Brewery: Mascot Brewery
Origin: Toronto ON Canada
Style: Light Lager
Abv: 4.0%
Marketing: The can is a pleasing pale green color with a buff cartoon weightlifter dude on it. The image is definitely on theme with the name of the beer, which is a positive in my opinion. Some brewery's give their beers these very trendy funky names that have nothing to do with the actual beer inside and then also design their can in a way that has nothing to do with the name of the beer...(huh?) Such cases can be very disjointed and beg the question, "what is the point of it all?" This one does a good job tailoring the beer to the name though, and then also tying the name to the can design in a way that makes sense. It all sort of fits together nicely. There was also some verbage on the back of the can thats punny, campy and fun. It's not my particular style of artwork but it's a fun can and I would classify it as good marketing overall.
Color: This beer poured a pale yellow color - like straw and had a flimsy head on top. It was also a crystal clear brew, as a lager should be.
Nose: The aroma was sweet and malty with grassy notes, cereals and fresh hay. Pleasant overall.
Taste: Sweet malty taste with not a lot of bitterness. Definitely not balanced airing on the sweet side, but very good nonetheless.
Texture: Soft bubbly texture with an almost thin syrupy mouthfeel. I'd say that its medium bodied. Unfermented sugars are probably whats creating the sweet taste and heavier mouthfeel, I'm guessing.
Impression: Good beer overall with lots of flavor. Fresh tasting. It's a bit sweet for me, which became more and more apparent as I drank it. I think that the sweetness would be over powering if I were to drink a second one in one sitting.
Brewery: Great Lakes Brewery
Origin: Etobicoke ON Canada
Style: Pilsner, Lager
Abv: 5.0%
Marketing: White can with blue, red and bronze accent colors. Shield crest design. I disliked this can design immensely. However, there was a blurb of info on the back that explained that this is the original label dating back to 1987, the year that the company was incorporated, and is meant to be a throwback to the brewery's humble beginings. I can appreciate that. I also found it to be pretty funny so extra points for the humor:
The elements in the crest provide a glimpse into, well, we're not quite sure, but the design was groundbreaking in the 80's so we're good with it.
Color: Pale yellow color, crystal clear, with a decent amount of foam on top.
Nose: Grassy notes, hay and sweet smelling cereals.
Taste: Dry with a bitter finish. Balanced. Not a huge amount of complexity to it like most lagers. Mostly fresh tasting.
Texture: Bubbly carbonation with a watery mouthfeel.
Impression: It was a bit bland and boring but all around a pretty decent beer, maybe the kind that you would bring to the cottage and drink several of in one sitting. You don't want anything too strong tasting if you're going to drink a lot of them - that's how I see it anyway.
Brewery: Triple Bogey Brewing Co
Origin: Toronto ON Canada
Style: Lager
Abv: 5.0%
Marketing: Bright lawn green can with golf imagery. I hate golf so this doesn't appeal to me at all, nonetheless I bought it to try it. Marketing often doesn't tell us anything about the beer inside.
Color: The beer poured a golden, almost burnt yellow color with a decent head of loosly packed bubbles on top.
Nose: Some generic...beer aroma.. I didn't get far into analyzing this one.
Taste: Very stale tasting on first sip. Again, I didn't get far into it. It tasted terrible overall to the point that I couldn't even drink it.
Texture: I didn't notice.
Impression: This beer was absolutely terrible to me. It tasted so stale and like it was produced using super cheap ingredients (like beers that use high fructose corn syrup or some other shit product). It reminded me of a Labbat Blue for some reason or some other Premium domestic - massed produced crap beer. It actually reminded me of first taking a sip of beer. You know, when you're 8 years old and you dad allows you to have a sip of his beer and you're like, "eeewwww gross! That's disgusting. How can you drink that!?!" That's exactly what this beer tasted like - a bad memory. It's probably a bit dramatic to dump a beer down the sink but there is something about really bad beer that I can't stomach. It almost gives me a gag reflex. This beer was one meant to be poured out in my opinion. It probably would have gave me a hangover too. It just wasn't worth it.
