Calgary Beer
Molson Coors Canada

 

 

341ml bottle poured into pint glass 2/7/13

A clear straw yellow with lots of big bubbles but just a short lived soapy film that leaves no lace

S sweet grains candied corn, hint of skunk but not overly offensive, some wet cardboard not much going on really just tastes like another macro

T more sweet malt then the nose with a faint chemical aspect that doesn't help its cause with a little rotten lemon

M stops short of being watery with big bubbles foaming up and then flattens out, sweet grains on the finish, about what I expect from the style

O about what I expected, plain boring macro lager with nothing really worth mentioning

Can't call me a homer with this one, I sell this beer for the Stampede every year and its sad how fast it moves, don't bother with this one unless your like me and needed thee label

 

 

341ml bottle, apparently brewed with 'the heart of Canada's world-famous Conquest Barley Malt'. This is more academia than nostalgia for me, as the original went dark well before my beer drinkin' daze began.

This beer pours a clear, bright golden yellow colour, with one fat finger of thinly foamy white head, which doesn't stick around for long, and leaves but a few measly specks of lace around the glass. It smells of pale, grainy adjuncts, and sharp, weedy hops. The taste is sweet, bready, somewhat corny grain, a slight skunky edge, and soft earthy hops. The carbonation is average, and a tad frothy, the body medium-light in weight, and just a bit clammy, but generally smooth. It finishes off-dry, the sweet tempered breadiness doing an adequate job of fending off the (fairly or not) expected skunkiness.

Not a whole lot different than Canadian, taste-wise, but just less offensive, in a hard to discern manner, and a wee bit easier to suck back. Now, let's talk about the off-putting idea of 'Calgary' beer being made in Lotustown, and the label further proclaiming 'Edmonton, Canada, union made'. Molson must lump every market west of Ontario together, or they were just being cheap and re-using old, out of date materials. Weak sauce.

341ml bottle poured into a 16oz pint glass.

A - Bubbly white head being fed with a constant stream of carbonation fizzing up the glass. The head fizzles out in seconds. Clean medium golden-yellow. Typical lager appearance.

S - Cereal grains, light malt, and some light piney hops. Nothing too special here.

T - Really sweet. Cereal, corn, sweet malt, barley. Really sweet taste for a lager, but I sort of like it. Much better than the skunky, musty adjunct flavors this style typically offers.

M - Lots of carbonation here, but it compliments the sweetness well. Kind feels like a soda to be honest. Pretty light bodied, as expected. Nothing unusual for the style.

D - Not too bad as far as adjunct lagers go. Nothing I'll be going out of my way to drink in the future, but I get the feeling this won't be the last I see of Calgary.

Straw yellow appearance with foamy white head that slowly settles down leaving some retention. Smell consists of corn adjuncts, malt with some sweetness; fairly average so far.

Taste consists of sweet malt, corn adjuncts and grain, with a hint of sweetness and hops. Taste is pretty light overall though and can be hard to pick up, drinkable though. Light bodied with high carbonation aftertaste is a dry, grainy taste.

First time trying this beer, but from what I hear it was sold in Alberta back in the day (long before I moved here at least). Couldn't resist an old school beer called "Calgary". Overall though, it's a fairly average adjunct lager. Buy it for the novelty.

A- Pours a very clear golden-ish color....better coloration than most of Molsons' other products anyways. It starts off with a semi thick, super white head, that looks bristly....it settles rather quickly into a patchy layer/ring around my glass. The carbonation, as expected, is big and aggressive, rising quickly to the top of the liquid. As for lacing, there really isn't any....that is all! Average looking at best.

S- Typical macro type aromas here; just slightly better with a little more malt richness/sweetness. With that said though, there is still grainy smells to go along with some underlying diacetyl and corn adjunct. There is a mild hop presence as well...above average IMO for this style.

T- I think this has more malt profile than a typical macro, as it just tastes more natural than others of this style...just decently good sweet malt I find. The finish is a mix of mild hop bitterness and a tinge of adjunct stickiness.

M- Thin bodied but definitely not watery, there is a cloying character that sticks to the top of my palate after the swallow. The carbonation is a bit zippy, but again, not unexpected....this is an average category for the brew.

O- I think this is a better beer than the norm for an adjunct lager. Even as it warms, it's not super offensive....I can tell that better quality ingredients are used in this. It's along the lines of PBR in terms of the style and I have no problem enjoying this at any time. I recommend this to anyone who gets a chance to go to Saskatchewan and buy this....still weird that this is only available there, yet brewed in Edmonton, AB...oh well!

"Cal-gar-EE, Cal-gar-AHH, Cal-gar-EE, Cal-Gar-AH-HA-AH-HA..." was how the Calgary jingle used to go. This used to be available in the big motor oil cans when it first came out. Now, I've seen it solely in the telltale green bottles, not surprisingly Molson's calling card of mediocrity. In all, this is drinkable, and somewhat less pungent than Molson's other green-bottle wares. But still, two points persist: why the green bottles, unless consumer indifference indicates to distant beer executives at Molson/Coors acceptance of unnecessary beer inferiority? And, relatedly, why continue to package mediocrity as another brand, when a cursory reading of the label exposes this as another dime-store Molson, green bottle production? Perhaps I digress, but the green bottles stick in my craw. Also, Molson is clearly capable of better, as Canadian attests. Lastly, isn't this website an object lesson in justified intolerance of beer mediocrity?

A finger of white head caps a fairly light golden body. While this is definitely less skunky than other Molson offenders, the telltale affront to the olfactory sense is nonetheless there. Mild corn sweetness intrudes occasionally, but not enough to impede the skunk express. The taste clearly suffers from the aforementioned olfactory abuse, and the dearth of adequate alternative flavors. This has surprisingly durable head and carbonation, more than I expected. Yet it isn't enough to salvage this from a justifiably subpar grade.

Avoid and, while enjoying a superior beverage, fire off an e-mail to Molson insisting that the company jettison the green bottles and improve its beer that continues to have potential and steady customers, but could and should be better beer. Mediocre.

341ml bottle poured in a highball glass. Enjoyed on a deck at my parents-in-law's house. This is a staple beer of my brother-in-law but I haven't had one in years.

Clear, pale straw yellow in colour. Bright white head is 1/4 inch on the pour, but quickly disappears.

Smells like your average macro lager. Grains with a light adjunct (corn?) sweetness.

Taste is actually better than I remember, but still nothing to write home about. Starts off in balance between hop and malt, but after the carbonation rush a sweetness cuts in and leads to a wet finish. Aftertaste is typical macro adjuct and grains.

Thin mouthfeel with lots of carbonation. Atleast it doesn't have the harsh astringent quality that most macros have.

This beer used to be brewed right in my own home town, until they closed the Molson plant here to increase production at their Edmonton plant to full capacity. This beer is only brewed in Edmonton, but I don't think it's quite what it was when it was brewed in Regina. Others have stated that it's definitely not what it was years ago. However, you could drink a worse Molson beer than this, but that isn't saying much.

Ahhhh…fond memories of Calgary export beer. It was a true western dry lager made with specially malted conquest barley malt and hops from BC…It was crisp, tart and finished dry…a wonderful delight to cut the bald-ass prairie dust otta your throat on a hot summer day spent traveling to the stampede…..But I say “WAS” because it is no more…Molson’s closed the Calgary brewery and I fear the recipe for Cal-EX went south.

This beer has the familiar trademark of the buffalo head in the horseshoe but that is where the resemblance ends. I was shocked when I saw this beer I thought was extinct sitting on a shelf in a Saskatchewan beer store …so I bought a 12. It certainly isn’t Calgary Ex the way I remember it . This beer is far too sweet and missing the distinct hop tartness and dry finish that Cal-EX was renown for.

Poured a medium straw color. Small cap that laced out nicely no strong aromas…slight wisp of sweet grains. Started peppery from the carbonation then a sweetness wrecks the hop balance and the body goes thin and malty with a musty bready finish….not Cal-EX…but some kind of Molson mega brewed pale lager with no character.