The Difference 30 Years Can Make

[G.M. Gillman]

We (I) can take so much for granted today. When I started reading and learning about beer, it was pre-craft brew era, even pre-Michael Jackson. There were only a few imports. I remember (in Quebec) MacEwan's Scotch Ale; Bass Pale Ale in a stubby bottle which was pink-coloured and had a flowery malty taste; Heineken; Beck's; Tuborg; Kronenbourg; and maybe one or two others. A pub downtown had English keg beers on draft and I still recall the grainy taste of Whitbread's Pale Ale (maybe the Trophy which was big in England then), and of course Guinness. Guinness though generally meant the Labatt-brewed licensed product which was much as it is today. Chimay Rouge was available for a time in a stone wall-lined Belgian restaurant in old Montreal. I still recall how strange it seemed when I first tasted it. A restaurant on Peel Street had Pilsner Urquell in the bottle but the quality was variable due to the shipment factor then, unlike today's immaculate Urquell we get from the LCBO.

The domestic, mass-production beers were much as you can find today except there were more brands available, no American clones, and more ales (e.g., Dow, O'Keefe, Laurentide, Brading in nearby Ontario and Labatt IPA). There were no craft breweries.

The first brewpub in Quebec was called Golden Lion in Lennoxville and is still going strong; ironically, I never had a chance to visit it even though I have travelled reasonably widely in my day including in Canada.

Imports were more numerous in nearby New York State and Vermont (although freshness could not be taken for granted as generally today). I became familiar soon with a reasonable European range and recall favourites such as Murphy stout in the bottle, La Belle Strasbourgeoise from Alsace, Double Maxim from Vaux in England, and soon, the Samuel Smith range and Belgian beers such as kriek, gueuze and Saison. American breweries were largely uniform in style of output but there was the odd gem like Ballantine IPA, Yuengling Porter and Anchor Steam Beer and some good all-malt beers from some of the larger breweries.

Today, not only can I buy a superbly-canned Fuller's ESB, which seemed as close as the moon when I first read about it in Jackson's books (or say Sinha (Lion) stout from Sri Lanka, an 1800's classic double stout), but you can actually drink English cask beer occasionally in Toronto. And of course we have a range of fine craft breweries who make great examples of classic styles and have innovated in some cases on their own.

It really is like moving from a dark age to a supersonic jet one. Perhaps the image of beer in the larger society hasn't changed much. For a current read on this, see Nick Pashley's article, equally mordant and amusing in his inimitable way, in the National Post yesterday. But in terms of the quality and range of what is available, we are of course eons from we where we were in Canada circa-1970.

Gary

N.B. Don't miss out on Nick's new book, it is first-rate as was his first, Notes On A Beer Mat.

[Belgian]

Today, not only can I buy a superbly-canned Fuller's ESB, which seemed as close as the moon when I first read about it in Jackson's books (or say Sinha (Lion) stout from Sri Lanka, an 1800's classic double stout), but you can actually drink English cask beer occasionally in Toronto. And of course we have a range of fine craft breweries who make great examples of classic styles and have innovated in some cases on their own.

It really is like moving from a dark age to a supersonic jet one.

Always enjoy Gary's musings on BarTowel!

Yes, hopefully the facility of global transport compensates for what has become an increasingly cynical, dollar-driven age. Lord knows we have paid a price for such wonderful speedy arrival of some products - how did we in less than a century arrive into a world where 'local food', 'small business', 'non-GMO', and 'organic' are all seen as the freak exception rather than the norm? It is an ambitous age, one which each decade is trying to push away centuries of cutural appreciation to usher in something faster, sleeker and cheaper. Whatever. People are still people, right? There is always room for a 'counter cultural' development such as the (still largely underground) craft beer boom, and people still need that - we need authentic things, however persuasive is the generic-minded influence of major branding.

So it IS wonderful that a few things like Sinha Stout and London Porter somehow preserve the old withing the machinations of the new.

[Tapsucker]

Thanks Gary! Now you've got me looking forward to the next 30 years.

[midlife crisis]

For me the first "exotic" beer I drank on tap (in Kingston Ontario) was Toby Dark, circa 1980. I don't imagine it was that great, in retrospect, but man how we looked forward to it, compared to Ex, 50, Canadian and the rest. Times have indeed changed for the better.

[G.M. Gillman]

That Toby was pretty good though, it had a taste of its own. Not so much in the bottle, but the draft.

Gary

[Tapsucker]

Yeah, Toby. Used to get it on tap at the Rose and Crown at Y&E.
That brings to mind Dow Porter too.

[Ukie]

I remember splurging in the 70's and going downtown T.O. and drinking
Heineken and thinking that this stuff is terrible. Then I went to Florida and went into a place that had it on tap and wow what a difference. The stuff in T.O. was probably so old it came by boat!