Sargon - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 6.0%

Sargon - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 6.0%

Cloudy gold in a glass with a huge head of highly resilient off-white foam. Strongly ginger aroma with orange with some sugar cookie touches and, celery?

Very tangy, almost sour flavour at first that fades to very bitter. A very peppery ginger flavour with lots of citrus. Some of the peppery flavour in the finish and aftertaste is very reminiscent of spiced rum. Obviously this should be attributed to the aging in rum barrels.

This is a very summery beer, what with all the ginger and citrus. At first I found the flavour was so strong at times that it is almost harsh, however, it was much improved after I put it back in the fridge. Chilling it and letting the sediment settle a bit (it was resealed but inevitably some carbonation was released too) really improved the beer: the flavours were more mellow and Sargon became an ideal strong summer beer. Also more of the malt flavours come out. Actually Sargon ends up tasting quite a bit like crusty toast with orange and ginger marmalade but with a bit of a bitter hops bite, some floral yeast flavours and a spiced rum finish.

River Walker Summer Ale - Lake of Bays Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Baysville)

River Walker Summer Ale - Lake of Bays Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Baysville) 6.0%

Full gold in a glass with a big, white, fluffy head. A nice ginger aroma that is sweet with hints of citrus (lemon) as well as some added melon tones, perhaps from the hops, that comes across as cantaloupe with just a hint of cucumber. But the ginger spice really is first and foremost and quite delightful.

The ginger continues in the taste but River Walker also has quite a bitter bite. There is also melon (still cantaloupe) and a grain sweetness. The ginger isn't overpowering at all but it is the main player. The citrus is fairly faint in the taste and the mouthfeel is a little creamy from the wheat but with a crisp, quite a dry finish. In the aftertaste, ginger and melon are there along side a distinctly toasted wheat taste, that builds to be quite toasty actually. The aftertaste is almost a little sticky with some resiny hops flavours presenting themselves.

The ginger and melon mixture actually reminds me of a few [pumpkin] beers I have had but is quite nice and, although it is marketed as a Summer Ale I think River Walker is better suited to late August and early September where there is just a touch of autumn in the air and you want to enjoy a summer day's warmth or savour the excitement of a late-summer night's chill.

Gose - Les Trois Mousquetaires (Canada - Quebec - Brossard)

Gose - Les Trois Mousquetaires (Canada - Quebec - Brossard) 3.8%

Lime, coriander and light floral hops aroma; sour and very intriguing. Orange and somewhat cloudy in a glass with fine sediment swirling about. Some fine sediment also remains in the bottom of the bottle.

Very tart taste. Coriander works it's way into the flavour once you get used to just how sour this sour beer is. There is even some sweetness too as well as creamy wheat flavours and mouthfeel. The combination of coriander and the sour flavour reminds me more of sour limenade than the sour lemonade mentioned on the highly attractive label but, at any rate, Gose has a flavour much like that of a sour and tasty citrus beverage.

The interesting flavour of sour beers makes them suitable for food pairings with light foods like salads or sushi, but also Gose would go great with guacamole or similar flavourful food that has a trace of lime.

Like every other product by Les Trois Mousquetaires, Gose is well-made, very tasty and presented in a beautiful bottle with a sharp looking label that is full of useful information. This is a perfect summer beer and a much more interesting, traditional and flavourful alternative to lagers flavoured with lime.

Muskoka Summer Weiss (Canada - Ontario - Bracebridge)

Muskoka Summer Weiss (Canada - Ontario - Bracebridge) 5.0%

Gold in a glass, ever so slightly hazy. Cloves and banana all feature in the yeasty, floral aroma that is also slightly herbal with touches of mint.

The taste is also yeasty with herbal tones that reminded me for just a moment of black licorice. Mostly cloves and banana and typical Weiss flavours. A nice wheat beer, I (and many others) always thought that wheat beers go well with summer and this one by Muskoka seems particularly well suited.

Big Rig Gold - Big Rig Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Ottawa)

Big Rig Gold - Big Rig Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Ottawa) 5.0%


Pale to full gold in a glass, more on the pale side. Light pilsner-like aroma with the barest hint of green and that classic dry European hops aroma. Big Rig Gold is very tasty and actually is a lagered ale even though it could be mistaken for a great pilsner because of its use of German malts and hops. Just like the label says, it would be great on the dock during summer.

Summer Ale - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax)

Summer Ale - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.5%

Bridge Brewing's Summer Ale pours a clear, full gold in a glass with a quick fading white head. As the bottle was finished more sediment reached my glass for a cloudy and pale light gold colour. The aroma is floral, sweet and lightly spicy in such a way that reminds me of clover. Also some citrus in the aroma as well as a herbal touch and some banana.

Sweet and lighter than Bridge Brewing's other ales, the taste has herbal tones, a little bit of citrus, a bit of spice (almost peppery) and a bitter punch. The bitterness is a bit of a shock at first but this light and bitter Saison/Farmhouse Ale mellows with each subsequent sip and, like Bridge Brewing's Strong Dark Belgian, the bitterness blends much better with the rest of the flavours if you let it warm up to just about room temperature. It's fairly light on the tongue so you'll find it refreshing if you like beers more towards the bitter end of the spectrum and it will also pair well with flavourful barbecue and similar foods.

Rickard's Shandy - MolsonCoors (Canada) 4.5%

Rickard's Shandy - MolsonCoors (Canada) 4.5%

Pale gold in a glass with a quick fading white head. Lemonade aroma (plain lemonade not pink lemonade), sweet but sour. The taste is lemonade first and foremost but some malty lager flavours come out in the finish and particularly in the aftertaste. I had only ever had a shandy made by mixing beer with ginger ale but the lemonade version is okay too. Summery and refreshing, Rickard's Shandy is highly quaffable and as long as you think of it as a beertail (a cocktail made with beer) rather than a beer it's pretty nice. It doesn't taste artificial to me it just tastes like a blend of lemonade and a lager.

I'm a little curious as to what beer they are blending with lemonade since the only Rickard's beer that uses a lager yeast is their pilsner, Rickard's Blonde. Based on the underlying beer flavours that could indeed be the beer they are using.

Summer Weizen - Okanagan Spring (Canada - British Columbia - Vernon) 5.0%

Summer Weizen - Okanagan Spring (Canada - British Columbia - Vernon) 5.0%

The aroma is a blast of apricot, peach and passionfruit with some hints of citrus. Okanagan Spring's Summer Weizen pours a lovely and cloudy apricot colour with a moderate head.

The taste is also potently apricot, mostly dominating the complimentary wheat flavours. You can certainly still taste the wheat: it gives the beer an appetizing creaminess. Also, the apricot and other fruit flavours (I feel like the passionfruit comes through well in the taste) are so pleasant and tasty that as long as you tend to like a fruit flavoured wheat ale, and know what to expect from this one, you are sure to like Summer Weizen.

As always, Okanagan Spring has an interesting and informative label which I appreciate. I also like the fact that use apricots (presumably) grown in the Okanagan Valley region.

Braunschweig Wicked Wheat - Pump House Brewing (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton)

Braunschweig Wicked Wheat - Pump House Brewing (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton) 5.0%

A delectable aroma of cloves and banana, typical of the style. Braunschweig Wicked Wheat pours a cloudy full gold in a glass with a huge, white, fluffy, and highly resilient head of foam: well defines peaks and valleys remained on top of the beer throughout several pourings and plenty of drinks. The veritable eruption of foam does a splendid job of expressing the aroma but does delay the drinking by more than a few precious moments.

The cloves and banana tones of the aroma continue in the flavour and keep this fine wheat ale light and refreshing even as the wheat gives it a creamy mouthfeel and a light grain (wheat) flavour that would pair well with summer fare. The aftertaste is also quite appetizing and is the same balanced flavour (with perhaps just a bit more emphasis on the banana) lingering on. I suggest you try it out as it is a really nice summer beer; now if we could only get some warm weather to go with it.

Blueberry Ale - Pump House Brewery (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton) 5.0%

Blueberry Ale - Pump House Brewery (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton) 5.0%

Smells strongly of fresh blueberries with a bit of malt and grain. Gold in a glass. The flavour is full of crushed blueberry but it is also clearly an ale: malty, creamy, and sweet with grain tones. Very nice.

It reminds me their Cadian Cream ale but less creamy with not as much malt. Pump House's Blueberry Ale is an award winning beer that can be found pretty far a field. The flavour is light and fruity but also has a tasty ale base, it certainly can be enjoyed in any season but really suits summertime. It is sometimes served with blueberries in the bottom of the glass but this can make the beer overly sweet for some and this ale can definitely stand on its own.

Schofferhofer Grapefruit (Germany)

Schofferhofer Grapefruit (Germany) 2.5%

Orange and cloudy from natural sediment, smells like red ruby grapefruit juice although it is half wheat beer and half juice and part of that juice is actually orange juice. Very carbonated and sweet. Not really a beer but mostly juice although it is otherwise tasty and summery, and would make a fine patio drink. On a hunch, I swirled the sediment into the beer in an attempt to get more beer flavour: no such luck, it just got flatter.

A Pair From Sierra Nevada (USA - California - Chico)

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (USA - California - Chico) 5.6%

Deep gold. Quite hoppy but also malty and sweet. Nicely balanced. With a quite bitter aftertaste of sprucy hops - leaves tones of the forest lingering for some time afterwards. Aroma of caramel and hops. A great American Pale Ale.

Sierra Nevada Summerfest 2011 (USA - California - Chico) 5.0%

Tastes quite hoppy: bitter with pronounced melon tones. A nice malty sweetness rounds out the body followed by a somewhat spicy finish. Quite an interesting beer, it looks and smells like just another yellow and fizzy beer but has a unique and enjoyable flavour.

Keystone - Molson Coors (Canada)

Keystone - Molson Coors (Canada) 4.9%

Sweet, lightly malty not really bitter at all. A bit of a creamed corn flavour and very little in the way of an aftertaste. Light gold colour in a glass. Yellow, fizzy, refreshing and highly drinkable; there isn't really much else to Keystone so, it's a fine choice if that's what you are looking for.

This one of several discount beer brands NB Liquor brought onto their shelves for the summer of 2012. Among NB Liquor's summer choices to the passable James Ready, Molson Dry or the truly awful Old Milwaukee that round out this discounted roster, Keystone is your best choice.

Molson Dry 5.5 - Molson Coors (Canada)

Molson Dry 5.5 - Molson Coors (Canada) 5.5%

Malty, sweet, a little bitter. Pretty much just another international lager but with a cleaner taste with not much of an aftertaste to speak of. It's not a beer with a lot of character but if it's drunkening you're interested in it does the job and is cheap in New Brunswick all summer.

Picaroons's Summer Brews

Melon Head - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredericton) 4.5%

Smells like watermelon bubblegum and somehow tastes like that too! A mix of hops and natural extracted watermelon flavour gets the credit but Melon Head's flavour is so different it's still hard to believe it isn't artificially tweaked to taste this way. A really interesting beer and refreshing to boot. A full gold colour in a glass with a hilarious label.

Dooryard Summer Ale Organic Wheat - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredericton) 4.5%
A flowery and caramel aroma and taste. A subtle flavour of orange and a little spiciness to go along with typical wheat tones but they are somewhat masked by the caramel taste that is found in nearly every single Picaroons beer. The caramel taste is nice but its recurrent appearance in Picaroons's wide variety of types and styles (sometimes slightly inappropriately, in my opinion) is somewhat puzzling and could begin to wear on the palate. Still this is a pleasant, and certified organic, ale.

It's Miller [Summer] Time!!

Here's my review of a pair of citrus flavoured summer brews by Miller Brewing Company.

Miller Chill (USA) 4.0%

This beer's aroma is Miller Genuine Draft, light but creamy, with the expected hint of lime. This beer is more carbonated than many beers but that only helps make Miller Chill more refreshing. The lime is not exactly subtle but not overpowering either: it balances well with the mild maltiness so that Miller Chill still tastes like beer. A good summer beer that pairs well with food, softball and sunshine.



Miller Chill Lemon (USA) 4.0%

Tastes just like Miller Genuine Draft with lemon instead of lime: it doesn't taste sweetened, simply flavoured. It makes it refreshing, a nice summertime beer. I think I prefer the lime Miller Chill because I find it more drinkable, but then again I also prefer limes to lemons, so it's just a matter of personal preference. I'm a little surprised other mega-breweries haven't made lemon flavoured light beers since it seems like every one of them has a lime beer. The lemon is a nice change from the lime though obviously still along the lines of light citrus flavoured beers.

St Ambroise Framboise - McAuslan (Canada - Quebec - Montreal)

St Ambroise Framboise - McAuslan  (Canada - Quebec - Montreal) 5.0%

A deep red with a brown hue, this raspberry ale packs quite a flavourful punch. Malty but the tart wild raspberry flavour is the star player here and it pairs with a fresh and lively hops flavour to make a really nice fruit ale. St Ambroise Framboise has some light sediment and also a mix of tastes including pomegranate. Unlike many other fruit beers St Ambroise Framboise is not overly sweet so it still refreshing and not likely to give you that splitting sugar headache the next day like some really sweet beers can. It would pair nicely with light summer fare and it would be interesting to see what recipes it could be incorporated into, I am sure to great effect. A seasonal beer so it's only around for a limited time, I suggest you try it in the sun while you have the chance.

Coors Light Iced T - MolsonCoors (Canada)

Coors Light Iced T - MolsonCoors (Canada) 4.0%

Lighter than expected but still a deep gold which is darker than Coors Light. A very citrusy flavour with a black tea flavour and malt. It is a little thick on the tongue but still carbonated and fairly refreshing. It really tastes more like iced tea than it tastes like beer but it is obviously still a blend. Provided MolsonCoors used actual citrus juice and tea rather than artificial flavourings I am fine recommending this beer. Coors Light Iced T is refreshing and summery, and not a bad choice at all this summer if you like flavoured beers.

1664 Blanc (France - Strasbourg)

1664 Blanc (France - Strasbourg) 5.0%

This wheat beer is flavoured with plenty of extra additives including just plain old glucose syrup. However at first blush the colour is right, cloudy and a white gold; its aroma is a fun appetizing mix of grapefruit, other citrus fruits and a passion-fruitlike smell that may be from a mix of citrus and coriander wheats are known for. The flavour is actually quite nice, it's fruity like the aroma, there is malted wheat as well as bitterness (it is a real beer after all) and spice in there too.

I can imagine drinking a lot of these would result in a splitting headache the next day (especially since it's 5.0% rather than nearly all of the other flavoured beers out there) but these would be great on a patio in the summertime. It's also a beer that non-beer drinkers could enjoy.

A really cool blue glass bottle and a stylish, though simple, bottlecap. This one is definitely worth a try, hopefully it doesn't get pulled for being released in the winter when it would be better suited for the summer.

Beer Maven Canada Day Suggestion - Mill Street Brewery

Mill Street Brewery - Lemon Tea Beer (Canada - Ontario) 5.0%

A dark, but orange and gold tinted, brown colour in a glass. The lemon (and it is actual lemon puree) makes the beer taste like a white beer at first until the maltiness of the lager kicks in.
This is a beer that screams summer, it begs to be drunk on a sun drenched patio. The beer is sweetened with sugar cane juice but it doesn't come across overly sweetened probably due to the fact that it is mixed with actual orange pekoe tea which does a delicious job of balancing the sweetness.

Cheers and happy Canada Day!

www.millstreetbrewery.com