Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

This is the original doppelbock, the one by which all others will supposedly be measured. I can see why. The beer pours a transparent cherry red colour with a generous long lasting off-white foaming cap. Dark fruits, caramel, and roasted malt comprise the bulk of the aromatic nature with some yeast present for good measure. The flavour is sweet roasted malt and caramel, with hints of plums and bread. I can see why this is a Lenten staple.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

North American breweries could learn a lesson or two when it comes to making lagers. The variety of German lagers and how well they do them makes it laughable when I think of North American macro efforts to duplicate it. This beer pours a clear medium gold colour with a frothy snow white head. Aroma is earthy hops, yeast, and bready grains. Flavour is slightly sweet, some caramel notes for sure, with a bitter finish. Some definite yeast character as well.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

A weak yellow pour, slight cloudiness, with a weak white creamy head. Not looking so great so far. Aroma is light caramel, some weak spicy notes, yeast, and grains. So, a little better than a few minutes ago. Flavour starts off sweet with bread and caramel notes, and finishes dry and bitter with a definite hop bang. Not the world’s best Oktoberfest, but still good enough for me.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

It took me many years of tracking this down to be able to finally taste one, and it was worth it. A nice dark brown pour, murky, with a medium sized cream coloured cap. The aroma is roasted malt, brown sugar, caramel, yeast, and spices. The flavour is sweet caramel/brown sugar up front, but there is a lingering hoppy finish,

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

A traditional German Hefeweizen from Munich, can’t beat that! This one pours a hazy light yellow with a frothy white cap. The aroma is clove, banana, wheat, and bubble gum. The flavour is sweet wheat, some coriander and clove, weak bubble gum, and a hoppy bitterness. Sweet gold in the mouth!

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

I’ve been seeing this crop up in liquor and beer stores across the Ottawa Valley so I had to try it. It’s nothing memorable, that’s for sure. A slightly hazed reddish-0brown pour with a generous off-white head. Bready and caramel malt notes comprise the aroma with a hint of weak earthy hops. Flavour is a sweet malty onslaught that can’t be balanced by what little hop presence exists. A fail in my eyes.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Not sure what to make of this one. An overhopped lager is what I presume they were going for. It pours a clear medium gold colour with a generous white head that sticks a round a minute or two, then has a plane to catch somewhere. The aroma has a definite citrus hop motif going on balanced out by some yeast, bread, and light spices. Flavour is well balanced between the grains and citrus. Not something I would seek out but not something I would say no to either.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Another medal winning beer that doesn’t have any apparent medal winning characteristics. A transparent dark brown pour with a weak bubbly off-white cap. Aroma is weak roast, weak caramel, and floral hops. The flavour is a metallic nutty flavour with hints of roasted malt, yeast, and weak hops.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This is an award winning Scotch Ale, but at the same time, I fail to see how. It’s a nice dark brown pour with a light tan bubbly head. The aroma is molasses and caramel, as well as some yeast notes. The flavour is definitely sweet with lots of caramel flavours, but the salt-kissed balance is missing for me.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

The beer pours a coca-cola brown colour with brown edges and a huge bubbly light brown head. Citrus and roasted malt make up most of the aroma but there are hints of coffee, caramel, and yeast. Flavour is very similar to most average rune of the mill Black IPAs with a citrusy roasty flavour. Good, but not great.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Rice evokes the images of Japan and Budweiser when it is mentioned in connection with beer. The beer pours a nice medium gold colour, some reddish hues, and a generous white cap. The aroma is grains, weak citrusy hops, and some yeast. The flavour is light citrus, some caramellish notes, and more yeast. Not something I liked.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

This is one amazing stout and was voted one of the world’s best a few years back, and it’s not hard to know why. The blackest pour imaginable is topped off by a creamy brown head. Aromas of coffee, roasted malt, licorice and vanilla fill the air while the flavour is nicely balanced with a nice bitter finish and no aftertaste.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

This is the Bolshevik Bastard in Bourbon Barrels, however as I’m not a fan of bourbon flavoured beer, it does nothing for me. It’s still a dark black pour, but aside from that the bourbon and oak notes take away from the stout experience for me.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

I first tried this beer when Carling was a standalone brewery and it wasn’t very good (but back then, ales were considered ‘old man beer’ so Export, 50, and O’Keefe were to be avoided). I recently tried the contemporary Molson version and was quite surprised as I felt that it had improved which I can’t say for the other Carling products that survived the merger. Let’s get to the basics. Colour is pale gold, head is white and thin. Aroma is corny and musty. Flavour is bland and corny. Hard to believe it was worse in the early 80s!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This stout entered Ontario as a brand new entry into the stout race and started near the top. This is a black beer with brown edges and a creamy light brown cap. Lots of coffee and roasted malt in the aroma and the flavour is nicely balanced between the sweet chocolate notes and the bitterness of the coffee and roasted malt

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

A very dark black stout with a creamy beige head. Muskoka has been known to be hit and miss on beers, and this is a miss in my opinion. It lacks balance. There is a lot of bitterness in the aroma with hints of coffee and roasted malt, but the flavour is a tad too sweet for a stout with fruity and milk chocolate notes…..but it isn’t a milk stout.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

I tried this recently after having known it existed for the last 50 years, and was kind of disappointed to find out it is now a Heineken product. Oh well. It isn’t that bad of a stout however. A very dark brown beer with a cap that’s light tan coloured and creamy. Typical Irish stout aroma of coffee and chicory and little else. Flavour falls in line too. I wish I had tried it 30 years ago.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

After the Ice beer fad died down, we had the dry beer fad with the tagline ‘no aftertaste’. Personally it was only the cruddy North American macro beers that ever had much of an aftertaste, the Belgian beers available in the 80s didn’t have any (still don’t). Again, Moosehead Dry was just Moosehead Lager bottled under a different label with a supposedly higher ABV.

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

Seriously, be honest with me….this is just Moosehead Lager under a different label. I know it is. It looks like the lager, smells like the lager, and tastes like the lager. Ergo, it must be the lager.

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

The ubiquitous Eastern Canadian beer that really is no better than other Canadian macros. A Moosehead Lager can be summarized as a clear golden lager with a white head, with plenty of grainy malt character in the both the nose and the flavour. As with any other macro lager, plenty of off-aromas and flavours.

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 2 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 3

It’s long been thought in Canada that when you get a ‘Light’ version of a macro beer, it is really just the same beer watered down. This is definitely my impression of Moosehead Light when compared to Moosehead Lager. The colour is definitely a lighter shade of gold, and the malty presence in the aroma and flavour is definitely muted.

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

Back in the mid-90s, everybody and their cousin was making ice and dry beers. Some breweries had elaborate commercials to explain how they were made (lying through their teeth while doing it) and telling us how they were crisper and more refreshing. Thankfully, not once, did they claim to be more flavourful. The ‘ice’ treatment of Moosehead was simply a way to serve a higher alcohol version of Moosehead for a slightly higher price, and make more money.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 3

From the files of ‘what the hell we’re they thinking’ comes this beer that was better left in the mind of the person that concocted it. It pours a translucent rust colour with no head. Lots of caramel in the aroma, but no citrus. Flavour is more sweet than I would like, mainly because there is no bitter hop finish to balance it out.

Aroma: 2 | Appearance: 2 | Mouthfeel: 2 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 2

It never ceases to amaze me that craft brewers can take some things like hops, malt, water, and yeast and make something decent out of it while macro brewers are stuck at that 5% level. For the last few years, the ‘Session IPA’ has been a ‘thing’ in Canada with ABVs as low as 3% and some of these beers very flavourful, yet Cracked Canoe tastes like somebody took 11.5oz of water and added 0.5oz of Moosehead and called it a beer.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 2

I’m not sure what this is supposed to be, but I do know what it is not….it’s not very good! Once you open the bottle you can smell the alcohol, and once you pour it into the glass you can smell the corn. The pour is devoid of any real head and is a light metallic gold in colour. The flavour is metallic grains, corn, and alcohol. If you aren’t accustomed to Malt Liquors, then you may have trouble choking this down.