Original Joe's Honey Brown Lager
Big Rock Brewery

BigBry from Canada (AB)

3.29/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Happy Hour pint at Original Joe's, Macleod Trail.
This beer is a clear, copper brown color. Off white head, thin lines of foam ring the glass.
It smells of some caramel malt, and some sweetness, assume that is the honey.
The taste is caramel, a bit bready, and muted earthy hops. Lingering sweetness at the end.
The body and mouth feel are medium, carbonation gives an appropriate crispness.
Another decent, but still average honey brown lager.

Jun 09, 2014

biboergosum from Canada (AB)

3.48/5  rDev +12.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Big Rock's further contribution to the continuing Canadian fixation with honey lagers, available as a house beer at Original Joe's locations.

This beer appears a clear shady copper hue, with one finger of soapy off-white head, which leaves little in the way of lace on the way down. It smells of mild caramel malt, and a hint of plain honey. The taste is bready caramel malt, faint musty honey, and leafy, earthy hops. The carbonation is about average, the body medium in weight, with a zippiness that precludes any pretense of a (half) expected cloying nature - kudos for that. It finishes with a sweet herbal earthiness.

While nothing to shout from the rooftops or street-side patios for, this is a decent enough, average (in a respectable way) honey lager. And it killed the lingering thought in my head that OJ's house beers were just rebranded Big Rock staples - this sure is a different cat than Big Rock's Honey Brown.

Apr 02, 2011