Wellington Arkell Best Bitter

It's been awhile...I'm back with another Canadian brew review.

Wellington Arkell Best Bitter

Wellington Brewery

Ontario, Canada

English Bitter

4.00%

Look: The beer poured A very rich, yet clear amber, brown color.  A nice off-white head stood up for A few minutes before deflating into nothingness, leaving behind A decent amount of lacing on the rim of my glass. Not much trace carbonation visible.  Not the best looking beer I should add.

Smell: Immediately I get A very roasty, nutty scent.  I could smell it as soon as I popped the can open.  Also pick up A bit of some honey biscuit and cereal grain. Perhaps A bit of some grapefruit from hops, maybe A little pine as well.  Besides the nuttiness everything else is fairly subdued.

Taste: Some light bready notes, watered down coffee, and A bit of caramel.  About half way through the taste you get A bit of bittering from the hops to balance the beer out quite well. Finishes with A brush of some roasted cereal and some piney/grapefruit hoppiness.


Mouthfeel:  Medium bodied. Perhaps A bit lighter than that.  Medium carbonation as well. Does not sting the tongue and goes down very easy.  Maybe it could be A little more full bodied but I think that the amount of flavor to mouthfeel ratio is really making this beer work.

Overall: This really isn't A great example of A bitter, yet it's also not A horrible one.  Maybe A bit higher than middle of the road when it comes to English Bitters.  I would suggest giving it A try though if you are ever in Ontario, maybe you will have A different experience than me.  

Wellington Arkell Best Bitter gets A 3.5/5 from me.

Elora Grand Lager

Continuing on my Canadian vacation from mid March, Elora Grand Lager.

Brewed by Trafalgar Brewing Company
Ontario, Canada
Pale Lager
5%

Purchased from an LCBO in Scarborough.

(I have no idea why Blogger is doing this to my photos...)

"Dry-Hopped" and "Craft Brewed" Oh really...? We'll have to see about that.

Look: The Elora Grand Lager pours A very bright, golden color. It looks sort of like light orange juice.  The head barely existent, forms about a quarter of an inch of just pure foam. This does not look very appetizing at all.

Smell: A bit of bathroom cleaner. Seriously. It smells like lemon pledge. Maybe A bit of corn, faintest trace of some barley malt as well. The smell was pretty hard to pick up because of the solvent hints it gives off.  I really hope the taste does not follow.

Taste: Ok, here we go. The first thing I notice right up front is A hoppy twang. Not so much A good, quality hoppy twang. Maybe A cheaper, hop oil twang. It really hits you on the tongue. It's pretty sour and A bit solvent...like I imagine lemon pledge would be. After you dig your way through that, you can finally pick up A bit of sweetness that flickers throughout the middle but then gets buried again by that lemon twang.  I guess it's not awful. It could be really refreshing if I just got done mowing a couple acres worth of grass with push mower and needed to drink something to quench my dying thirst. Meh...

Mouthfeel:  The mouthfeel is pretty slick. Not really drying at all. Carbonation is pretty moderate with this one.

Overall: It's not too bad. I don't think I would really ever buy it again. It was pretty cheap and at least it was drinkable. I'd rate it higher than most Macro brews too but for me, it just doesn't hit the spot.

Elora Grand Lager gets A 2/5.

Sleeman Clear

I spent A few days in Toronto, Ontario, Canada last month. Specifically March 13-15. What did I do? Well, I drank beer. Lots of it actually.  Well I guess that's not all I did. I made A few great friends too. Yeah, that actually never happens. It did though, I swear... Anyways, over the next many posts I plan on reviewing all of the my libations.

Lets get started.

Sleeman Clear
Sleeman Brewing and Malting Company
Guelph, Ontario
"Light Lager"
4% ABV

Look: Right off the bat you can see the beer.  It comes in A clear bottle, it's impossible not to be able to. It's A very light, "corny" yellow color.  Poured almost no head at all. What did form was about an inch and A half of a rocky, bubbly head.  A sad looking beer.

Smell: Very grainy.  Before I even got close to it, I could smell fresh cut grains and heaps of corn.  Underlying all of that is A musty hint of some old apples and maybe some rusting metal.  I am not detecting anything too discernible except for maybe the corn and the metal.

Borrowed photo from Libres-Penseurs. I neglected to take A photo for some reason.

Taste: Yep, it's A light beer. The first taste I get is actually the non-existent taste. A crisp, watery, drink.  Some light hints of corn and sweet apple linger throughout the entirety. Maybe the faintest taste of some hops.  Surprisingly the beer wasn't skunked because of the clear bottle. I guess you need to actually have hops in the beer for it to skunk though. All in all, it doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't really taste like anything.  It sort of reminds me of Coors light with that hint of fruity banana or apple flavor.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation doesn't sting as much as I thought it may have for A beer like this.  Medium carbonation. Very smooth and easy to put down, especially on A hot day.

Overall:  It's not the worst thing in the world, but it's also not the best.  It's A light beer.  Primarily water.  I can't say that it didn't go down really good after walking around Toronto all day. I'll give it that.

Sleeman Clear gets A 2/5 from me.  I'd drink it again if the circumstance are right.

Labatt Blue

**Actually did a video review for this. It's still in the editing stage. I'll keep everyone posted.**

I'm sure this is a beer most people have so I won't spend too much time on it. It was a hot day and I was just looking for something light, smooth, and corny... Just kidding about the corny part, but that's what I ended up getting.

Labatt Blue

I've had this beer before. From can and I've also had it on draft from my local sports bar. I decided to pick up a 1 pint can at Mel's Pizzeria in Kittanning, PA. Grabbed this one for $1. Hey, it might be cheap swill...but it's cheap. Right? Can I get an "AMEN!" up in here?

Like I said earlier, I don't have any great stories to tell about this one or much to even talk about. It's a cheap, simple, macro lager. So this will be a cheap, simple, macro review.

Appearance: The swill poured a very light golden color. Large bubbles quickly scampered to

the top of the glass to escape the corn hell. Unlucky for them, they didn't really have anywhere to go. The head however, was not too bad, maybe it was just my pour...? It was about a finger and a half thick and looked like a sponge from the side. The head was a completely pale white color. That is a bit depressing, eh?

Aroma: Well...what I did get was corn. What I didn't get was character. That basically describes it. Seriously. It's corn water. At least it smelled just like corn water.

Taste: I'm not quite sure how I can say this without offending too many folks...It's boring. I know Labatt Blue has a huge following on college campuses and in hockey circles but you know what? I'm not afraid to say it. This beer is BORING. The outright taste, just like the smell, is corn. Corn Corn Corn CORN CORN CORN. "How many times do I have to read that word in this loser's review?" You may be thinking. Well, a lot. Seeing as corn is most likely the predominate ingredient in this besides water, it's a hell of a task to try to overcome the corn. It's no Busch though...

There is a bit of sweetness and just the slightest bit of a leafy, hay like hops in there, somewhere. Good luck finding any of it.

Mouthfeel: Highly carbonated. Very watery. It works.

Over all, this is a beer I would drink again over a few other cheaper macro brews. Although, I can honestly say I would never keep this stocked in my fridge regardless of the situation. For what it is however, i'll go ahead and give this a 1.5/5. I just couldn't give this anything higher.

You could do worse. I guess...