RIP Anchor Brewing

Molson Brador was a badass beer from Quebec back in the day. RIP.

 

When I was skiing in Banff there was a mid-level beer I liked. Really good beer in a few different styles. Kankakee or something.

I miss the 90's when you could get an English style ale, unpasteurized, unfiltered, only a few days old in a growler.

 

John Smith's Yorkshire Bitter was one I miss that my local pub carried. I saw some in Scotland last summer.

 

A mix of Blue, 50, Export and Golden would be all anyone would ever need. OV, not so much, for me anyway.

 

Golden has been gone for many years, along with the awesome Molson Stock Ale. I wouldn't mind seeing O'Keefe Ale again.

 

Jack's Abby is based in my town. They are a true gem. As is Exhibit A, which opened up in JA's old space when Jack's moved downtown. Where do you live that you're within their distribution?

 

I like IPAs just fine -- I prefer the less hoppy traditional English IPAs which are impossible to find -- or at least one that's authentic (Samuel Smith's India Ale is a good example). Or the more old-school ones like Stone IPA, Bell's Two Hearted and Smuttynose. But now it's all hazy "New England" IPAs everywhere all the time. They're fine but just way too much of it. And it's crowded out a lot of the stuff that made the beer scene really good about 15-18 years ago -- it's hard to find all the great Belgian offerings you used to be able to get at any good beer store and it's almost impossible to find any English ales besides Bass nowadays. I don't know when's the last time I saw Fuller's ESB, which used to be a staple. Even Newcastle -- which wasn't great but was reliable -- seems to have largely disappeared. And it's really sad to see the decline of the legacy microbrewers. I hadn't had anything from Anchor in a while but it's a bummer they're gone.

I'm lucky that we have really good local options here. It's a pain in the ass to get to Tree House but their stuff is outstanding. Everyone obviously focuses on their IPAs but they do great Pilsners and other lagers as well as top-notch pale ales, brown ales, Belgian styles, hefeweizens, etc., and that's usually what dominates my semiannual haul. And we've got the aforementioned Jack's Abby, whose lagers go way beyond what people associate with lagers.

Generally, Belgians and English pale ale have always been my thing, so their scarcity is a huge bummer. But these days, especially in the summer, I just want a smooth drinking lager anyway, and I'm finding that a lot of the cheap-ish macro Eurolagers like Carlsberg, Stella and 1664 are hitting the spot.

 

I can do hazys from time to time but they aren’t my go to. If it’s citrusy it’s better.

When I’m over IPAs, I look to see if the micros have pilsners (North Coast Brewing out of Fort Bragg makes a good one) or Mexican lagers (not Pacifico or Modelo but if the brewery does their own).

I’m not sure what the difference exactly is, but when I find a pale ale rather than an IPA, I typically like what I get.

 

I'm a big fan of British beers and stuff like Newcastle, Tennents (drank a fair bit of it in Scotland last summer) and Harp is widely available here. (Though Fullers awesome ESB and London Pride seem to have disappeared.)

I think you're talking about English IPAs like this, which are nothing like what you get here:

https://eaglebrewery.co.uk/beers/eagle-ipa/

Bombardier Ale is another one I really like that is easy to find around here:

https://www.bombardier.co.uk/

 

Is there a store near you that specializes in bringing in alcohol you normally can’t find? I was about to recommend BevMo but I realized that’s a West Coast thing. I just looked online and I can buy London Pride in my city.

My first trip to the UK and was in a pub with no fucking clue what I was doing, I pointed to a tap with the Fullers shield and said I’ll take a pint of that. I was very happy with my choice.

 

Here in Toronto we are at the mercy of the government run beer and liquor stores. Both carry loads of products (the liquor store focuses largely on imports) but to my knowledge you can't request anything. Both entities have good websites to see inventories at store across the province and if they carry a certain brand not available in your area you can place an order for pickup at your local store but delivery can take up to a week and the surcharge - on top of the already larcenously priced product - is considerable.

 

I was at Jack's Abby their opening weekend, two towns away from where I was living. Exhibit A is exceptional. I sent it as a Secret Santa gift a few years ago.