Elora Grand Lager
All or Nothing Brewhouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a vaguely hazy golden blonde colour, topped with a half-finger of short-lived, soapy white head. Some lacing. The cloudiness kind of intrigues me but otherwise nothing looks especially grand about this lager. The smell also provides no evidence that this beer deserves such a boastful adjective in its name - barley malt, maybe some lemony hops and honeyed sweetness. Decent, but not grand.

This is a fairly refreshing beer, but it's like they forgot to put the taste in. Pale grain malts with a twinge of grassy hop bitterness in the finish, which barely lingers for a second. There's some sweetness in the flavour profile but the bitterness is more prominent. Thin and watery, with heavy carbonation. Easy to throw back, and definitely tastier than most adjunct lagers.

It's hard to get excited about this stuff. I didn't pick up many adjunct notes, so I would at least rank this above your average macro lager. Drinkable and kinda refreshing, but not something I'm likely to get again. This one was in the OCB mix pack, and it seems like a pretty boring and questionable inclusion. Trafalgar isn't the most renowned brewery in craft circles but they definitely have more interesting, if not plainly better brews than their Grand Lager.

Appearance: It has a nice pale/golden slightly cloudy colour to it. It has a nice white head that dies down moderatly and has some lacing.

Smell: The aromas give out hints of grainy malts and grassy hops.

Taste: Like the aromas, it has a grainy and grassy taste to it with a slight bitterness.

Mouthfeel: It has a medium carbonation with a light body.

Drinkability: It's a smooth drinkable beer accompanied with bland flavours and aromas.

Bottle form the OCB discovery pack

Hazy pale blonde, one finger of white head, some lace. Smell is grainy, malt, cereal and bread like, lightly grassy but all this is overshadowed by a vegetable like corn scent. Taste is malty, grainy, lightly floral, mild earthy notes and a light bitter finish. Fell is ok, med carb, med body and a lightish feel but not watery though. Well its not good but there is no obvious infection like most of the stuff from these guys, I finished the bottle but I will likely never reach for another one. It looked pretty good in the glass though.

650ml bottle
5.0% ABV
I tried this beer on June 11, 2011 after purchasing from one of my local LCBO outlets. The beer poured a clear gold colour with a thin white head. The aroma is skunky malt, metallic hops, and other off smells. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium carbonation. The flavour is stale grainy malt, and acidic hops, with a sour finish.

Branded as "Maple Leaf Lager" and issued right before Canada Day. Says Elora Grand Lager in small print. Sneaky, I thought I was getting a new beer. I reviewed this last fall on my blog and wasn't impressed.

Pours a pale golden color with a sizable soapy white head that burns off after a minute leaving minimal lace.

Smells like honey-sweetened wet, mossy wood. Smokey dirt, freshwater and a trace of hops.

Tastes better than it used to, but still not great at all. Wet grains and a buttery note accented by a dirtiness before an overly salty aftertaste kicks in.

Light-bodied with a medium carbonation. Starts dry but goes sour in the finish. Combined with the salty aftertaste it's rather unappealing.

I have enjoyed a few products from this brewery in the past, but Elora Grand Lager is not one of them. A thin body, dirty smell and salty aftertaste add up to a disappointing experience. Why this is their flagship beer or keeps ending up in OCB samplers is a mystery I'll never solve.

Experience tells me that anything poorly made - not just beer, but clothes, furniture, pretty much everything - tends to look it, if not right away than sooner rather than later. Sure enough, it didn't take long for this thing's ratty head to dissipate nor for me to note that its filmy, unsettled complexion was not the result of an overly vigorous pour.

If we were to use our imaginations to liken this aroma to a living quarters, it would look something like a bare, rundown, one bedroom apartment in the seedy part of town. There's no decor and it needs a lot of fixing up. The simple scent of (stale) grains is made almost unpleasant by an off-putting twang. An unintended feature of the fermentation process?

Fortunately, its taste is fair. While I understand that 'Elora "Fair" Lager' wouldn't look as impressive on the label, I still think calling this 'Grand' is a little dishonest, or a disillusioned embellishment at least. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with 'fair' lagers - what's not to like about a lightly sweet, biscuity all-grain malt flavour and a brush of bitterness on the finish? That said, there's nothing romantic about it so why bother with the exaltation?

And speaking of overemphasizing things, if Trafalgar really wanted us to know this thing was dry-hopped they'd of done better to increase the hop dosage rather than print it in bold, capital letters across the top of the can. As mentioned, the beer has a suitable, considerably bitter finish - which alone makes it that much more refreshing and pleasing - but again, it's not enough that they aught to be boasting about it.

Elora Grand Lager is likable enough, but it's a beer that only its mother could truly love. By any definition it is pedestrian and plain, but by the same token easily tolerable. Bottom line: If you're the type who likes the music they play in the dentist's office, avoid wearing patterns and bright colours or take your toast without butter, then this is your kind of beer.

So in my review of Trafalgar's smoked stout I said I wouldn't buy any more beer from the brewery. The OCB summer sampler just went on sale so I bought it for the other beers and I'm pretending this one was free. So my expectations are low going in.

Pours a bright yellow colour with thick head. Lots of lacing. I'm feeling hopeful about this. Not much for smell or taste though. A hint if grassy hops, with a mild off flavour. Pretty bland. Carbonation is good at least.

A = a clear golden yellow; poured into a pint glass with small white head that didn't last more than a couple of minutes;
S = a very light smell; almost a bitter scent
T = a nice sweet malty taste with a hint of orange or floral taste
M = a slightly dry citrus aftertaste - almost a burnt taste; a bit too much carbonation for my liking
D = a rather decent tasting lager, nothing "wow" but nice overall

To be honest, not really sure why I picked this up... just really wanted to give the brewery another chance at redemption

Pours a deep straw yellow with a fizzy white head and poor retention.
Aroma is not much of anything, faint hint of sour grains and grassy hops.
Taste is quite grainy, corn, slightly metallic and a tad bitter in the finish.
Thin and highly carbonated, this is highly reminiscent of many a macro lager.

Part of the OCB Summer Sampler of cans. Heard nothing good about this brewery so this should be interesting. Can reads "dry-hopped" and claims to be "a refreshing lager for those who would like some flavour with their beer." Here goes!

A - Hard poiur into a nonick pint glass created an extremely fizzy 2 finger head that turns into a soapy-ish half finger. Grainy yellow with tons of noticable carbonation. Points for the head at least not disappearing.

S - Stinky from far away. Not in a good way. Closer it has just about nothing going on somehow. Maybe some corny/grainy notes and possibly a little bit of noble hop but that's after digging around.

T - Not pleasant. Like a failed macro lager. Corn or grains of some sort and hops are there again but there's an unpleasant flavour as well. Really sweet but the finish is not clean or crisp like a lager of this sort should try to be.

M - Light and fizzy. Doesn't go down easy and it's not pleasant to keep in your mouth.

D - I suppose this could be high if you're into bad lagers. Weak effort.

This beer claims to be something that will turn your attention away from mainstream macro lagers with buzzwords like 'dry-hopped.' I'd rather have something watery and flavourless than something that tastes bad.