In the 1940s a Canadian cabinet minister (of Health) suggested that kids were psychologically harmed by “lies” about Santa. The uproar came very close to costing him his job.
A similar uproar might be caused by doing what I’m doing now, which is suggesting that Canadian beer is not that great. Americans drink the stuff and like it, of course. No one’s saying Miller High Life is better than Blue. But few Canadian beer (and this is the only acceptable plural) are as good as Pete’s Wicked Ale or Sam Adams. And on the whole, there are relatively few Canadian stouts and bitters. Aren’t most Canadian brews outstandingly mediocre?
Yes. I think Canadaian beer is both over rated and under rated, which makes it medicore. It doesn’t suck, but it doesn’t rule, either. It’s good to have every once in a great while.
Being Canadian, I feel I must interject. While I’m not about to claim that Canadian beer is the best, I certainly will not
First, you’ve only mentioned one beer; ‘Blue.’ While this is one of the better “standard” beers, it is not even scratching the surface. ‘Blue’ is the equivalent to the American ‘Bud’ or ‘Miller’; neither of which, I hope you would agree, are anything special.
Well, neither is ‘Blue’
Allow me to introduce a few “higher-end” Canadian Brews…
*Sleeman – Comes in ‘Cream Ale’, ‘Maple Brown Ale’, ‘Steam Lager’, and a few other flavours [www.sleeman.com] (I recommend ‘Cream Ale’)
*CreemoreSprings – Perhap’s one of the cleanest tasing Lagers in the world (made with spring water and no preservatives) Also comes in Bock. [www.creemoresprings.com]
Formosa – A damn good “generic” beer.
SteamWhistle Brewery – A relatively new company dedicated to quality brewing. Many are excited to see what they come up with.
*Upper Canada Breweries --A premier Candadian Brewery – Rebellion Lager, Lager, Light Lager, Maple Brown Ale, Dark Ale, and Wheat: A blend of Pale malt and wheat malt.
[www.uppercanada.com]
This is the “short list”
Put that in your keg and tap it.
*highly recommended
Huh???
Thats what people say about american beer. Canadian beer has much higher alcohol content, and any visiting americans I have run across get wasted pretty quick on it - its stronger than they are used to.
Canadian beer does not suck any more than any other countrys beer sucks. There are about a zillion different kinds of beer in Canada, of course some of them suck! Probably most of them. But we have some excellent beers as well, as does the states, I like Miller, and Bud, but I wouldnt try a couple and make a sweeping generalization about the quality of the beer in the whole country.
I love Corona, but I wont start a thread about how mexican beer makes everyone else look bad - I am pretty sure there is swamp-piss on tap in mexico too.
In summation: some beer good, some beer not as good… Beer good!
Drink beer!
You know what the Australians (Canadians/British/Japanese…) say about American beer, right?
<braces one’s self for 150th odd repetition of drunken joke>
No, what?
It’s just like making love in a canoe?
<sigh>
How so?
It’s f___ing close to water.
This “joke” has been sanitized to protect our children from Anglo-Saxon terminology that is not an accepted part of our language. Thank you.
I have found every American brand I tried to be watery.
I find that most Canadian brands taste fairly normal to me. I guess that I just don’t have enough to compare it to. Plus the diverse range of Canadian beer make it difficult to compare as a whole.
For what it’s worth, I’d be curious to know what Canadians think are good Canadian beers, particularly ones that are likely to be exported. Here in the UK you can only really get the usual bottled lagers.
American beer is tastless at best. An American Stout?? What a joke.
I think the English have the best beer with Canada running a close second. American beer can’t be compared to anything but wet fart juice. Wait a sec, fart juice is thicker. Nope, can’t even compare it to that.
Ya ya…I’m being too hard on our American friends. I was just a little miffed that the Dr. said there is no Santa.
And, of course, you haven’t considered Québécois microbrewery brews which are worth it just due to their names. Eau Bénite, Le Fin du Monde, and I think there’s one called Maudit Christ.
I don’t drink, but if I did, trust me, that’s what.
Canadian beer isn’t watery, but it isn’t a close second to British beer either. There are plenty of betters beers in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, France and Czechoslovakia.
I’ve tried all of the microbreweries and premium beers mentioned in this column. I think Sleeman’s Cream Ale is highly overrated. I do like Upper Canada’s ales, especially “Rebellion”. Formosa is respectable. The Amsterdam microbrewery stuff is good. Keith’s may be the best standard bar ale. But none of these are world-class products at all. All Canadian beer is better than the swill… am I saying that right? My English is inelegant… the swill drunk South of the border by many Americans.
Lived in Quebec for five years. Le Fin du Monde is 9% alcohol and is sort of gross. Maudite is okay, don’t know where your Christ came from (Maudite is from a Quebecois legend about the inadvisability of swearing in a crowded canoe). Boreal Rousse is harsh but has some character. Laurentide is an American beer in disguise. The names are pretty cool.
Wish there was a decent Canadian bitter. Even half as god as Boddington’s? Glad you can finally get that here at some pubs, but in Yorkshire you could do a lot better.
Have you tried any American “microbrews” (God, I hate that word)? I lived in Portland, Oregon for a year and I’d stack what’s on offer in that city against any other beer-drinking city in the world. And yes, there are some wonderful stouts being produced in the U.S.
The old canards about American beer are only partly true nowadays. Yes, piss water like Bud and Miller Lite are still popular. But there are a lot of smaller breweries which have sprung up in the past decade-and-a-half that are producing quality beer.
The last time I was in Canada (1981) for a 100 mile canoe trip, the O’Keefe’s Extra Old Stock sure put most American brew to shame. Since then Yanks have discovered the pleasures of the microbrew, but back then Old Stock sure had a nice flavor and kick to it.
Bat Piss (Le Batt’s) and other over rated Canadian swill is another matter. All countries produce some form of bottled bovine urine, the trick is not to drink it.
Canadian BRANDS of beer that you buy in the US are NOT the same as when actually purchased IN Canada.The alcohol content in canadian SOLD beer is 7% (one of you SDMB Canucks correct me if my number is wrong).Moosehead purchased in Canada is the nectar of the gods.
The same is true of all imported beers…they taste MUCH better,IMHO, when purchased and/or consumed in the country of origin.
I’ve found that foreign beers that are popular here are not always popular in the country of origin.I ordered a Bass ale in a london pub.The bartender looked at me like I had 3 heads. “We don’t serve that PISS in here,we ship it to the States”.The kindly bartender then introduced me to the beers that ARE popular in London.For the life of me,I can’t remember the brands OR much of the rest of that night.