Recents, including a trip to Montreal.
Alexander Keith's - Premium White
Wife picked me up a cheap 12 pack in Montreal, and chose this. It's one of those beers that puts "premium" on the label to make sure you know it isn't actually a premium beer, at least not in this century. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it - this is lake beer, and pretty good lake beer at that. Imagine if Miller made a belgian witt in-house. This is it. Great chugging beer, goes by like lightning, and I could swear they even dangled an orange peel into the vat at some point. Pleasant, cheap. C+
McAuslan - Griffon Red (I think)
I asked the waiter for "something decent, made as close to here as possible." This was what he brought me. It was almost like a cream ale, the malt had a sweet finish to it. Hops were light, and the defining characteristic was smoothness. Went great with the rooftop view of the old downtown. B-
Unibroue - Blonde de Chambly
Haven't seen this one down in Boston. It was what you think it was - blonde, medium alcohol kick, belgian yeast, some spices, and really good. The back story is that it's named for the "marriagable girls" the king sent over for the soldiers to fuh so they could get the population going. Ah, the old days. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY! A-
Unibroue - Ephemere Black Currant
I know and love the green apple version, but I'd never seen this one, much less ANY Unibroue beers in sixpacks south of the border. So I swung at the pitch here, and it wasn't bad but the fruit presence isn't as subtly played as the green apple one. This was a lambic, with HEAVY fruit flavor. I wound up putting raspberries into each glass because they were growing like crazy in the back yard of the house we rented. I picked four goddam pints in 4 days. So I just went all-in on these and made belgian wine coolers. And I gotta say, raspberries that have been steeped in good beer are not bad. B
Boreale - Natural Ale
"Natural" as opposed to what? Anyway, another sturdy, slightly boring offering from up there. This was stronger and thicker than you'd think from the low-key packaging. Reminded me of Sam Adams Boston Lager but with less hops and slightly more alcohol, maybe? B
Widmer - Rotation IPA
Back in Boston for a friend's wedding, the wife was stuck doing everyone's hair so the kiddo and I walked to a place close by and ordered lunch to go. I downed this while chasing my daughter through an empty pizza place. Widmer is filed away in my head as being very hit-or-miss, and this wasn't a miss. But it was completely indistinguishable from the ocean of other mid-tier sixpack choices. No reason to seek it out, but if you are offered one, go for it. There are just too damn many of these. B
Anchor - Summer
Wedding reception at an auto museum. Put this one on the summer list below Brooklyn and Harpoon, and above Sam Adams and most of the others. This is cleaner than most of those, and a tiny bit sharper on the hops as well - it can't help it, it's from California. Pleasant, crisp, light enough for lake work, but not
special. The nod here still goes to Brooklyn. B+
Original Sin - Pear Cider
The other bottled beverage at the wedding bar. Note the "Premium" on the label... lower your expectations. It was incredibly fucking hot and muggy in that place - 100 bodies in an old mansion / horse stable structure, and they just opened the doors and put out fans. This fit the bill - something lighter and sweeter. It's not as sugary as cheap ciders tend to be, which is good, and the pear flavor is a nice change, but it's not something I need to revisit. One was enough. B-
Coors - Light
I can't remember the last time I had one of these before Sunday. We went to our old place to clean it before leaving the keys on the counter forever, and I went down the hall to say goodbye, see a new baby that was just born, borrow a diaper, etc. Wound up having beers with 2 different sets of folks, and when they're offerin', I ain't picky. So I have to be honest here, this wasn't bad at all. Maybe it was the heat, but there was nothing to dislike about this. Yes, it's so watery it's almost comical. Yes, it would take 400 to get drunk. But there weren't any off flavors, no metalic ring, no nothing. Just mild, pleasant, innocuous beer flavor. I don't think I could buy them - bicycling all that weight home for so little alcohol would be pointless - but I have to be honest and say I enjoyed that bottle more than I thought I would. C+
Corsendonk - Abbey Pale
First big, good beer in my new place, and I wanted to start it off right so I went for The Donk, this time the pale. I was surprised how light the flavor was. I don't recall any of the other authentic belgian pales being so fast down the gullet. The 7% or so content is incredibly well masked, to the point that I kinda missed it. This could almost use more, for my taste at least... more something. It's very very good, and maybe sometimes light is right, but this was too easy on me. I want it to
hurt a little. A-
