Your First "Go To" Beer

[viggo]

High school was all Molson Old Style pilsner! It was the cheapest in BC at the time. Also lots of Kokanee tall cans. University was all about buck a beer!

[Kel Varnsen]

High school was all Molson Old Style pilsner! It was the cheapest in BC at the time. Also lots of Kokanee tall cans. University was all about buck a beer!

Kokanee was my go to beer for awhile when I lived in BC. But my first go to was probably Okanagan Spring Pale Ale, until some point in the first or second year of university where there were a few cases in a row that were really bad.

[kwjd]

I didn't only drink one beer. Rickard's Red was my favourite for years, but it cost more so I didn't drink it as often. In high school and just after I drank a lot of Kokanee & Pil (brewed by Molson, I think only available out west, no you do not want to try it). Came to Ontario for university and drank a lot of Molson Ex, Keiths and Richard's Red. Also had a lot of Brick products since I was in Waterloo.

[lister]

Algonquin Honey Brown. When that disappeared I moved to KLB Raspberry Wheat and then branched out from there.

[Lecocq]

In my younger years it seemed, I really had to try some of the most brutal beers! Does anybody else remember Labatt Extra Stock? I think it was about 6 or 7 % and pretty bad. Me and a buddy drank that pretty frequently before I wisened up.

[Belgian]

I remember Calsberg Gold, then Algonquin Country Lager.

ACL seemed to be unpasteurized AND unflitered! See, I always had a thing for better beer.

I think I struggled for a while with Upper Canada beers because the quality ranged from impressive to pretty foul. A while later is was the 'real' Pilsner Urquell, at a time they still did the pitch-barrel aging thing - it gave the beer a whole dimension of character the beer is now missing.

[Rob Creighton]

The Algonquin Country Lager was filtered but had a non-organic crystalline haze that came from the infamous 'Formosa Spring water' which was corrected with a dealkaliser. Sometimes you can know too much.

My 1st standard was Blue as I was 17 when I started at Labatt and drank all of 2 beers a week. The Blue off the can filler in the old three piece can with no bottom on it prior to the seamer was liquid gold. A couple of years later I was responsible for krausening the John Labatt Classic and there was no turning back after that. Good memories.

[sprague11]

In Thunder Bay, it was Blue or Sleeman Cream if someone else was buying. Whichever pitcher of booze was being promoted at the port Arthur Brasserie and brew Pub during sporting events (Far cheaper than loading up on bottles) and virtually anything from the Northern Breweries store - The price was right and most importantly, they didn't ID.

[Timmy]

I think it was Sleeman Original Dark on tap one St. Paddys day. I have moved onto much better beer but I still have a soft spot for it and will still get it every few months. I will get it on tap any time I find it..but I never do.

[lagerale]

First go to beer? I was ingrained by Molson Canadian but at university was under the influence of Sleeman Cream Ale (and then the dark came out). There was a summer of Molson Red Dog - that seemed like a real alternative beer back in the day (mid 90's)!!! Of course, these were also days when Labatt and Molson came out with a new beer every week. Labatt Ice, Molson Ice, Molson XXX, Labatt Extra Ice, etc.

[G.M. Gillman]

Rob, perhaps for another thread, but do you have any memories of drinking Labatt IPA or recall anything of its production? I knew someone who had the chance regularly to taste it at the brewery in London and he said it was excellent. When I moved to Toronto in the early 1980's, that became my go-to until the craft beers here became more available.

Gary

[Rob Creighton]

Yes Gary I do. All of the WWII vets who were retiring just as I started at Labatt drank Redcap (Yup, Labatt Redcap was what they called it and they all wore little red caps). I had it a few times and never really thought much of it as I didn't find much difference between it and 50 at that point and in that I never ever saw a tank of it in the brewery, I would assume by that point it was being made at the labeler. Sorry.

[Derek]

I started out on Molson Dry when I didn't want to taste beer (almost 20 years ago before I was of age)... it really did taste less bad than most of the other macro's.

Then I got onto Richards Red & Keiths in University, with the occasional Kilkenny in the winter. I was open to new things, but they just weren't readily available. Then I started drinking a fair bit of the Upper Canada & Unibroue...

My gateway beers were Upper Canada Rebellian Ale, Unibroue and Chimay.

The John Labatt Classic was a good summer brew (I was in London and it was their only all-malt lager, they axed it), along with Wellington County & Creemore. I used to drink a fair bit of the Creemore bock in the winter as well.

I knew a guy that made good homebrew, figured I could save a fortune bottle-conditioning my own Belgian-style ales... so I made my first mash tun.

Once I knew what was going into beer, I started dissecting other brews, then joined up with beer advocate (5 years ago tomorrow!) to keep track of the madness.

[G.M. Gillman]

Thanks Rob. I recall it being described in 1980's books as all-malt, and it did seem fuller and bigger than Labatt 50 (a beer I know well from its great popularity in Quebec at the time - 50 had a slight estery quality - still does - I don't recall in IPA). I am not sure of course towards the end what was in the bottles. I wouldn't wish for it to come back unless some attempt was made to duplicate the palate of the 1800's beer. Maybe that will happen some day.

Gary

[Uncle Bobby]

I'm gonna date myself...

I used to buy Old Vienna. ("It's time to say O-Vee, oh yeaaaa..." Just seeing this commercial again suggests the flavour of sulphur on the back of my tongue.)

Mostly I bought OV because nobody else drank it, and it was easy to tell if someone had ripped off one of yer beers at a Scarborough basement party,...man! Everyone picked a brand and stuck with it, for IDing your beers more than anything. Yet we all talked about our brands like old men, as though we knew our shit...at the age or 17 or 18...!

Moved on to brewing my own. Bought my first kit from Britannia Sales at Kingston Road and Main, in the same strip as the Grover Exchange. One kit included two gi-normous teabags full of milled grain and hops. That was it. The old fellow at the store said, you just heat up the water and dunk 'er in for an hour or so. Like makin' tea. Oh, and ya gotta add in five pounds o' sugar, too.

So that's what I did. After inflicting this thin head-cracker on myself a number of times and on the occasional unfortunate guest, I learned to cut it with Toby.

For a while I was also working my way through all of the old "dusty bottle" brands arrayed across the shelves of the local Brewer's Retail. Molson Oktoberfest, Bradings, Dow, Molson Porter, Labatt Porter. One or two choice Carling-O'keefe products, too, no doubt, although I cannot recall any of the brands beyond Black Label. Molson Stock Ale seemed to be the preferred beer of veterans, presumably because they could taste it after smoking dead-end cigarettes. Does anyone remember the Dow Mix 24 with Dow Ale and Kingsbeer Lager and two other brands of horrid swill? (My great aunt drank her Dow Ale "off the shelf", i.e. warm. Her preference seemed worldly.)

I turned 19 in 1982. Within two or three years, the big three brewers or the BR had cleaned out a lot of those brands, most of which were legacies of long-forgotten mergers.

If I were to pick just one, OV. But there is probably a misfortunate story attached to most of the old brands that used to gather dust at our local suds outlet.