Chain Link Lager

 It’s been a minute since I last tasted something new from Hamilton’s Clifford Brewing Co., so Chain Link Lager practically flew into my cart at the LCBO. The offering is a 5% Vienna lager sold in textured 473mL cans. The beer inside is a fiery copper colour with a pretty healthy layer of off-white head.

Chain Link has a complicated nose, with notes of roasted malt, sweet berries, caramel, bread, and a metallic tinkle. The flavour is sweet, malty, and sticky, with a little bit of fruitiness manifested as apples and berries.

For an Ontario lager, Clifford’s Chain Link is a complex and captivating little offering. The sweetness is muted, the flavour is engaging, and the texture is on point.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Folly Rice Lager

Been a while since I’ve seen something new from Folly Brewing in my local liquor store, but I spotted their Rice Lager the other day and needed to bring a 473mL can home with me. The cans that house the 5% brew pay homage to the rice lager’s roots in Japan. The Torontonian beer is pale gold, clear, well-carbonated, and topped with a thin white head.

Folly’s Rice Lager has a slightly sweet, grainy aroma, with a little touch of perfume. The beer is light, but decently flavourful, with a sweet to bitter progression and faint floral and citrus notes that really come out at the finish.

This is a pretty interesting little lager—crisp and refreshing; flavourful, yet subtle. This’d be a great post-chore beer for a summer afternoon.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hacker-Pschorr Kellerbier

Hacker-Pschorr Kellerbier is exactly that, a kellerbier from Munich, Germany’s Hacker-Pschorr Bräu. The 5.5% “cellar beer” comes in 500mL cans. It’s a slightly cloudy unfiltered lager with a nice golden hue and a modest layer of white suds.

H-P’s kellerbier has a grainy, malt-focused nose, with a dusting of yeasty aromatics. The flavour is semi-sweet and malt-forward, with nice bready notes. The finish has just a quaver of floral, noble hop bitterness.

My kellerbier frame of reference is pretty narrow, but I’ll say that I enjoyed H-P’s take on the style. I found it refreshing, pleasantly flavoured, and easy-drinking.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Czechvar Dark Lager

Maybe everybody already knows about this one, but it’s new to me: Czechvar Dark Lager? Sure, I’ll take a swing on that! Brewed by the folks at Czechvar in České Budējovice, Czech Republic, this dark lager is sold in 500mL cans that feature a pair of signatures and fingerprints, signifying which brewers had their mitts all over this little 4.7%, 24 IBU offering. CDL is dark brown in colour, with attractive amber highlights. It pours with a dense and durable cream foam.

CDL has aromatics that are malt forward, with notes of rye toast, brown sugar, and grain. The flavour is initially both metallic and malty, with a mellow, toasty finish. The beer’s not overpowering, but there is some definite depth of flavour, touching on sweet grains, nuttiness and a hint of floral noble hop bitterness.

CDL is unlikely to top Chechvar’s classic recipe on many ballots, but it’s a nice, dark lager that’s far from simple.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Chmelová Brigáda

 Another entry from the Pivovar Godspeed series of Czech-style beers comes Chmelová Brigáda, a “hoppy Czech lager”. At 6.2%, this sassy pale lager has some heft. The beer comes in 355mL cans from Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery. The copy on the can is in Czech, but according to the Godspeed website, the beer is double double dry-hopped with Saaz Shine hops.

Chmelová Brigáda is strikingly clear gold and pours with a modest plume of white suds. It has aromatics that waft between citrus and floral. As for flavour, the lager is initially lemony, but takes a turn toward grittiness and floral hops through its dry and crisp finish.

This hoppy Czech lager from Godspeed (which often seems like a little enclave of Bohemia in Toronto) is exactly what its name promises: a bitter, Czech-style pale lager with ample ballast and a lovely flavour.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Gladstone Czech Dark Lager

During a long weekend trip to Victoria, I purchased a smattering of local/British Columbia beers—mostly west coast IPAs, but I also came home with a 473mL can of Gladstone Brewing Company’s Czech Dark Lager. At 6% and somewhere around 24 IBUs, the beer has some heft. It’s a handsome brown lager with ruby highlights and it pours with a thin layer of cream head.

Gladstone’s CDL has a lush roasted malt aroma with a lightly metallic sweetness. The flavour is similarly constituted, though a bit less sweet, with a roasted malt foundation and an agreeable ferric element. Bitterness manifests as mild, dark chocolate and a touch of coffee. The beer has a soft and smooth mouthfeel that wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I purchased the beer but which really worked quite well.

From Courtenay, BC, Gladstone’s Czech Dark Lager was a welcome breath of fresh, mellow air in a weekend filled with piney citrus-heavy IPAs.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Trellis Pilsner

A pilsner? From Toronto? How simply delightful! Trellis Pilsner comes from Amsterdam Brewery. It’s a 5.3% pale lager brewed with Mandarina Bavaria hops that comes in 473mL cans with a slightly unfortunate font. The beer is an entry in Amsterdam’s Adventure Brews series.

Trellis is a crystal clear beer—highly carbonated with a fluffy white head and a nice golden colour. The pilsner has a dry, floral aroma with a slight orange subtext. The flavour is crisp, dry, and agreeable, with  a considerable bitterness and just a touch of citrus.

Trellis would be a delight at the end of a hot summer’s day, but it’s not too shabby on a wintery Saturday afternoon either.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Prost! ... an Oktoberfest Märzen

 Much of what you need to know about Prost! ... an Oktoberfest Märzen is right there in the name. It’s a clear, caramel-hued lager from the team at Great Lakes Brewery in Toronto. The beer, sold in 473mL cans, pours with a lush and creamy head.

Prost! has a malty, bready nose. The flavour is sweet, malty, and toasty, with a back end that tastes boozier than its 5.6%. True to style, the beer leans toward the maltier end of the spectrum, but there is a little nod to floral bitterness in the finish.

Not a bad little Ontario take on the classic Oktoberfest style.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Normopathy

 

A crisp little pilsner from the gang at Rorschach Brewing Co. in Toronto, Normopathy is a 4.9% pale lager. Sold in 473mL cans, the beer is crystal clear and straw gold under a sudsy white head.

Normopathy has a grainy aroma with a floral accent. The flavour is quite assertive for a sub-five percent pilsner, with a big grain and cracker opening note and a floral, slightly spicy finish. Almost no sweetness.

This little pilsner got me amped up (or maybe it was the fact that I was watching my Raiders open up their 2021 season on Monday Night Football). But whatever the cause of my good mood, the beer was undeniably tasty. Crisp, refreshing, and flavourful.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Absacker Helles Lager

 Apparently Absacker is the German word for a nightcap, but despite that late night etymology, I enjoyed an early evening can of Absacker Helles Lager. Brewed in Toronto at Great Lakes Brewery, Absacker is a 5% pale lager brewed in conjunction with Brauerei Rittmayer in Hallendorf, Germany. The beer is sold in 355mL cans. It possesses a clear, straw gold colour and pours with a thin layer of bright white suds.

Absacker has a lovely grain and malt aroma reminiscent of baking bread. The flavour kicks off sweet and malty, and those elements remain throughout, though the back end is accented with a lilt of floral hops.

Light and sweet, with subtle a flavour, Absacker is a well-executed helles. I bought eight and I’m glad I did, because they kept me happy during a late-summer heatwave. Just too sweet, but otherwise grand.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Figo

Figo is another Italian pilsner out of Toronto, this one is a 5.5% number from Henderson Brewing Co. The beer pours a honey-gold with a slim covering of off-white head. 

Sold in 473mL cans, the beer has a sweet, grainy aromatic profile with a decidedly floral, dry-hopped bent. The flavour kicks off with big grain sweetness, and transitions into a flowery, slightly soapy place. The back end has some noble hop vibes, but it ain’t overly bitter.

I suspect that purists would decry Figo is too sweet and too strong for style, but I actually liked it more than a lot of the T.O. Italian pilsners I’ve tried so far. The heft is agreeable to me, though I’d have liked a bit more crispness.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Giggle Water

 Sold in sassy little 750 howlers, Giggle Water is Waller St. Brewing’s take on the Vienna lager. The Ottawan beer contains 5.4% and a modest 25 IBUs. The beer is a clear amber-whisky colour with a thinnish head (probably because it was poured a few days before consuming).

Giggle Water has a sweet aroma with notes of honey oat bread and considerable maltiness. The flavour is similarly sweet, honeyed, and bready, with a hint of baked apple. The beer has very little bitterness and, frankly, less toastiness than I hoped to find.

Waller St.’s take on the classic Vienna-style lager tasted just alright to me. It was considerably too sweet and that left me a bit disappointed. The texture was solid—neither too thick not too thin—but I’d have liked some heartier toast elements. Also, the howler format might have hurt this one a bit as I didn’t have a chance to swig it until a few days after pouring.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Ten Mile Point Pilsner

I was the first of five to arrive for a cottage weekend on Georgian Bay, so after unpacking the rental car and getting the groceries put away, I took the opportunity to sneak in a beer review. Ten Mile Point Pilsner is a 4.5% lager from Little Current, on Manitoulin Island, where it’s fashioned by the Manitoulin Brewing Co. The beer was straw gold and clear, with a healthy helping of bright white foam.

TMP’s aroma leaned hard into noble hops, with some pepperiness on hand, and a decent measure of fresh grain. The flavour moves from grain sweet to floral bitter, and it’s a little less assertive than the nose. The texture isn’t quite crisp, which is a shame, but the beer is smooth and quite refreshing.

Ten Mile Point is a fine enough Czech-style pilsner, but it would benefit from a bit more crackle and a crisper texture. Still, for a first beer at a cottage on a sweltering July day, it left me feeling sated and swell.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Dave’s Affordable Dortmunder

 Dave’s Affordable Dortmunder is a 5.5%, 35 IBU German-style Dortmund export lager built in Gravenhurst, Ontario by the Sawdust City Brewing Co. The beer, DAD, is clearly a winking acknowledgment of the world’s most popular Dortmunder, DAB. It’s sold in 473mL cans and is built with a pair of hops (Perle and Saaz) and a pair of malts (Raven Floor Malted Pilsner and Munton’s Northern Spring Pale).

DAD is a clear golden lager with a shock of white suds. It has a sweet, cereal aroma. The flavour delivers grassy sweetness, a slash of metallic notes, and a floral, noble hop that introduces a little bit of pepperiness to the back end.

I always enjoy a good Dortmunder, and DAD is certainly that. A cheeky little lager executed nicely.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Old Muddee Beer

Old Muddee Beer, from Muddy York Brewing Co., comes in some truly excellent 355mL cans with an "Geriatric Wisconsin" vibe. The Torontonian beer weighs in at an even 5% and 25 IBUs. It’s an American-style pale lager and, accordingly, it’s a clear yellow-gold colour with a thin cover of white foam.

Old Muddee has a sweet, grainy aroma, accented with corn and grass elements. The flavour is a little over-sweet on the front end, with sweet corn and malt notes. The back end is faintly bitter, floral, and has some crispness.

Old Muddee is a highly drinkable lager. It’s not as crisp as I wanted, due to the sweetness, but it’s certainly an agreeable hot day beer.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

GLB Vienna Lager

 Clear and bronze, with a fluffy (but short-lived) off-white head, Great Lakes Brewery’s Vienna Lager is a 5% offering from the Toronto brewing stalwart. The beer comes in 473mL cans. 

GLB’s Vienna Lager has an elegant, malty nose that is sweet, bready, and a touch metallic. Likewise, malt is the buzzword right from the first sip—the beer’s flavour is sweet and grainy, accented with some copper and just the faintest hint of woodsmoke. Lots of caramel. There is just a touch of floral bitterness to shut the door on the amber lager. The Euro-style lager has a smooth, thickish texture.

This continental lager has a mellow texture that plays well with its sweet elements, though in truth, I’d have preferred a bit less sweetness. Still, it’s a good take on an agreeable style. I’ve been interested in GLB’s recent forays into lager-making—a real departure from their catalogue of pale ales and IPAs, and one they’ve embraced well. Their Vienna Lager is a good example of a nicely-executed European-style lager.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Point Break

 Point Break is both one of my pal SDF’s fave flicks and a dry-hopped lager from the folks at Toronto’s Rainhard Brewing Co. The beery Point Break is a 4.1% session-friendly lager sold in 473mL cans. This version, at least, is dry-hopped with Opal.

The beer is slightly hazy, dull gold, and covered with a loose sudsy foam. It has dry, floral aromatics, twinned with a grain and malt backbone. The flavour is grainy and supplemented with apple notes. The beer has some floral hoppiness that, in a stronger lager, might be subtle, but which in this low-octane brew is really quite robust. The beer isn’t particularly bitter, due to the dry-hopping, but it has a bit of depth.

If you’ve a hankerin’ for a low-alcohol lager that has considerable “craft” charm (whatever that means), Point Break is a good answer. It’s crisp and drinkable, but with some depth.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Sklepník V Oceli

 

Sklepník V Oceli is a Czech-style lager from Godspeed Brewery’s Pivovar Godspeed series. The pilsner clocks in at 4.4% alcohol and according to the copy on Godspeed’s website, this “Stainless Edition” is “fermented then cold conditioned in stainless fermentation tanks for 7 weeks.” The Torontonian lager is clear, golden, and lovely to look at beneath a white foam.

Crisp and classic, the nose has a lot of grain elements, as well as a healthy measure of noble hop aromatics. The flavour is fresh and, for a low-alcohol offering, quite robust. It balances grain, metallic notes, and a floral, lightly spicy bitterness.

Godspeed is, in my opinion, Ontario’s lager master, and Slepník V Oceli is well up to my expectations. A good, clean pilsner is a great joy, and this one delivers. I’d have liked it to reach 5%, but otherwise, my complaints barely register.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Sidepart Dry-Hopped Lager

 Town Brewery’s Sidepart Dry-Hopped Lager is a 5% beer from Whitby, Ontario. The 473mL can features the logo of the Pink Boots Society. The beer is pale gold and hazy, with a fluffy white head.

Sidepart has a dry, yeasty, and floral aroma. The little lager has a crisp texture and a flavour that comprises floral and slightly spicy notes, culminating in a short, dry finish.

This dry-hopped lager has some saison qualities—dry, yeasty, and a little spicy. It’s a pretty enjoyable little beer, though I’d have liked a bit more robust hoppiness.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Occult Classic

 I love a beer with a badass name, and Occult Classic is most definitely that. The beer, a doppelbock, is the progeny of Rainhard Brewing in Toronto. It’s a 6.7% dark lager sold in gloomy 473mL cans. The beer is cola-dark, with a fluffy tan head.

Occult Classic has a malty, sweet, and bready aroma, and a nearly matching flavour. There is some nuttiness, a streak of molasses, and a bit of boozy heat along for the ride. The beer has a gentle, smooth texture that benefits from gradual warming as you slowly sip.

I’ve had more memorable doppelbocks, but not a lot that originated outside of Germany. Rainhard’s take on the style is mellow and mild, but still punchy and potent.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.