Boundary Ale

Like me, Boundary Ale comes from New Brunswick, though that's about where the similarities end, since I was born in Fredericton, and this clear, copper ale was produced by Moosehead Breweries Ltd., in Saint John. The label of the 341mL bottle makes a big deal of the fact that this stuff is brewed with four varieties of hops and seven varieties of malt. It contains 5.3% alcohol.

Boundary pours with a healthy layer of ecru head and has a pretty fair amount of carbonation. It has a forceful aroma that is primarily malty-driven and features notes of raisin and something faintly metallic. It also smells mildly boozy and has a whisper of bitterness. B.A. has a smooth, creamy body. It tastes of roasty malts up front and has a subtly bitter finish.

This is actually pretty impressive pseudo-craft beer work from a national macrobrewery. It's sufficiently innocuous to have wide appeal, but there is some undeniable craft charm. Quite frankly, I enjoyed this beer a lot more than I thought I would. It's the kind of ale that I could sink happily over a couple of hours in a snug pub.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Alexander Keith's Premium White

On a summer day in which the mercury climbed to a sweltering 35C, I sat in my backyard in need of a refreshing beer. Enter Alexander Keith's Premium White. This white beer, brewed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, by the Keith's Brewery, is sold in 473mL cans and contains 5% alcohol.

It pours a straw gold colour similar to a lager, only cloudy and containing a tiny amount of sediment. The aroma features citrus, coupled with a dose of spices.  Maybe nutmeg or cloves? The flavour mirrors the smell--citrus and spice.

AKPW is not a bad likeness of a witbier for an Atlantic Candian macrobrew. It's fairly mild, but pretty thirst quenching and relatively enjoyable. Worth a try? Sure, why not.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Labatt Blue

Labatt Blue is brewed by the Labatt Brewing Company in various cities across Canada. This pilsner is sold in 341mL bottles and contains the standard 5% alcohol. It pours a clear, pale straw colour with ample carbonation and topped with a persistent white head.

Blue has a grainy aroma with notes of sweet grasses. The flavour is very mild, moving from sweet to bitter. It is extremely easy-drinking, though not tremendously exciting. Grassy and crisp are the first adjectives that came to my mind.

As Canadian macrobrews go, Blue is far from the worst.  I have little trouble understanding its wide appeal.  It's innocuous, refreshing, and unsurprising. While Blue isn't really this beer nerd's cup of tea, it fares well compared to its immediate competition.  Plus it's one of the few macrobrewed Canadian pilsners.

 Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Moosehead Lager

Bam! Now I'm 28!

For my birthday, I decided to write about a Canadian macro-brewed beer that has been, and remains close to my heart: Moosehead Lager. Early in my drinking career, the Moose was a regular favourite. Of the beers that I enjoyed during my misspent youth, "Moose Green" is one of the few that has remained a refrigerator staple as my tastes have grown and matured.  Like me, Moosehead Breweries hails from the province of New Brunswick, though while I'm from Fredericton, it's of Saint John stock.

Moosehead Lager is sold in 341 green bottles and it contains 5% alcohol. It pours a pale straw colour. It's clear with a fair dose of carbonation and a white head. It has a grassy, grainy aroma and a mild, crisp flavour. Grain and grass are the main taste notes. There is a short, refreshing finish with a hint of bitterness.

A prototype for Canadian macro-brewed pale lagers, Moosehead offers no surprises, but it is reasonably well made and reliable. Compared to the other national brews, it fares quite well.  Compared to small batch, micro-brewed craft beers, less so.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Weiss/Wit/Wheat Week--Rickard's White

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to learn more about beer.  There are so many distinct and interesting styles of beer, each with there own characteristics and attributes, that it sometimes seems a daunting task to delve any deeper than the peripheral understanding that I already possess.  But that's what I want to do.  To that end, I think it makes sense to occasionally choose a style of beer and focus on it for a series of reviews.

The style I have chosen for my inaugural theme week is wit/wheat/weiss beers.  It's a style that I do not know much about, beyond the fact that these brews are united by the generous presence of wheat as a base ingredient, that they tend to be cloudy and that they are often paired with citrus wedges.  For an example of the level of my ignorance, I know that there is a distinction between Belgian-style witbiers and Germanic weissbiers, but what that distinction is eludes me.  What I do know is these wheaty brews seem to be becoming increasingly popular and are a summertime patio staple.

I had a pint of Rickard's White on tap at a neighbourhood sports bar.  At halftime of the Monday Night Football game, I borrowed a pen and wrote my thoughts on a napkin.  First off, RW almost always comes served with an orange wedge.  It's true that the orange goes well with the brew, but just once, I'd like a server to ask me if I want the orange, since the presence of an outside element tends to distort the flavour and make reviewing a challenge.

The beer is a very cloudy orange colour.  There is a thin white head and a little lace.  The aroma was muddled by the orange slice, but I could discern notes of bready yeast and citrus.  The taste is a blend of citrus and sourdough.  The finish is really just a continuation of the flavour.

These suds are quite thin, but mild and refreshing.  Rickard's White is a pretty solid summertime beer--it definitely tastes better on a patio.  It's really a pretty good offering for a large-scale producer.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.