Canadians as a whole are very educated, understanding and accepting people. Having lived in Canada for the last 6 years in my life I have come to understand Canada a fair bit, and the bureaucratic ways things happen in this country. The one thing that I do not accept is ‘Fence Sitting’ and that is Canada’s biggest fault other than the obvious ‘Arse ****ing’ that occurs to our neighbors south of the border.
Before anyone screams and shouts I am about to become a Duel-Citizen of Canada. So it can’t be that bad right? Well some of the beer is pretty shit and that is what this post is about. We all read, write and taste beers we find interesting whether they be Belgian, German, American or Canadian so lets call things as we see them.
A beer blogger (Troy) from Toronto wrote an interesting retort to a beer reviewer bagging out Ontario Craft brewers in a video. The comments after Blog entries are sometimes more interesting than the actual article. Look with most blogs its the comments from randoms that are cool, or interesting obviously trying to get a reaction from a certain segment of people. Whether you comment on Ratebeer, or Beer Advocate I not care but don’t degrade someone because they have an opinion. This is my opinion on Canadian Beer overall!
Are all beers in Canada crap? the simple and best answer is NO. Is the majority of craft beer in CA NA DA Crap? Yes.
Canada suffers from the same issues faced in England that Pete Brown wrote about in this article in which he discusses the ‘corporate’ branding of beer is from brand managers making an impact. Molson Canadian and Labatts Blue are the two most famous beers in Canada and owned by Molson-Coors and ABInbev respectively and thus have the most marketing, and tap handles. They control the majority while craft brewers fight over which tap handles are theres in Beer Bars.
Where does craft beer fit into the fold in Canada?
Due to the size and scope of Canada beer is made out of necessity from Vancouver Island in the West through to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the East. Beer not only seems to get stuck at the US border but also across neighboring provinces. A trip to Alberta last year I was able to find Alley Kat and 
Wild Rose, but not much else that was drinkable. Ontario has many craft breweries, but runs into the same issue facing breweries across Canada they predominantly brew mild, safe, fence sitting beer. It is also hard to find beer bars in Canada that serve predominantly craft beer instead of 30 taps of crap.
Unlike the US who seem to have amazing beers at Pizza Hut restaurants, and gas stations Canada has not taken to the Craft Beer phenom like they should have by now. Breweries still pump out a ‘strawberry blonde’ or ‘honey amber’. Just today an email from Granville Island brewery in Vancouver to let me know they
are releasing a Raspberry Wheat Ale, but this shouldn’t be confused with the Phillips Raspberry Wheat Ale, or the Central City one. Like any time of year it is summer right now and everyone is on the patios across Canada wanting to drink beer, but why the overload of Raspberry beer by what seems like every brewery in BC?
Canadian breweries such as Dieu du Ciel, Unibroue, McAuslen-St Ambroise in Quebec or likely the leading brewers with whom can compete with the quality of craft brewing in the United States. I’m a fan of Black Oak in Ontario and Central City in BC, but both do not have a stellar line up that you’d choose to drink over a Southern Tier or Stone. Phillips Brewery in Victoria BC is always putting out ‘seasonal’ releases which don’t always work, but are highly regarded for their effort.
While the US breweries are producing Imperial Stouts and Imperial IPA’s Canadian breweries are still putting out ‘soft’ ‘fruit’ driven delicate lager/pilsners. Yes I’m sure Peach and Huckleberry is quite a delicate drink, but if given the choice I would pick up an Imperial IPA. Black Oak released their ‘Ten Bitter Years’ and through huge response and feedback are re-doing it.
St Ambroise produced an Imperial Stout that was phenomenal. Howe Sound in BC released not only an Imperial Stout, but an Imperial Hefeweizen, both with huge acclaim. So why can’t more breweries in Canada start doing the same?
**(Note I exchange beers with friends in Toronto, these beers from Ontario are not in BC Liquor stores)**
Canadians are still on the whole accepting of mediocre beer, and the brewpubs and breweries keep producing what sells. Before Dix Brewpub closed its doors in Vancouver the brewer used to say ‘game-day’ Lager is what pays the rent. Well maybe that’s a bad example as Dix is now shut.
Whenever I’m in the US I’m always asking people what do you think of Canadian beer? Most can’t name any other than the obvious Big Name beers. This is not a go at how dumb we may think they are, but DDC in Quebec is usually the only name they can pull out of their head. People in BC love Central City IPA and I agree its a great beer, but none of their other beers are that crash hot aside from the ESB. Black Oak is a crowd favorite in Toronto and I’m a fan of Paddock Wood in Saskatchewan. But the beers I mostly drink are from my cross-border shopping forays. Where a 7/11 Supermarket in Bellingham has better beers than can be purchased in BC.
We can blame the governments, the LCBO, BC Liquor, blame high taxes, but its about time everyone asks why can’t we see more names producing better beer? Not just the odd seasonal release! I love Belgian beer, and I love Seasonal Belgians that many BC brewers do, but it would be great to see some more oomph put into the beers.
Beer Brewing
July 22, 2010
Canada is definitely one of the greatest countries for brewing beer, though in the last World Cup Beers contest, the U.S. definitely dominated. The U.S. took home 4 World Cup Beer trophies alone, no other country won more than one.
bierfesten
July 23, 2010
Thanks for that. Don’t keep up with World Cup Beer events or awards. Sometimes many of the beers that win are not available outside a state/province or are not bottled. A brewery winning with 1 beer for instance is cool, but not if the other 5-10 beers in their line up are crap.
Canada is one of the better countries in the world for brewing I do agree with that statement, but compared to the US we’re not keeping up.
barleyalchemy
July 23, 2010
Agreed! Canadian brewers need to step up to the plate, but I think its happening it just takes us a few years to get going!
jjg
October 5, 2011
Very unfortunate in Ontario that our liquor and beer is sold by only two merchants, one being provincially owned and controlled. I guess this is why I only discovered craft beer in America 3 years ago which lead me to get aquainted here.
Today I am starting to see more variety and push in the LCBO and finally crafts from other provinces appearing on the shelves out here in Southwestern Ontario. IPA’s and Bocks are my favorite style of brew and yeah I was disappointed when Dogfishead was pulled from the shelves here about a year ago. Must’ve been the $15.00 price tag? I think that in the last year some Ontario breweries have stepped up (or at least sought out distribution in the LCBO). Mad Tom, Smashbomb & Netherworld, Curmudgeon IPA are great beers I would compare to our Southern Neighbors. Garrison from Nova Scotia and Hop Head from Tree Brewing Co. are nice recent additions at my local store. I would still like to see more ‘extreme’ or specialty beers being made here. I hope to see this trend continue to grow.
The availabilty kind of sucks in Ontario but maybe that can be changed by getting these brews in bars. I definitely enjoyed my time visiting the states, going to independant shops and browsing the endless shelves of uniquely packaged brews and in some places even try them. Come on , let’s get with it!
bierfesten
October 6, 2011
Thanks for your your thoughts Joe, as when I wrote this article I was living in Vancouver and asking that same question why is the uptake to US beers on shelves in Canada so slow, when a local gas station over the border stocks beers we can only dream of. One of my beer guys just flew here to Sydney last week and brought some Tree Hophead and Flying Monkeys from the LCBO, unfortunately the Red Racer was sold out and not in stock. But here in Australia we get hardly any US IPA’s that are fresh, so fresh beer is always welcome.
I think both BC & Ontario have make huge changes in the last 2 years, but there are still too many Pale Ales on the market and Lagers unfortunately.
jjg
October 7, 2011
I had a friend recently visit from down under and had the chance to show him some things.
Yeah it’s a great article you wrote. Something I’ve always been disappointed about. I mean I do like the craft beer in Ontario but still few compare to the massive selection in the states. But hey, it takes time for taste buds to adapt unless you have a freak tongue. I drank imports for several years. I’ve never been a domestic beer drinker. I was going to the states regularly and was impressed by the price of imports there and the selection (of course now I know they aren’t actually imported). I picked up a subscription (in Canada) of Beer Magazine which is primarily geared towards Americian Craft. With that and along with my curiosity in the colorful and creative packaging + some tap sampling I discovered craft beer. But not in my own country where it has also existed for a long time. Having said that it is coming along. We hear ads for Mill St. and OCB on the radio all the time now. And at my local store I have to act fast or the seasonal releases will get picked over, but the selection is (turtle speed) getting bigger and better.
Cheers!
Michael
February 15, 2012
Thanks for the update. This was a eye-opening article in general to me since my wife is a Canadian citizen and after being in the US for a number of years, we are looking to moving back to the southern Ontario region close to her famliy. I’m used to drinking primarily craft beers for the past 10years so I’m guessing I’m going to have to border jump quite often!