The Bar Towel

This afternoon I had a pint of this beer while watching an excellent blues band at the Rex.

When Upper Canada Brewery made this I never likd it. It had a buttery, "cooked caramel" taste that did not ring right for me.

Under Sleeman's tutelage the beer is far better: it has a good body, a grainy, full taste and light acidic (in a pleasant way) aftertastes. I am quite sure there is no adjunct in it, probably that huskiness comes from 6-row Canadian malt. It was very good, the perfect beer for the moment. It tasted somewhat like the old Upper Canada lager did but with the faults fixed. It is not a worldbeater maybe but was great today for me, perfectly balanced, flavourful yet not obtrusive, a fine session microbrewed lager. Good work (again), John Sleeman.

Gary

I'm not positive, but you may have the brewmaster at the Maritime Brewing company - think that's the name, that Sleeman bought a few years back. There was talk a couple years ago of moving Upper Canada production east because the brewery was much smaller and could more effeciently make the small batch brews.

Upper Canada lager had, on occasion, the highest level of diacetyl that I have ever tasted (and confirmed by analysis) in a commercial beer. Don't credit John Sleeman for fixing it up. The expertise existed at Upper Canada (and indeed amongst many amateur brewers) to deal with the situation at the time. The only thing he did was break the cycle by spending $28 million and shutting the brewery down.

Ah, diacetyl, that would correspond to what I noticed in those years, you must be right, Michael.

Well, someone fixed it, that taste is gone and now the beer (by my lights) is what it should have been to start with; anyway it is very good.

But (and here's the thing) it does remind me of Upper Canada lager, i.e., there is a continuation of something, the good parts, basically.

Gary