Varsity Hall Red Ale
Snake Lake Brewing Company

 

 

355ml can - Varsity Hall sounds like the kind of places in Edmonton that my Dad and his friends haunted in his youth. He calls them 'beer parlours'.

This beer pours a murky, dark orange-brick brown colour, with three fingers of puffy, rocky, and sort of shiny ecru head, which leaves some random splotchy lace around the glass as it slowly but surely sinks out of sight.

It smells of grainy and crackery caramel malt, a lesser biscuity toffee sweetness, some mixed domestic citrus rind, a hint of damp minerality, and further leafy, weedy, and piney green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, white breakfast biscuits, some blood orange, white grapefruit, and lime citrus pith, chalky iced tea powder, and more earthy, leafy, and piney verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-propping frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, with a wee airy creaminess arising as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes off-dry, the malt asserting itself over the waning citrus and forest floor detritus hops.

Overall - this is probably one of the better West Coast-style red ales that I have had in a long while. Biscuity malt, citrus and pine, and hey, you've got this guy hooked right off the bat! Yup, a fine start for (one of) the latest entries into the booming Alberta craft beer market.

I love it when a brewery opens with a sense of "place", and Snake Lake is off to a fine start. Varsity Hall was an important spot in Sylvan history, and this beer hits the mark when it comes to taste and feel. This is a confident, subtly hopped red that allows the tasty malt to dominate before the piney hops announce their presence. Overall, a well crafted beer that should help put this brand new operation on the map.