The Bar Towel

matt7215 wrote: is it underrated on BA because people rated the bomber version of the beer and never changed their ratings when the far superior canned version was released?

I think you are on to something there. There are 51 reviews on BA. The 4 worst reviews and 7 of the 10 worst reviews are all from the bottled version. That said, there are a few fairly high reviews from the bottled version as well.

For fun, I just stripped out the bottled version reviews from the 51 total reviews.

It leaves 34 reviews (some of which are on-tap but mostly cans) with an average score of 3.83, compared to the current score of 3.73. An improvement, but still not enough to get it in to Canada's top 100 beer list.

matt7215 wrote: is it underrated on BA because people rated the bomber version of the beer and never changed their ratings when the far superior canned version was released?

Definitely, and as you point out most people haven't updated their reviews. I'm generally guilty of slagging on revisions myself, but I made a point of revisiting Canuck since it's one of the best regular offerings in the province.

cratez wrote:but I made a point of revisiting Canuck since it's one of the best regular offerings in the province.

as did i, whenit first came out i hadit as a 2.4, i currently have it rated as a 4.1, so if i check my ratings i know that i know its good

Yeah, the original version was lackluster. I'd say the revision is masterfully crafted and very refined. When I had it on tap last march, I thought it was quite good, but the recent cans were exceptional. Ratings prior to 2011 are meaningless, it's a different product.

As a west coast point of reference, it's more like Central City's IPA than their pale.

Agreed...new batch in cans is the best I've ever had of Crazy Canuck...said it before and will say it again, best value at LCBO price to quality hands down!

what happened to their canning date on the bottom? all the stock i see now isnt labeled and on unrefrigerated shelves...makes purchasing any very unlikely.

heebes wrote:what happened to their canning date on the bottom? all the stock i see now isnt labeled and on unrefrigerated shelves...makes purchasing any very unlikely.

I wouldn't worry about it. The flavour in Great Lakes products doesn't disappear after ten minutes on the shelf like Flying Monkeys.

cratez wrote:

matt7215 wrote: it doesnt matter how well its rated it matters how good it tastes

I beg to differ. Great beer should be rewarded with high sales and critical praise.

That's ALL the brewery's responsibility. The initial problem batches. How many people drink the newer, better batch - or didn't. How well Canuck traveled when people make trades, and the impression it made on the trader. The rating reflects the beer's whole history.

So fair is fair, even if the current beer is bettter than its overall rating. That said I wanna get some, thanks to this thread! It really only matters to me how the current version tastes, fresh and locally sourced.

A while ago, when I first got into "craft beer", I drank a lot of Devil's Pale Ale...One time I got a can that just didn't taste like the others...not sure what was wrong but huge metallic taste. I emailed GLB not to complain just to give a heads up I gave the number on the bottom of the can.

I didn't think it was a big deal...just wanted them to know.

Someone (I forget who) emailed me back, saying thanks and that they came up to my local in Brampton and swapped out the entire stock of DPA for new cans!

They also sent me a DPA Tee.

They're just a great brewery who really cares about quality.

Other than that, never had a consistency issue...

In fact it's been a few years since I've visited the Orange Peel Ale...maybe I should give it another go...

JeffPorter wrote: In fact it's been a few years since I've visited the Orange Peel Ale...maybe I should give it another go...

I haven't tried that in a few years either. I don't remember it being bad, just very "meh".

i hear they're bringing back green tea this year.

grub wrote:i hear they're bringing back green tea this year.

boourns to that!!

Yeah - I was hoping they'd trade that in for Miami Weiss.

Cool - you've all inspired my to give it another try! It can be so easy to write a beer off, without considering that these things are always changing, and brewers are always improving. I imagine red racer didn't come out as the red racer we know now.

Just to resurrect an old thread for Crazy Canuck being that it's Canada Day, we now have one of the few lucky Beer Stores in Ontario that has Crazy Canuck. I have been converted to this wonderful beer as when I first tried it, I wasn't impressed. A few more cans later and all is well. Such a great beer that I was too quick to judge. To right my wrongs, I sent a couple emails at my TBS that I work at and talked with my manager, and got this one listed here. Thanks Great Lakes!