Canadian Macro Lagers

Yeah, some people on page 2 (posts #47 + 56) remembered it already.

 

Well as long as you are "open minded" then I suppose everything is copacetic!?!

Cheers to tasty AAL beers!



https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-670.552604/#post-5799290

 

No, still a bit early for me (today).

Cheers!

 

Wait - Hamm's Beer in a "Canadian Macro Lagers" thread?
I thought that deal fell through.
(Or did Molson Coors decide, 55 years later, it wasn't too late?)

 

A French (canadian) detour!?!

Cheers!

@Shanex

 

Yeah, per beersyndicate.com (https://www.beersyndicate.com/app/Beer/Details/74975), the one I saw was in 2016 (IIRC it was at Bensalem Beer & Soda when I was hunting for Paulaner Oktoberfest Wiesn).

It looked like this (12oz cans):

 

Nice. Yeah, that's pretty "retro"... (but not sure how many US drinkers would remember that label - I kinda recall the Labatt 50 exported to the US usually had a much different label design than their home market).

 

I know it was a long time ago but....do you recall it being any good? I'd imagine it tastes like a typical macro "ale", one of those lager beers that gets the warm fermentation treatment. Not unlike Moosehead Ale...now I wish I had bought some, I love a good marketing gimmick (retro throwbacks, etc)

 

That looks so much like the label I knew well in the late 80s. The ad campaign back then was great too. “There are 50 good reasons to have a 50, and the best is under the cap!” It was better in French.

 

That's some good stuff. The music really seals the deal.

Great, now I really want one....guess it worked lol

 

I used to drink Kokanee when in Idaho and Washington, but have never seen it out east. Typical generic Adjunct lager, but always enjoyed it for what it is

 

@Coronaeus hit the nail on the head for me. Buddies and I would head to Windsor and we’d always grab Molson XXX for the ABV before heading out. Rough mornings indeed.

 

I always found the Canadian ales somewhat under-hopped for my tastes, so, in some ways, just the opposite of some of my favorite US "bastard" ales (McSorley's, Chesterfield, Rainier, Black Horse). The macro ales of Canada seemed to go more towards "full-bodied" - malty. Granted, some of that might have been age, of course, but when I read a beer described as a "Canadian-style ale" (ex: the reformulated Genesee 12 Horse Ale of the early 80s) it was a letdown.

I guess my preferred imported "Canadian Ale" in the early 70s would have been Molson (Export) Ale, followed by a distant O'Keefe Ale and Labatt 50. (Generally avoided Molson Golden Ale). For the Canadian ales sold in Canada, Molson Stock Ale was my top, but elusive, find. As for Labatt, as I've mentioned before, their India Pale Ale was among the most disappointing beers I ever had (well, in the Top 100) . M. Jackson summed it up a few years later with "(Labatt)... has an IPA. This last turns out, disappointingly, to an ale of the North American golden type..." (1982 - Pocket Guide to Beer). For a drinker of Ballantine India Pale Ale the disappointment was immense.

Moosehead Ale? In the US? I never noticed it (but seldom shop that "door" ).

 

The old refrain up here was definitely: “our beer is more full bodied than the watery stuff you get down in the States,”. Some of that was an odd patriotism, but not entirely untrue when comparing Molson Export to something like Bud Light. It was a near universally repeated opinion I remember, even when I was a child. The similar one was: “They may be better than us in (insert long list of things here), but at least our beer is better!”

Your tastes were eerily similar to mine when it comes to Canadian macro beer! Molson Export and Labatt 50 were my choices when out at a tavern where choices were limited. O’Keefe was a top choice when buying bottles to go, particularly Old Stock. Laurentide and Dow too, which I’m guessing you would have liked as well, especially the latter. Molson Stock Ale was my macro beer of choice after having moved to Ontario. The graduate student pub I frequented upon first moving here for school had it available all the time. It was the only place I saw it for years until it briefly became a minor hipster brand in the mid-2000s, a little like PBR in the US.

 

Yeah, after I replied I realized I had avoided the whole "Canadian beer is stronger" mythology. Maybe unconsciously avoided it, but it is one of those topics that is too involved to get into to and kinda boring, too (well, if one is feeling lazy...) . Heading off some replies - Yeah, "mythology" is not the perfect word because it was based on a few facts but mostly on a few misunderstandings (listing alcohol content by proof spirits, by volume or by weight) and, after all, the alcohol percentage difference was pretty insignificant in most cases (especially if the Canadian beer was in an 11 oz. bottle).

But it is a long-running trope - lots of "wildcat" US breweries were found to brewing and bottling famous branded "Canadian ales" during Prohibition.

And then there was Labatt-brewed "strong" Budweiser:

Yeah, that 0.15% extra alcohol will knock you on your ASS!

 

What!?!

 

Wow, I had no idea Canada had any IPAs in the 80s....fascinating.

Yeah, I saw it last year @ ShopRite for the first time in 16oz cans (4 packs, oddly enough). Typical Moosehead price point (cheap as hell). I think may have also seen it in brown bottles one time a long time ago....it wasn't bad. Has a bigger malt body than Moosehead Lager but it's still decidedly light overall. Worth a try.

 

I always picked up a case of Molson Stock on trips to Ontario during the late 70,s and early 80's.
I liked Labatts IPA. Both of these ales were golden North American ales to be drank cold (not frozen) and offered flavor and refreshment.

On a trip to New Brunswick in the 80's, I found the Moosehead ales to be bland.

In Quebec in 1981, there was a hoppy ale by Labatts named Cervoise which I understand is an archaic French word for ale. It was good. By the time I returned to Quebec in 1983, it was gone.