I think that mug just about blew out my digital camera. Canada's centennial colours in 1967 were pretty basic, kind of like this brew - burnished gold ale under a fine white full head, a basic grainy no nonsense pale ale with some bread crusty grain, a bit of hops across the palate with a flash of orange fruit right in the middle, finishing as a mix of bitter greens and malt.
The label says it is made with reverse osmosis water as well as toasted wheat and crystal malt. It even has a neato ROH20 logo but nevertheless is a good example of the drier Canadian style of pale ale. But 6% of BAers do not like this one, one citing "burnt-popcorn" which can be argued.
Comments
Pootz - June 13, 2007 10:22 PM
Hey good timing Alan...Steve Beaumont and I are having a dust up on this one over at the Bartowel.
The thread was about locally available pales having to substitute for the big IPA we ain't got here...one of the more verbose BA posters was waxing poetic about St. Ambroise as a "classic" pale (whatever the hell that is as all styles are constantly mutating)worthy od substituting for our lacking IPA offerings in this market.
I posted with a counter point that pale ales are a sad substitue for IPAs ( of all kinds) and that St. Ambroise as a pale was about as pedestrian and mass appeal as you can get without going to a full macro style.
Well...the outrage! Steve is in there pimping St. A like some unique treasure of the Canadian brewing craft and I had to stop him there...Personally, I like Black Oak better as a flavourful pale...it is earier to distinguish it as a pale and it is made as an unpretentious craft styled session pale...where as St A pretends to be something its not; a massive micro pale that Michael Jackson would die for. (it really has a watery mouth and over carbonation as far as I'm concerned)...maybe it stood out in the 1 beer micro world in 1989 but no more....there are better pales...and Black Oak is one of them.
Long story short, I went out and bought some St. A to objectively taste it against other pales I like better in the Ontario market and it came off as pretty non-stellar...like I remembered it to be.
Of the 4 pales I tried Tankhouse finished first for actually having flavor, Headstrong second, Black Oak 3rd and St A wiping up 4th place.
Maybe you want to comment on this thread. I'd value your opinion:
http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3139