On Canadian Beer

Why are so many Canadians patriotically caught up in praising our beer brands when, frankly, so many of them are terrible? In the well loved John Candy satire Canadian Bacon, such an utterance starts a fight in the crowd at a hockey game. I've never understood it.

On the one hand, some of the giant American brands that we have so closely for comparison, I'm looking at you Budweiser, Coors Light and so on, are even worse than Molson and Labbatt's, so I guess we've got that. But what the States, and much of the rest of the world does quite well is craft beers, ales and stouts of some type. Now, it needs to be acknowledged I've been away from Canada in general, and Ontario in particular for five years now, and I recognize that in Toronto and elsewhere there have been the recent stirrings of the craft beer wave.

But let's look at the big picture. Molson 'Canadian', arguably the iconic beer on my generation with their 'Joe Canadian' ad campaigns years ago, is rubbish. Watery and inconsequential, I wouldn't wish it upon a thirsty dog. [And yes, I've already rated Bud as worse than that]. Alexander Keith's IPA is also an iconic beer I think in part for it's pretensions as the 'slightly upmarket' generic beer out there. First of all, it's not IPA. It's basically lager with a somewhat tinny taste to it. Whether you're a fan or not, actual IPA, is alcoholic, hoppy, and can knock your socks off if had too early in the morning.

Moosehead has a cloyingly sweet taste about it, which I'm not a fan of, but I can see its credence as a thirst quenching summer tipple. Steamwhistle and Kokanee, two regional favourites are alright, but nothing special as far as lager/pilsener's go.

The largest issue is how generic so many of the lagers taste, and that can be said for the world at large. But equally why I find Keith's IPA, pretending to be something interesting when it's not as laughable. Sleeman's is another case where their 'Honey Brown Ale' is fine, but not nearly as interesting as if they'd gone out and made an English or American style ale.

In England if you're not in the mood for lager, you've got cask ales, Guinness, and cider available. In the States, craft beers are given much more prominence and even a handful of mainstream beers like Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams are somewhat interesting.

At the end of day, I'm not too troubled when I get back home as I've got Creemore Springs, one of the most refreshing beers in the world, as my local. But the next time a canuck tries to extol the superiority of Canadian beer, or Canadian whisky, or Tim Hortons coffee for that matter, come off it would ya.

But now, for some more Canadian Bacon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44bT3S3Rx5I