Canadian Macro Lagers

While they made Black Label regularly from the time of the Carling-O’Keefe purchase, the Carling name was absent from shelves for many years up here. Around the time Lakeport started as a budget brand, Labatt launched the Wildcat line and Molson used Carling as a budget line. I haven’t had any in over 20 years but it looks like it isn’t really budget priced anymore.

 

Molson XXX packs a punch and its smooth. Luckily easy to get this one in Mass.

 

I found the brief descriptions of brewing in Canada from 1964, found in an article from the Journal of Brewing to be interesting.

With a lower percentage of adjuncts, and slightly higher abv content (it is my understanding that American beer was typically around 4.5-4.8% abv), I could see there being a perceptible difference at least. The author doesn't discuss differences in hopping rates or hop bitterness/flavor, but I imagine there could have been a slight difference there as well, especially with ale brewing being so prominent in certain areas, I could see Canadian beer drinkers at that time having a relatively greater tolerance for hops than American beer drinkers, perhaps more similar to European countries.

 

It would have been interesting if this information was provided.

Ben Jankowski wrote an article about the Pilsners brewed in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn of that timeframe (1950s - 1970s); see link below.

An extract from that article:

"Hop usage is what clearly set the Bushwick pilsners apart. Whereas most American pilsners were hopped in the 13– 17 IBU range, Bushwick pilsners were usually in the 20-25 IBU range and were as high as 29 IBUs in the late 1950s. Whereas the average American pilsner used 0.25 lb of hops/bbl, the average Bushwick pilsner used 0.40-0.45 lb hops/bbl. The hopping rate was a New York tradition, as the population desired full-bodied, hoppy beers. Except for Trommer’s, which imported Czech and German hops, most of the hops used in Bushwick were from the Yakima Valley in Washington and from the Russian River and Sacramento areas in California. Cluster was the predominant hop variety used, though current speculation holds that they had lower α-acid levels than Cluster hops today."

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/The_Bushwick_Pilsners_A_Look_At_Hoppier_Days

Cheers!

 

Molson Dry is still alive and well, at least in Canada. We picked up a case on the way back from Ottawa last summer. Haven't seen it in the states, though. probably just not imported.

 

Man the dry beer wars in the 90s up in Canada... ugh. it was ugly... but good old Michael Ironside was there to lead the charge against them... WITH MAXIMUM ICE!!!

Pure ripe golden cheese! doesn't get any better.