Newfoundland Macro Brews

When I travel, I try to drink local beers wherever possible. During my honeymoon in St. John's, Newfoundland last fall, most of the beer that I drank came from two quality microbreweries, the Quidi Vidi Brewery (reviews to follow in the near future) and the Yellowbelly Brewery and Public House (see recent reviews). However, being in St. John's, it's impossible not to notice a spate of conventional looking pale macrobrews that are available exclusively in Newfoundland and Labrador. These brews are made by Molson and Labatt. They're branded and packaged in a nod to the province's brewing history, and they're sold in great looking, slightly stubby 341m: bottles.

As far as I can tell, there are five of these brands that persist in N.L.: Jockey Club, Bennett Dominion Ale, Black Horse, Blue Star, and India Beer. I made it my business to sample each of these brews while I was on the Rock.  I wrote a review of four, but sadly I was in no condition to write an intelligible review of Blue Star, having celebrated a bit strenuously that night (not to mention being "Screeched In").

If you're interested in the history of Newfoundland brewing, I highly recommend this excellent blog that I stumbled on which takes an in depth look and features some cool old pictures and advertisements.

Stay tuned to my blog over the next few days if you're interested in my thoughts on (four of) Newfoundland's macro brews. Spoiler alert: None of them were all that exciting or memorable to me, though I really enjoyed all of their branding.