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.

Civic Pilsner

 Civic Pilsner hails from Ottawa. The 4.5% German-style pale lager is brewed by Dominion City Brewing Co. Sold in 355mL cans, the beer is golden, a bit hazy, and pours with a sudsy off-white head.

CP boasts a dry, grainy aroma with a healthy dose of noble hops. It has a crisp, floral flavour that weds sweet cereals with an arid bitter finish.

When I think of Ottawa’s Dominion, I think of expertly crafted IPAs and wildly strong, sweet imperial stouts. With Civic Pilsner, they proved their range extends to well-tuned lagers as well. I’d have preferred clarity in the appearance, but otherwise, CP proved a flavourful little lager.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Serenity

Serenity is a hoppy lager brewed in Toronto by Rorschach Brewing Co. It’s a sessionable 4.5% lager sold in 473mL cans. The beer within is a sunny straw colour with loads of carbonation and a thin layer of white suds.

This pale lager has a gritty, earthy hops nose, with a faint whiff of gym shoe. The flavour, too, is extremely bitter, with floral and earthy hops notes that I’d usually associate with an English IPA. The mouthfeel is crisp and crackling, making this a very refreshing lager.

This is an enjoyable lager with an odd and agreeable flavour profile. It’s session-friendly but packed with bitterness. The only drawback is that touch of feet in the nose.

Rating: 7.0 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.

Express India Session Lager

St. Thomas, Ontario is the home of Railway City Brewing Co. and the birthplace of Express India Session Lager. At 4.8% alcohol, the strength is right for a session beer, though at a mere 18 IBUs, a 473mL can of this brew is pretty light in the hop department for a beer brandishing the "India" moniker. The lager poured with a golden hue. It was clear and had a vibrant white cloud of foam.

To my nose, Express packed a nice aroma rich in citrus fruit and a suggestion of modest bitterness. The flavour proved crisp and easy-drinking, but lacked the bitter heft that I wanted it to possess. Far from brittle, the beer had a fairly engaging taste--fresh and fun, but with no more hoppiness than a modest pilsner. What bitterness it did have, however, did lean closer to that of a craft ale than to a typical lager--crunchy citrus notes lended a bit of value. The finish was short and dry.

Express India Session Lager was, at the same time, engaging and disappointing. It had a micro-brewed ale suggestion that spoke to me, but it lacked the grit packed into India Pale Lagers that I've tried. Some vigorous dry-hopping might have upped the ante a bit. It must be said, though, that the compact and arid finish was a boon--and the "session" in the name was well earned. A beer-sop like me could sink a dangerous number of these little guys and not struggle until too late.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

West Coast SESSION Lager

West Coast SESSION Lager comes is a collaboration if ever there was one. Listed on the 473mL can are a variety of Ontario bars, breweries, and other beery denizens of the province, including Bar Hop, Sweetgrass Brewing Co., and and Sawdust City Brewing Co., of Gravenhust, Ontario, where this little number was born and raised, or at least brewed and canned. The ensemble cast is billed as The Local 7. Light, at just 4.5%, this pale lager promises to be "easy drinking", with "a big, bold hop forward flavour and aroma."

The beer is cloudy, pale gold, and pours with a thick, white head. It has an aroma both grassy and slightly hoppy, with some fruity notes. Its mouthfeel is crisp and dry, and its flavour is fruity, with an agreeable dose of lovely lagered hops.

 

As Ontario lagers go, West Coast SESSION Lager has a lot in its favour, with ample flavour above a mild, low-alcohol body. Crisp and thirst-quenching, this little partnership offers lager drinkability, with a decent degree of crafted hops.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.