, every 1000th review I'm going to select a beer that I already know (from past experience) is no good, but haven't bothered to review. My top/bottom choice was Bow Valley Strong, but that slop isn't even shipped to this side of the country, so I had to settle for the next closest thing.

Pours clear and effervescent, with a pale golden-yellow body topped off with a quarter-inch cap of fizzy foam. It lasts sixty seconds or so, and that's probably being generous; in the end, only a sickly-thin collar remains. This looks like a macro lager. On the plus side, its nose is quite clean, with only a twinge of grainy malt sweetness and grassy hay to speak of.

Served cold, this beer doesn't taste too bad: it'd be fine for mindless summer swilling, at least if you're a macro lager drinker. It tastes of grainy pale malts, corn sugar sweetness and not much else. No trace of the hops, which would be fine if I were grading this as an adjunct lager; there's also a cotton candy note in the aftertaste. Light in body, with middling carbonation levels that provide a decent bite at first, but exhaust themselves quickly, resulting in a more tepid, unappealing mouthfeel over time. You can avoid this issue by just chugging it quickly, like you're supposed to, instead of being a huge dork like me and simultaneously trying to write an essay about it.

Final Grade: 2.88 a forgettable C grade. Alberta Genuine Draft is just the sort of industrial crap I was looking for. Big Rock states that only Albertan pale barley malts and hops were used to brew this, and I'm certainly in no position to claim otherwise, but the fact is that AGD doesn't taste any better than macro brands such as Sleeman OD or Brewhouse. On the plus side, I'd definitely take it over Big Rock's Bow Valley line, as well as the barrel bottom-scraping value brands like Lucky, or anything with 'ice' in its name. It's the sort of brew I'd politely accept if offered, but wouldn't dream of buying again. If they can't price this in the vicinity of $2 a tallboy, I don't even see the point of bringing it to Ontario, but at least I was able to use it for my 2000th review.
Jul 10, 2019
 
Rated: 5 by Jimmyp86 from Canada (AB)

Apr 24, 2017
Photo of Zokambaa
Reviewed by Zokambaa from Canada (AB)

3/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
As far as bargain beers go, this is surprisingly drinkable... no better or worse than kokanee, corona, bud, canadian etc, and kind of like a bit less flavorful Grasshopper, I add a little lime to it and it is even better...

I didn't notice a horrible smell about it like some mentioned about the older stuff in the red can, it is a weaker tasting beer and not overly carbonated, however, it is still 5% and with the pop top that turns the can into an aluminum cup it would be super easy to slam this beer... if you are going to binge drink, it appears this would be perfect.

It is super easy to drink so it would be great after hiking or on a hot day when any easy drinking beer would do

The beer comes in a different can than this site previously showed for the old version though, the new can makes it known that Big Rock brews it and it has a simple beige and orangey red colored logo, so I believe they changed the formula too. I tried it a few years ago in the old cans like it shows on this site in another review, but didn't care for it... now in the new cans it seems more palatable and has no foul odour (it is unpasteurized so perhaps some people got old stock?)

Sure, it is not a high end beer you savour and it is a bargain beer so I didn't expect it to be like a craft beer, but it tastes better than many of the big factory beers and better than the other budget beers... so if you are out of work and still want to have a beer but don't want to spend a fortune, this will still work until you can pay $10 for a single bottle of craft beer in the liquor store again

As per the Big Rock Brewery site : http://bigrockbeer.com/beer/alberta-genuine-draft

Key Ingredients:
Yeast: Big Rock's own special yeast,
Hops: Nugget and Willamette
Malt: 100% Alberta grown malt

Appearance:
Clear, pale golden yellow

Aroma:
Light malts, mild hops

Mouthfeel:
Light body, medium carbonation

Food Pairing:
Chicken burgers, pork chops, trout fillets and bratwurst.
Feb 26, 2017
Photo of PassTheBaileys
Reviewed by PassTheBaileys from Canada (MB)

2.05/5  rDev -20.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 1.25 | feel: 1 | overall: 2
Well, the beer seemed popular as hundreds of people were drinking it but for $6.00 at a festival this wasn't worth the money....or the upset stomach following the next day. Probably the most disgusting thing to ever touch my insides, I was gagging all night I had to chase it with a palm bay hours after my stomach finally settled. Wouldn't recommend even if you were as desperate to get drunk as I was. Not worth it. Seriously. Cash me drinking bud light over AGD (Bud light is trash too but compared to this lol.. its gold)

P.S .

It isn't that bitter which was nice
Feb 21, 2017
Photo of Dean1139
Reviewed by Dean1139 from Canada (BC)

3.76/5  rDev +45.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
I think this is a good cheap beer. Taste smooth and will go down easy, not much suds so it's not as filling. A summer beer cause it's so easy to drink, plus the price is right.
Oct 10, 2016
Photo of staypuft
Reviewed by staypuft from Canada (AB)

2.06/5  rDev -20.5%
look: 2 | smell: 1 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2
One of those basic bargain beers that in this case have those pull top cans where you can really bask in the horrendous aroma of this beer. It's not terrible tasting, it just doesn't smell particularly good. It's crisp enough to 'get the job done' on a hot day when you're hurtin' for cash.
Sep 07, 2016
 
Rated: 3 by Howlader from Canada (AB)

Sep 04, 2016
Photo of headlessparrot
Reviewed by headlessparrot from Canada (ON)

2.93/5  rDev +13.1%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
At least one local bar has a "price of crude" beer, a program through which the cost of a pint of a certain brand is pegged to the cost of a barrel of oil.

Given the current low cost of oil, that brand these days is AGD--because it's the cheap stuff.

And, okay, it's not heinous; nor is it particularly good: suffers from the Big Rock yeast, which I find evocative of packing peanuts, and it leans sweet, without any of the crispness or hop bite I like to see if I'm drinking a pale lager. Indeed, there's almost a blonde ale-like fruity, estery-ness here. Flavours of slight lemon, a touch of pale, biscuit, crackery malt.

I'm not mad at it, and at the current price of crude, under $4 for a pint ain't so bad.
Mar 29, 2016
 
Rated: 2.77 by Mlkluther from Canada (AB)

Mar 07, 2016
 
Rated: 1.61 by Leif_Eriksson from Canada (AB)

Mar 06, 2016
Photo of MilkLeg
Reviewed by MilkLeg from Canada (AB)

2.64/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
This stuff had the right watery consistency and right price point to justify puncturing the bottom of the can with your keys before cracking open and drinking as fast as possible, then repeating the process as many times a night as capable for a 17 year old.
Feb 19, 2016
 
Rated: 2.25 by schopenhauerale from Arizona

May 25, 2015
Alberta Genuine Draft from Big Rock Brewery
Beer rating: 66 out of 100 with 45 ratings