Monthly Bathtub contributor Ryan from The Healthy Hog is back from vacation in the land of the north. Always mindful of those who might not be able to travel as much as he does, he kept a thorough account of all the beers he tried. Such a good lad.

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When Girlfriend and I originally planned a week-long vacation in Canada to see friends and family, I never expected to find much by the way of beer. At the beginning of the year, I had turned a two-week vacation to Australia and New Zealand into a beer tour, but was disappointed in my findings. Only two or three beers (of the 30+ I’d tried) had been above par (the best being a stout from Tasmania), and I had similar hopes for Canada. Despite Girlfriend hailing from the Nova Scotia, the only real experience I’d had with Canadian craft beer was Unibroue—which I’m not complaining about. Other than that, I knew the usual: Labatt*, Molson, Stella Artois.

Our first night in Canada, we went to a place specifically because of its above-average beer and cocktail list**. The first thing I saw was “Pump House Seasonal.” I asked the server and he said it was a “Thai wheat.” Not knowing what the hell a Thai wheat was, I decided to go ahead with it, mostly because the brewery was in New Brunswick***. When I took my first sip, I tasted something delicious, yet familiar. It took me a second to place it, and when I did, I immediately texted Mel****. The server hadn’t said Thai wheat, he’d said chai wheat. The beer tasted like a wonderful, slightly spicy, slightly cinnamony banana.

The remainder of the trip had its beer highs and lows, but that particular beer was the highest. Later that night, I had the Pump House Scotch Ale, and anytime we stopped at a liquor store I picked up another six-pack of Pump House: Special Old Bitter, Blueberry Ale and Red Ale. The Red Ale was the best of the rest, coming in second to the Chai Wheat and edging out the Scotch Ale.

I was also able to try multiple beers from a local Nova Scotian brewery named Propeller: an ESB, IPA and London Porter. The Porter was easily the best, which could be due to a multitude of reasons: Porter is my favorite style of beer, it was late after a long night of “trying new beers,” and I don’t particularly like bitterness*****. I do remember the porter being an excellent beer, though, despite any sensory shortcomings at that point.

The other great beer experience on the trip came during a small two-day scuttle around Prince Edward Island, home of the best mussels in the world and only one brewery. Of course, I couldn’t pass that up: How many people do I know who can say they’ve had every beer brewed in a single city, let alone an entire province? One******. The Gahan House was my one requirement on P.E.I., so we swung in to have a little nosh and I got, of course, a sampler of every beer they brewed.

While I can’t really judge the 1772 IPA (there’s that bitter beer again), I can say with certainty that my two least favorite beers were the Harvest Gold Pale Ale and Sir John A’s Honey Wheat Ale—which sounds like it would be delicious, but turned out to taste like any run-of-the-mill lager. A step up were Cole’s Cream Ale and the Iron Horse Brown Ale, which I would drink again, but not as my first choice. Their two best brews, however, were the Island Red Amber Ale (which they steamed their freshest of the fresh P.E.I. mussels in) and the Sydney Street Stout, an excellent example of the style that necessitated I order an extra half-pint. I passed it around and everyone seemed pleasantly surprised.

Which sums up my beer experience in Canada: pleasant surprise. I had a few average beers and even a few terrible beers (stay away from Rickard’s Dark), but of the even 20 that I had, even the small beers in the various middles-of-nowhere we visited had their merits, some that would even draw me back. I’ve already told Girlfriend that any future trip to Canada will involve a stop in Moncton, New Brunswick to visit my new friends at Pump House.

* Don’t believe my scoffing at Labatt. Having spent plenty of time in Cleveland, I’ve come to appreciate it more than most macrobrews.
** I immediately noticed a distressing concept: all of our sub-par macrobreweries (Bud, Coors, etc.) are also brewed in Canada and therefore make the “Domestic” list on menus.
*** My newest quest: drink a beer brewed in every state and province.
**** See: The superior Boris the Spider Chai Oatmeal Stout.
***** Why do I keep buying beer with descriptions like “special bitter” and “extra bitter”? Who knows.
****** Me.

Breweries, Craft Beer 1 Comment »