Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner

A quirky spin on Bellwoods Brewery’s excellent Bell Weiser is the Toronto brewery’s Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner. The beer, a 4.2% pale lager, is a pink hued and hazy concoction sold in 473mL cans. 

The beer, which pours with a thin layer of white suds, delivers a grapefruit blast to the sniffer. The crisp little beer has a potent pink grapefruit juice flavour that dominates the underlying pilsner flavour, though there is a pretty healthy dose of noble hop grapefruit at the back end to remind you of its pedigree.

Bell Weiser Pink Grapefruit Pilsner drinks like a fairly high alcohol shandy or radler. It’s a juicy lager with lots of grapefruit heft in a low-octane format. The beer isn’t subtle, but it’s fun. A compelling summer Saturday beer for sure.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Wonder Star

During a weekend spent cat-sitting my pals Mishi and Moo, I was treated to a fridge full of frosty brews, including a 473mL can of Wonder Star, a “botanical lager” from the wacky team at Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery. This Barrie, Ontario beer was low-test, at just 4.5% alcohol. Unfortunately, there was no ingredients list on the can (which was decked out in a Yellow Submarine-inspired motif), so I’m not certain which botanicals made the cut. However, I can tell you with some certainty that the beer was dull gold in colour, cloudy, and highly carbonated. It poured with a durable centimetre of eggshell head, and had a truly unusual aroma. Seriously, this beer combined scents like citrus fruit, gummy worms, and juniper to form an oddball combo. Unsurprisingly, the flavour also racked up a bunch of diverse elements: grapefruit was the most assertive, but candy and gin weren’t ever far behind.

As Flying Monkeys regularly seems to set out to do, Wonder Star was a unique and hard-to-classify lager. It combined some of the most diverse flavours I’ve ever experienced in a single lager, and the result was (largely) successful. If I were pulling the levers, I’d have upped the juniper and laid off the candy sweetness. For me, a “botanical lager” ought to taste of naturally occurring flavours, and somehow gummy worms don’t feel at home. Still, on a hot day (the humidex was almost 45 C, and Moo and Mish don’t live in an air conditioned home), this quirky little lager was ably refreshing and kept the sweats at bay for a little while. Would I recommend this beer? That’s not an easy one. Yes, I’d recommend it to beer geeks looking for something unusual or to occasional beer-drinkers looking to keep cool. I wouldn’t recommend it to fans of macro lagers in the market for something to keep them cool, or to beer traditionalists.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Night Watch Coffee Lager

From Victoria’s Lighthouse Brewing Co., Night Watch Coffee Lager is a 5.1% alcohol number. I enjoyed a pint of the slightly hazy bright gold stuff at Garrick’s Head pub. It arrived with a thin white head and a surprisingly robust java scent. A crisp and refreshing pale lager with a pleasing jolt of coffee flavour, Night Watch has a little bit of everything—except weight, because the beer is light and drinkable.

Still a bit of a neophyte to light-hued coffee flavoured brews, I found Night Watch to be a novelty, but also a well made sipper. My only note would be that some more bitterness would have been desirable.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Natural Selections 6-Pack, Volume 2--Bear Paw Honey Lager

Whistler, British Columbia's Whistler Brewing Company is the source of Bear Paw Honey Lager,  a clear copper lager graced with a fluffy, off-white head and brewed with BC honey. It has a sweet fragrance that drips with nice honey attitude. The flavour, too, is all about the sweet stuff. Initially I was worried that the honey was overdone, but I quickly changed my mind. It actually makes for a nice, slow-sipping mug.  Other than the honey, there isn't much to write about. The underlying amber lager is little more than a honey showcase with some gentle roasted malt leanings. The mouthfeel is a touch syrupy, the finish sweet, and there is almost no bitterness.

I'd definitely drink this stuff again, but only one in a session and definitely early in the night, due to its thick body and sweet nature. It's far too sweet for drinking multiples and after a few pints, I suspect that this stuff could be pretty cloying.

Whistler's Bear Paw Honey Lager comes in a 330mL bottle with a neat shape that features a feasting bear on the label. It contains 5% alcohol. This was my second experience with Whistler--I also reviewed their interesting Paradise Valley Grapefruit Ale.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Melville's Raspberry Craft Lager

Melville's Raspberry Craft Lager comes from Edinburgh, Scotland, where it is crafted by the Innis & Gunn Brewing Company. Its tiny, 275mL bottles say "Refreshingly British", and it contains a feeble 4.1% alcohol.

The Raspberry Craft Lager has a decidedly unbeerlike pinkish-red hue, topped with a white head. It's pretty clear and fairly fizzy. It has a rich, raspberry aroma; one that is more sweet than tart. The flavour is huge on raspberry, but pretty thin on beer. The underlying lager is definitely more of a flavour platform than a standalone brew. There is, however, a faint bitter twist in the finish.

Sweet and crisp, this stuff is a very refreshing summer drink, but if you're in the mood for a beer, it might not totally fit the bill. At 4.1%, this stuff could definitely stand to be a bit stronger. The label suggested pouring it over ice. I opted not to, because ice in beer freaks me out, but I bet it'd be pretty decent. I've sampled many better raspberry beers, but  I've had worse ones too.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.