The Canadian Beer Sampler

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Participants: Terry Hughes (Canadian) and Chris Bullock (English)
Assistants: Ken Baldwin (Canadian), Linda Baldwin (Canadian), Chris Hughes (British born Canadian), and Barbara Bullock (English)

Route taken: Waterdown/Burlington - Levis - Moncton - Sydney - Rocky Harbour - St. John’s - Sydney - Blandford - Levis - Burlington/Waterdown

Click Mouse on map to see/remove route and watering holes

The whole prospect of what we were about to undertake lay ahead of us. Seven Thousand Kilometres (4500 miles) of driving, with big skies, endless rivers, oceans of trees, countless lakes and ponds, virgin mountains and hanging valleys all stretched out before us. The challenges to overcome included the French/English language barriers of Quebec, where to get the best donuts (doughnuts), which flavour ice-cream to choose (bubble-gum is the favourite), and how to enjoy the best ribs and sea-food in the world.
Of course, the most significant challenge was to sample as many different beers as we were capable of.

This exodus all started in 1991 when my wife, Barbara, and I decided to have a holiday in Australia which included a stopping off point in Toronto, Canada, for four days to visit our relatives. This led on to a four week drive from Vancouver back to Toronto in 1997. At that time all of the beer/lager that we found was ice cold and fizzy, even including the English beers that had been brought in by one of the so-called ‘pubs’ in Vancouver. They were a little shocked when I said I preferred my beer warm and flat.
However this resulted in our Canadian relatives visiting England in 1999.

What followed is now inscribed in the annals of history - Terry and I sampled 59 different beers on our travels around England in the short space of two weeks. I’m sure this is not a record for many regular beer drinkers, and it only scratched the surface of the 2000 different beers currently listed in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, but it was enough for us. (Terry did manage to achieve his sixtieth beer on English soil by taking a bottle of untried beer back to Canada with him, and standing on a small piece of slate from Derbyshire that his ancestors had built on.)

Now with our three week holiday in Canada ahead of us, we had to beat that record on Canadian soil (in 2002).

Most of the beers sampled had a strength of 5%, and are assumed to be 5% unless stated otherwise. (Some we didn’t note down at the time).

Brewery Beer/Lager Name Strength Location tasted Tasted on JKL
Molson, Montreal Ricards Gold   Levis Day 1 J
Molson, Montreal Ricards Pale   Levis Day 1 K
Molson, Montreal Ricards Red   Levis Day 1 K
Coors, USA Coors Lite   Levis Day 1 L
USA Old Milwauke   Moncton Day 2 K
Labatt’s, Toronto Blue   Moncton Day 2 K
Labatt’s, Toronto Blue Lite   Moncton Day 2 L
Alexander Keiths, Halifax Alexander Keiths   Sydney, Nova Scotia Day 3 K
St John’s, Newfoundland Black Horse   Rocky Harbour Day 4 K
Quidi Vidi, Nfld 1892   Rocky Harbour Day 4 J
Newfoundland Northern   Rocky Harbour Day 4 K
Quidi Vidi, Nfld Eric’s Red   Rocky Harbour Day 4 K
Newfoundland Blue Star   Rocky Harbour Day 5 K
Quidi Vidi, Nfld Cherry Beer   Rocky Harbour Day 5 LL
St John’s, Newfoundland Dominion Ale   St John’s Day 6 K
Molson, Montreal Molson   St John’s Day 7 K
St John’s, Newfoundland Jockey Club   St John’s Day 7 J
Montreal Canadian   St John’s Day 8 K
Storm Storm Kyle   St John’s Day 11 K
Maritime, Nfld Black Pearl   St John’s Day 11 K
Moosehead Clancy’s Amber Ale   St John’s Day 11 K
Gahan House, Charlottetown Sir John A’s Honey Wheat 4.5% Charlottetown, PEI Day 12 J
Gahan House, Charlottetown Harvest Gold   Charlottetown, PEI Day 12 J
Gahan House, Charlottetown Coles Cream Ale   Charlottetown, PEI Day 12 K
Gahan House, Charlottetown Island Red Amber   Charlottetown, PEI Day 12 L
Gahan House, Charlottetown Iron Horse Brown   Charlottetown, PEI Day 12 K
Gahan House, Charlottetown Sydney Street Stout   Charlottetown, PEI Day 12 J
Storm Storm Killick   Charlottetown, PEI Day 12 J
Moosehead, St John, New Brunswick Moosehead Dry 5.5% Charlottetown, PEI Day 13 J
Moosehead, St John, New Brunswick Moosehead   Charlottetown, PEI Day 13 J
Moosehead, St John, New Brunswick Alpine   Charlottetown, PEI Day 13 K
Oland Schooner   Charlottetown, PEI Day 13 K
Guelph, Ontario Sleeman Cream   Charlottetown, PEI Day 13 K
Guelph, Ontario Sleeman Honey Brown   Charlottetown, PEI Day 13 K
Scotland Maclays   Charlottetown, PEI Day 13 K
Storm Storm Hemp   Blandford Day 14 K
Alexander Keiths, Halifax Blonde Summer Wheat   Blandford Day 14 J
Propeller, Nova Scotia Propeller Bitter   Mahone Bay Day 14 J
Propeller, Nova Scotia Mug & Anchor   Mahone Bay Day 14 J
Moosehead Ten Penny 5.3% Mahone Bay Day 14 JJ
Maxwell Plum, Halifax Plum Pride   Halifax Day 15 K
Maxwell Plum, Halifax Plum Pale   Halifax Day 15 J
Oland Oland Red   Halifax Day 15 JJ
Garrison Garrison Brown   Halifax Day 15 K
Garrison Garrison Irish Red   Halifax Day 15 L
McNabs McNabs Pale   Halifax Day 15 J
Halifax Halifax 1749   Halifax Day 15 J
Propeller Propeller Pale (gone off)   Halifax Day 15
Guelph, Ontario Sleeman Steam   Halifax Day 15 J
Moosehead Moose IPA   Halifax Day 15 K
Moosehead Moose Lite   Halifax Day 15 L
Mexico Dosequis XX   Halifax Day 15 K
Lakeport Lakeport Brown   Levis Day 16 J
Labatt’s, Toronto Wild Cat 4.9% Levis Day 16 K
Labatt’s, Toronto 50   Levis Day 16 J
Quidi Vidi, Nfld Winter Beer 5.5% Levis Day 16 J
Kawartha Lakes Brewery Raspberry Wheat Beer   Waterdown Day 18 LL
Upper Canada Upper Canada Dark   Waterdown Day 18 J
Creemore Springs Premium Lager   Waterdown Day 18 J
Trafalgar Celebration Beer 6.4% Waterdown Day 18 JJ
Pepperwoods Pepperwoods Cream   Burlington Day 19 J
Pepperwoods Pepperwoods Best Bitter   Burlington Day 19 J
St Ambroise St Ambroise Stout   Burlington Day 19 LL
St Ambroise St Ambroise Pale Ale   Burlington Day 19 K
Great Lakes Great Lakes Red   Burlington Day 19 J
Amsterdam Amsterdam Nut Brown   Burlington Day 19 L
Black Oak, Oakville Black Oak Lager   Burlington Day 19 J
Black Oak, Oakville Black Oak Nut Brown   Burlington Day 19 K
Trafalgar Red Hill Mild Premium Ale 2.9% Waterdown Day 19 LL
Upper Canada Rebellion 6.0% Waterdown Day 19 J

The record I think now stands at 71 over a period of three weeks. Roll on the next time.

I was amazed at the number of different beers, and I guess there may be more choice in Canada than England. Perhaps more time to relax, contemplate the scenery and sample a few more, without worrying about driving would be nice.

Well we went back, yet again, in 2003. This time it wasn't as much of a race. We thought we could see a bit of the Canadienne Francaise (excuse my French - I did try, and enjoyed myself doing it). Montreal was a bit of a hassle - as all big cities are - but the 'French' were actually friendly to us English, so we were in for another good time in Canada. We did a lot of touring, and saw some whales, and drove around the massive lake near Alma - it even had waves on it, and after a week met up with Ken, Linda, Terry & Chris at Ottowa. Then we were back on the ice-creams, ribs and beer. No new additions to the list, I am afraid, but a good time nevertheless.
We spent much more time around Burlington and Waterdown seeing more of our attentive relatives, and having barbeques

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