Canadian Macro Lagers

I lived in Vermont and we used to have a guy smuggle Brador back. That shit was gas. I remember having some of the worst headaches ever after drinking that.

 

Just checked Andy's web site -- looks like they've really gone up-scale!

 

A lot of the Molson brands were just not available when I was young up in Canada. You had Canadian, Golden, and that's honestly all I really remember. Export ale was not available in Western Canada, only East. In fact it still "might" be this way. I absolutely adored Export Ale the very rare times I had it, and still have only seen it in Quebec. I was never a fan even as a youngster of Molson products... but they were the Ad juggernaut of the Canadian beer world.. and still are. Molson Light? I am not sure I even head of it?!

My dislike for Molson had more to do with I think in all fairness marketing and branding more than taste back in those days.

Let's also not forget about the Dry beer craze...

Let us now reminisce about Extra Old Stock, and Black Label for the record... in stubbies of course.

 

Yeah, well, I'm unsure of the period you're referring to but, as an American who mostly just beer-shopped in Ontario - plus, maybe once or twice in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces - I never had to learn the peculiarities of Canadian distribution (there was some law or rule about having to brew in a province to sell beer there or something similar?). All I remember was the difficulty I had finding Molson Stock Ale and Porter.
Take for instance this list of Molson subsidiaries:

With every brewery have a list of 4-6 different brands, adding up to probably about two dozen or so Molson-brewed brands.

Yeah, one of my favorites. Pretty sure we even got that one in the classic Canadian Stubby bottles (maybe only because I was living in NYS at the time, right after their deposit law?)

 

I think Black Label was my very first beer. This was in the 70's- like 74/75.
Molson Export I remember as being a very good brew. That red label on top I always looked for.

 

I think I saw Kokanee still around. I'm not sure if it's the regular or the glacier. I'll have to buy some if it is the latter. The former was meh.

 

A good friend drinks Moosehead. Back in college it was our special treat if he had a few extra $ around. Back then a 6x16 of Old Milwaukee was about $3 at the deli. I just saw Moosehead in the fall for $18 a case.

Can say I love it but sure don’t hate it.

Remember a beer called Grizzly that had similar packaging?

Enjoy

 

I don't remember Grizzly but do you remember Uncle Ben's?

 

The Citra wasn't bad actually.

 

Just had a Moosehead for the first time. It was pretty much what I expected but not bad at all!

 

My dad was a Brador guy originally. He was from Montreal, and whenever we'd go up or his family would come down, a couple cases would come with.
I have a picture of myself, probably about 2 years old, (so that would have been later 70's) having a sip of dad's beer. It's pretty recognizable as Brador.
I ran across a 6er of it somewhere after I was able to buy legally, and got one as a link. Not great, compared to the other beers I was drinking at the time (big stouts) but I don't know how it would have compared now (at that time, so mid-ish 90s) to back then.

 

Despite having had a big three/two dominating the macro scene for many, many decades, the interprovincial importing restrictions have meant that up until quite recently, there were many regional brands, or brands much more prominent in some regions than others. Many have also disappeared in recent years. Most of the brands I drank when getting started as a youngster in Montreal are gone or hard to find (Dow, Laurentide, O’Keefe)

Moosehead is interesting. I always liked Oland Export when on vacation in Nova Scotia as a youngster. The high profile murder trial was big news up here too. They have a craft division that is similar in feel to that Labatt Brewhouse in Buffalo. From what I hear, the beer is pretty good too.

The only other independent one I can think of that lasted into the 21st century is Doran/Northern. I remember liking their beers on trips into Ontario in the 90s.

I’m always surprised by the love for Brador. It was popular among my friends because of the higher ABV (6.2) when almost everything else was 5%. I much preferred O’Keefe Extra Old Stock myself. It’s been years since I’ve had either, but I remember Brador being quite sweet in an unpleasant way.

 

Out of curiosity, where and when did you go to school? I can remember in the late 80s through to about 2000, finding Molson Canadian in Quebec wasn’t always easy. I think it’s changed a little more recently but Export is still the bigger brand there.

 

It was McGill in the winter of 99/00. I believe the bar "menu" was Export and Canadian.

 

Only the Rice.......

Enjoy

 

Grizzly was a Heineken product, brewed at their Amstel Brewery in Hamilton, Ontario. Supposedly it was originally an "export only" brand shipped to the US but eventually it was marketed in Canada, too.

That brewery had previously been owned by the German Henninger company. I think it was only recently closed by whatever brewing company that eventually took it over...

Yeah, different guy.

 

I wouldn’t hate a 16 oz bottle of Carling Black Label, hey Mabel....

 

No one knows exactly what it is. It is no longer even listed on the Molson's Canadian (the country, not the beer) website but it was on the US MC site's OUR BRANDS page. Molson Golden Ale has not been labeled "Ale" since the early 1980s when in Canada (where it is now apparently defunct) it was labeled "Beer/Biere" or in the US, where MolsonCoors currently lists it as a "North American-Style Lager" and is labeled as brewed in the US.

Unfortunately, in the US, labeling laws do not require top-fermentation for ales, nor really defines the term "lager".

Even more confusing, MC and their distributors/retailers has been describing it as "a unique blend of ale and lager that delivers the spicy, fruity flavors of ale, combined with the clean, crisp, refreshing qualities of a lager," but was not specific about the term "blend" - is it truly two different beers blended together?

 

Just remembered Labatts 50 and its reference in a Max Webster song Hangover. “An alka seltzer tang and a 50, it’s all over. Hangover.” Rush fans in the states may have seen the band as they opened for Rush many times or heard of the lead singer’s solo career (Kim Mitchell's Go for a Soda is probably your one shot at knowing him). Canadians will certainly know him and, if old enough, know Labatts 50. I believe replaced by Blue. And that’s the rest of the story.