Stubbies, Miller High Life and Louise Mandrell...

For some reason 30 years ago, we thought this beer
was a big deal. We were college kids - we had an
excuse. Anyone who wasn't? You're on your own

Thirty-plus years ago when I turned legal, Canadian beer came in one bottle and one bottle only - the stubby. Short, wide and brown, it was the bottle used nationally by all Canadian brewers from 1961 when it was introduced and lasted it to the mid-1980s. To those of us who became of legal age in the 70s and 80s, it was the only beer bottle we'd ever known and you got 'em in six-packs, 12-packs and two-fours - that was it. They were the beer bottles our dads used to drink from. Until it was our turn.

Then over a ridiculously-short time-span, stubbies just disappeared from view. Wiped off the horizon. Replaced by bottles of all shapes and sizes in Canada. Why? Oh, there's many theories. Inter-provincial sales which had previously not been allowed were finally okayed. Limits on American and foreign imports were starting to lift. Micro-breweries (the fathers of craft brewers) were just starting to pop up. I call "shenanigans" on all these theories. I was there. I remember. Stubbies in Canada disappeared because of one single beer: Miller High Life. Let me tell you what really happened...

Louise Mandrell. You would have proposed too

In early-1983, Carling O'Keefe Brewery (at the time, Canada's third-largest brewer - long since absorbed by Molsons) acquired the rights to brew Miller High Life, a giant American beer brewed by, well, American giant Miller. In one of the shrewdest marketing moves in Canadian beer history, they bottled it in unique tall-neck bottles (much like the USA version) and virtually swept the youth beer market. Beer Store old-timers remember having to get this beer shipped in by the skid-load and still selling out. Was it better-tasting than other popular Canadian beers? No, not at all, as I recall. But we were young, it came in a super-cool bottle, was 5% (so it got the job done) and well, it looked different than our dads' beer, y'know? Reason enough to switch. But I was there the fateful night the huge Miller High Life launch in Canada all went down. Actually, so too were two of the other Beer Musketeers - Glenn and Stevil St Evil.

Another winner from the Double Trouble
Brewing boys out of Guelph: their punchy
Fire in the Rye Roasted Rye Pale Ale...

At the time, we were all third-year Journalism students at Toronto's Humber College. As third-years, we had to intern at actual publications to get our diploma. I landed at a small community newspaper in west Toronto. Stevil worked at a dairy magazine under the huge Rogers Communications umbrella - something like 25 magazines under one roof. And Glenn did PR for a small but thriving chain of strip clubs. (Not really but I forget where he interned. He's out of the country so I can't ask. And it's not key to the story.) So Miller was having this huge corporate launch followed by the media launch the following night. So through Rogers, Stevil finagled six passes to the media launch for us and six of us tromped down to a swanky convention hall in downtown Toronto for a night of free Miller High Life. Except for one little glitch. Somehow the event people sent him six invites to the swanky corporate night, not the following media night. Obviously, there were problems at the door which we left for Stevil to deal with, as he was the dude who scored the tickets, as well as the group's primo schmoozer and at 6-foot-7, a pretty imposing schmoozer to boot.

Founders, the Grand Rapid, Michigan makers of my
beloved Centennial IPA, have another winner with
their Pale Ale - one lightly-hopped little treat...

And of course he got us in - six scraggly-looking collegiate frat boy types ready to pound down free beer awash in a sea of corporate dark blue and pin-striped black suits. Aside from being the youngest people in the room by far, we couldn't have been more out-of-place unless we walked in wearing brightly-coloured Hawaiian shirts - which two of us actually were. (All these years later, my taste in casual clothing has not even marginally improved. Why would I wear a golf shirt? Is there a golf club in my hand? No, I think not.) But soon, one thing became readily apparent. We weren't trapped in a big room of corporate suits - no, in fact, they were trapped in there with us. That we stood out first became apparent when singer Louise Mandrell hit the stage. She was the middle sister of the popular country music Mandrell Sisters trio whose variety show was televised at the time on a large American TV network. So when it came time to call someone on stage, which clean-cut worthy corporate suit got the nod? Uhhh, that would be me. 

With a  punchy floral bouquet, I prefer
Liberty Ale over their Anchor Steam...

I bounded up on stage. "Well, don't you look like a fun-loving young fella," the stunningly attractive Mandrell purred in a light southern drawl. "Anything you wanna say while you're up here?" I hesitated for a nano-second before answering, "Sure. Will you marry me?" That brought down the house - score one for the frat boys. Laughing, she gamely responded, "Oh honey, I've had a lot of husbands." I simply replied, "That's okay, I've got lots of rings." More laughs. That earned me a hug, a kiss on the cheek and a whispered, "You are so cute..." Floating on Cloud 9 back down from the stage, the corporate cats couldn't high-five me enough. The frat boys earned their free beer that swanky corporate night. And apparently, in a wee bit of a free beer stupor, we also thought we earned a six-foot-high cut-out of a Miller High Life bottle, hard-mounted on a four-wheeled dolly. Because out the front door, Stevil brazenly marched out with it, into the Toronto night... and onto the Toronto subway, which, in itself, was a sight to see. Regardless, that night sounded the death-knell for the stubby in Canada. In an effort to compete with Miller High Life, the other brewers simply pitched the compact bottle into the bin and came out with fancier ones themselves - long-necks, painted labels, the whole nine yards. And the stubby passed soon after. If you would, a moment of silence for the stu... yeah, long enough, let's talk beer. Mostly ales and pale ales.

The Amsterdam Autumn Hop Harvest Ale is
one that will always have a place in my fridge

Okay, I've been promising a handful of reviews for the past few blogs and let's have at it, shall we? Okay, first up we have the third offering from the boys at Double Trouble Brewing who contract-brew out of Wellington County Brewery in Guelph. Their first two outings - Break-Out Pilsner and Hops and Robbers IPA - were both solid, especially the sessionable IPA. But their latest, Fire in the Rye Roasted Rye Pale Ale? Shazam, we have a winner. Clocking in at 6.1% and 60 IBU (international bitterness units), this packs a nice little jolt. Pine and light hops on the nose, peppery rye and fruity on the tongue, it isn't quite in the lofty Cameron's Rye Pale Ale stratosphere but really, it's pretty damn close. The first of several keepers coming up today.

Let's travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan and see what the boys at Founders Brewery, home to my beloved Centennial IPA, have for us today - ahh, their Pale Ale. A far less hopped pale than the ones I usually favour, this 5.4% and 35 IBU ale uses the steadfast Cascade hop for its citrusy, flowery scent and is a nicely-balanced moderate American Pale Ale on the tongue. The latitude for hoppiness and ABV in pale ales is exceptionally wide and this is on the low-medium end. However, for that very reason, this would be an outstanding day-on-the-patio beer and since Donny's Bar and Grill has a patio, it will be happily returning... when the sun does.

Brewed by Nickel Brook brewmaster Ryan Morrow,  Rhyme
& Reason pale ale is both delicious and artistically-minded

Okay, it just dawned on me as I re-read that last paragraph that while I refer to IBUs constantly, I have never mentioned ABVs, which means simply "alcohol by volume". I always just say, oh, 7% and assume you know what that means. Okay, here's why it's called ABV. The higher the ABV, the louder you will be while drinking that beer. Alcohol by volume. True story. Ask anyone. Anyone sitting within earshot of me in a bar, that is...

Had an Anchor Brewing (San Francisco) Anchor Steam lager a while back and liked it just fine but it was the Liberty Ale that I was more eager to try. Turns out that was with good reason.

I'm with Newcastle. Who the hell
uses the word "chalice"? I have
two of those Stella glasses and I
call them "goblets". Why? Less
European and more Harry Potter!

Also incorporating Cascade hops, this 5.9% brew has that punchy floral bouquet and a nice citrus bitter-sweet finish. To my tastes, much preferable over the Steam Anchor although I will take ales over lagers on all days that end with "y". That said, I would recommend the Steam Anchor as a huge step-up to mainstream lager drinkers.

Another pale ale that I had enjoyed was Amsterdam's Autumn Hop Ale, having picked one up when Beer Musketeer Cat and I toured the Amsterdam brewery a few months back. Using a "wet hop" technique, whereby freshly-picked hops are added to the mix, the 5.6%, 60 IBU has that pine and grapefruit nose I love in an IPA and some citrus, medium-bitterness on the tongue. The sole problem? I was drinking it at the same time as the brewery's super-kick-ass ultra-hoppy Fracture IIPA so Autumn Hop came off as a weaker, younger sister. Lesson learned: separate your beers. I will do that this summer at the Donny's Bar and Grill patio with this single sold at LCBOs everywhere. It's a great beer... that I drank with the wrong companion beers.

And finally Collective Art's Rhyme & Reason Extra Pale Ale, a beer that has sparked an ongoing debate between Beer Musketeer Glenn and myself. He maintains that Rhyme & Reason should be my favourite pale ale since my current favourite, Spearhead Hawaiian Style Pale Ale, is 6%, 60 IBU and would be better classified as an IPA, rather than a pale ale. I counter that Rhyme & Reason is 5.7% and 55 IBU so, well, we're kind of splitting hairs here. The marks on RateBeer are virtually identical with Rhyme notching 96 and Hawaiian collecting 95. However, where he may be a little right is that Rhyme & Reason has the edge on style points (98 vs 93), meaning, yes, Rhyme is a truer pale ale.

That's just animal cruelty... expecting a dog
to drink a disgusting  Corona. The glasses
and hat are fine, kinda cute even but Corona?

That said, Nickel Brook brewmaster Ryan Morrow had a real challenge on his hands - make a pale ale for contract brewer Collective Arts that is markedly different than Nickel Brook's own outstanding Naughty Neighbour American Pale Ale. Saying he succeeded is an understatement. He power-blasted this, using Citra, Centennial, Chinook and Simcoe hops - hmmm, sounding very IPA-ish to me, Glenn - giving it a pine and grapefruit nose with some bitter-sweet citrus, tropical fruit on the tongue. It is outstanding so nice job, Ryan. 

That said, the biggest reason I like Spearhead Hawaiian Style Pale Ale the most? Simple, I don't like pineapple... at all. You will never see me eat pineapple, especially on pizza. And yet I love it in this beer. It's funny - there are laws against violence, stalking, bad/drunk driving and even jay-walking. But not one single law against putting fruit on pizza??? It's like society itself is ignoring the obvious.

Okay, I had also promised to review Brewery Ommegang's Hennipen Saison and Young's Double Chocolate Stout in this blog but, well, they don't really fit today's theme and this is long enough. In a couple of days, I will be writing about that Toronto's Beer Festival's Spring Fest that co-worker Saga and I attended last weekend at the Brick Works in Toronto. So until then, that's it, that's all and I am outta here!!! Until then, I remain...