Which LCBO Beers Do You Miss The Most?

[dale cannon]

When you look at the variety of beers people are missing, you'd think we've had it pretty good! Pretty much all import beers though...maybe in another 5 years or so we'll be lamenting more Ontario beers we can no longer get

OK, in that case, KLB Pale Ale from the mid-90s! Loved that beer, would be *really* curious to see how I'd like it in today's landscape!

An important point. Going over some of the years past seasonal lists, especially pre 2010, its sad how impoverished some of the offerings looked as a whole. Usually it was one or two gems in a sea of mediocrity (*cough Trafalgar, Lake of Bays, Marston *cough). As important, the lists seemed to be shorter overall. Because of the recent selection improvements, I'd bet some people's expectations and standards rose.

http://www.bartowel.com/lcbo-spring-seasonal-release/

[sofakingdrunk]

When you look at the variety of beers people are missing, you'd think we've had it pretty good! Pretty much all import beers though...maybe in another 5 years or so we'll be lamenting more Ontario beers we can no longer get

I'd be thrilled to get Great Lakes 25th anniversary RIS or Lake Effect back regularly.

^^^+1 I'd love to buy Lake Effect on a regular basis.

[Craig]

When you look at the variety of beers people are missing, you'd think we've had it pretty good! Pretty much all import beers though...maybe in another 5 years or so we'll be lamenting more Ontario beers we can no longer get

I'd be thrilled to get Great Lakes 25th anniversary RIS or Lake Effect back regularly.

^^^+1 I'd love to buy Lake Effect on a regular basis.

They just brewed a batch, so you can probably get your fix shortly. It's gonna crush the IPA challenge this year at cask days.

[ercousin]

I'd be thrilled to get Great Lakes 25th anniversary RIS or Lake Effect back regularly.

^^^+1 I'd love to buy Lake Effect on a regular basis.

They just brewed a batch, so you can probably get your fix shortly. It's gonna crush the IPA challenge this year at cask days.

I wonder how many people are going to spend time on that? I have no plans to spend $2.50 for the chance of tasting the beer I want. Especially when there are 300 other beers I want to try.

[Craig]

^^^+1 I'd love to buy Lake Effect on a regular basis.

They just brewed a batch, so you can probably get your fix shortly. It's gonna crush the IPA challenge this year at cask days.

I wonder how many people are going to spend time on that? I have no plans to spend $2.50 for the chance of tasting the beer I want. Especially when there are 300 other beers I want to try.

The more the better. Keeps them from drinking up the stuff I want.

[Ceecee]

I wonder how many people are going to spend time on that? I have no plans to spend $2.50 for the chance of tasting the beer I want. Especially when there are 300 other beers I want to try.

There will probably be lots left on Sunday. I'll try them then.

[grub]

They just brewed a batch, so you can probably get your fix shortly. It's gonna crush the IPA challenge this year at cask days.

I wonder how many people are going to spend time on that? I have no plans to spend $2.50 for the chance of tasting the beer I want. Especially when there are 300 other beers I want to try.

yeah, i think the ipa challenge works best as a stand-alone event. i mean, it's tough enough to get through a decent enough percentage of the bracket to form an opinion, let alone when you've got 300 other potential beers to try... Also slightly annoying when you want to check out certain ones but can't (as you implied) since they're all blind. Ideally they'd have an honour system or something in place so those who want to drink specific things can, and those that want to keep the tasting blind have that option too. It would certainly be great if you could get the opinion of such a large number of people weighing in on the IPA challenge - it's normally a much smaller subset.

[Kish84]

They just brewed a batch, so you can probably get your fix shortly. It's gonna crush the IPA challenge this year at cask days.

I wonder how many people are going to spend time on that? I have no plans to spend $2.50 for the chance of tasting the beer I want. Especially when there are 300 other beers I want to try.

yeah, i think the ipa challenge works best as a stand-alone event. i mean, it's tough enough to get through a decent enough percentage of the bracket to form an opinion, let alone when you've got 300 other potential beers to try... Also slightly annoying when you want to check out certain ones but can't (as you implied) since they're all blind. Ideally they'd have an honour system or something in place so those who want to drink specific things can, and those that want to keep the tasting blind have that option too. It would certainly be great if you could get the opinion of such a large number of people weighing in on the IPA challenge - it's normally a much smaller subset.

I posted with more info in the Cask Days thread, but it looks like Session 3 and some of 2 will only have the Final 4 blind.

[grub]

I posted with more info in the Cask Days thread, but it looks like Session 3 and some of 2 will only have the Final 4 blind.

my understanding is they all start blind and are revealed as they get eliminated...at least that's how it's always been done in the past. but perhaps i'm wrong. either way, still makes for a guessing game on the best of the bunch, but a much smaller field to guess through.

[Lukie]

^ I had almost mentioned Okocim. Actually the original Okocim Pils was a nice strong-tasting polish lager, it was later replaced with something called 'export' which I found gross. But the baltic porter, yes!.)

I'm Polish and I always disliked the vast majority of Polish beers, which in stores here were mostly pilsner or lager types and bought out by foreign conglomerates long ago. The result was a corny, watery mess, with the Okocim Porter a tiny exception. But for a few years in Poland the craft beer movement has been gaining ground in popularity - like here but at least a decade held back - with some interesting styles and beers coupled with their penchant for nice art work on bottle labels, akin to acclaimed communist era movie posters. Here's a savvy beer dude who just started his own brewery and follows many of the newest Polish start ups as well. https://www.instagram.com/kopyr/

I wish LCBO brought a few of them here for sampling, but I guess chances of that happening are slim at this time. TeaPA anyone?

[sofakingdrunk]

^^*it'd be nice to try some Eastern European beers that aren't crappy lagers. My local lcbo is especially bad for their extremely large suggestion of(I'm assuming) the same generic tasting euro lagers

[El Pinguino]

I pick up some of those Euro lagers every now and then for fun....never had one yet that I want to buy a second time.

As for the topic of this thread...I'm missing the Unibroue beers these days...really don't want to have to visit TBS but looks like it's about time.

[Winter is Coming]

I pick up some of those Euro lagers every now and then for fun....never had one yet that I want to buy a second time.

As for the topic of this thread...I'm missing the Unibroue beers these days...really don't want to have to visit TBS but looks like it's about time.

I wouldn't recommend it, I just purchased the mix 12 pack and turns out they were bottled Dec 5th 2015. Blanche de chambly had turned sour.

[El Pinguino]

I pick up some of those Euro lagers every now and then for fun....never had one yet that I want to buy a second time.

As for the topic of this thread...I'm missing the Unibroue beers these days...really don't want to have to visit TBS but looks like it's about time.

I wouldn't recommend it, I just purchased the mix 12 pack and turns out they were bottled Dec 5th 2015. Blanche de chambly had turned sour.

Bummer. Ya I only ever buy Trois Pistoles and sometimes Maudite so if they've been sitting for months...no big deal. I think LCBO still sells Fin du Monde and Blanche de Chambly...just not the Unibroue's I want.

[CoolB]

I'm not surprised that a mixed 12 pack would be a bit old but I find the individual 4's and 6's move pretty well. All of Unibroue's beers are on a somewhat revolving schedule for me and I've never had anything bad. I'd like to see Don de Dieu make a return to the LCBO as well. I enjoyed that one.