Look across the Canadian border for tasty, inexpensive beer

This Round's On Me: College budget beers, celebrate with lagers

For decades, beer drinking in its many forms has been an iconic aspect of life on the American college campus. More often than not, this pastime involves a "party" atmosphere where participants consume large amounts of cheap beer in keg or can form, mainly to achieve intoxication.

This Round's On Me: Shake things up with a thick Stout and vanilla ice cream float

Dark beer is generally best enjoyed in colder weather, or in the evening. Ice cream, on the other hand, is consumed more frequently in the warmer summer months. When I began writing about beer I knew I was going to be faced with a dilemma: when to write this particular column that focuses on both beer and ice cream.

This Round's On Me

Look across the Canadian border for tasty, inexpensive beer

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

Andrew Sudano

Columnist

February 12, 2010

While within the boundaries of the United States of America, Maine shares a great deal with our neighbor to the north, Canada. The first thing that comes to mind here are the freezing temperatures that sometimes make winter unbearable for non-Mainers like me. As we descend further into the depths of this endless northern winter, it becomes increasingly important for us to warm our bodies and our souls with some fine Canadian beers. After all, if these brews sufficiently get our brethren in the north through the harshest of frostbitten times, why shouldn't they do the same for us?

The most well known mass-produced Canadian beers in this part of the country are Molson, Labatt's and Moosehead. Not coincidentally, these brands are also the cheapest Canadian beers you will find in North America. Before I go into the merits of buying these three brands, I'd like to make a bold declaration, after which I may be permanently exiled from this country. Across the board, mass-produced Canadian beer is better than mass-produced American beer. While it is definitely important to vary one's beverage purchases, I would highly recommend going with one of the Canadian beers discussed below over their American counterparts in almost any situation.

Molson produces a variety of different brews; but the two most common in this area are Molson Golden and Molson Canadian. For a long time, I thought Molson was a fairly worthless brand. Whenever I drank a Molson, any underlying tastiness was overwhelmed by an almost skunky flavor. I recently realized, however, that this was because I was drinking Molson Golden. Because of my hatred for Molson Golden, I was shocked upon sampling a Molson Canadian to find a beer containing a full body (for a mass produced lager) and slightly sweet taste that was so much more enjoyable to drink than I had anticipated. Depending on where you shop, a six or twelve of Canadian might be a dollar more than, say, Bud or Coors, but I guarantee it will be a dollar well spent.

Labatt, the largest brewer in Canada, has a flagship product most similar to a typical mainstream American beer. Labatt Blue is the least remarkable of the three cheap Canadians, and in theory paying a dollar or two more for Labatt Blue versus a cheaper beer like Coors isn't really worth it. However, in situations where Labatt is cheap, it's worth it, if only for variation's sake. Lovers of Coors Light especially will appreciate the improvement Labatt Blue provides, as it has a fuller taste and body and is far less watery, without being as filling as a Coors heavy.

Moosehead, on the other hand, is the gem of Canada's large breweries. Although I gushed about Molson Canadian, Moosehead Lager is by far the finest of Canada's mass-produced beers. The largest independent brewery in Canada (Molson is owned by Coors and Labatt by the European conglomerate Inbev), Moosehead makes a lager that tastes way too upscale for its price. The great European lagers like Heineken, Beck's, Grolsch, and Pilsner Urquell all come with a hefty price tag, but at $10 for a twelve pack, a beer drinker will find a worthy, more affordable substitute in Moosehead. If you've never tried Moosehead before, now is the time!

Canada has a vibrant microbrew scene, with centers in Quebec and British Columbia. Unfortunately, most Canadian microbreweries do not sell their beers in the United States. My column would end here if it were not for Unibroue of Quebec, who exports almost all of its beers to Maine! Bootleggers' carries several different Unibroue products in 25 ounce bottles, priced at $7.99 apiece. While this may seem expensive, technically you're getting just over two beers (as the standard American beer bottle is 12 ounces); additionally, most Unibroue beers have an alcohol content of between 7 and 9 percent. As a result, when you pay $7.99 for one of these big bottles, you're drinking almost four beers' worth of alcohol. Given the vast superiority of well-made high-end beer to cheaper choices, this really isn't a bad deal at all for those who can afford to spend a little extra on themselves. It also means that the drinker must proceed with caution and not overindulge!

Maudite, my favorite Unibroue offering, is a dark red ale with strong hints of wheat and spice. Sweet for a red ale, it almost seems as though it was brewed with no hops at all, as bitterness is absent from Maudite's flavor from sip to aftertaste. Trois Pistoles, in the same spirit as Maudite, is also quite sweet for the class it belongs to. A strong dark ale (at 9 percent ABV), Trois Pistoles' sweetness almost masks the high alcohol content, which can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your standpoint. This selection features "an aftertaste of port," and this claim is no vain advertising gimmick. Never before have I tasted a beer so reminiscent of fortified red wine, and Unibroue has accomplished the impressive feat of infusing malty dark ale with fruit flavors.

The final Unibroue reviewed here, Fin du Monde, is triple fermented (whatever that means) making it akin to the popular Belgian "tripel" style ales. Fin du Monde is sweeter than most tripels (which I am beginning to think is a running theme amongst Unibroue's beers), and I honestly did not enjoy it as much as, say, an Allagash Tripel. However, if you like your beers sweet, Fin du Monde would definitely be right for you. In fact, that applies to all of Unibroue's offerings; if you like sweet beer or you are the adventurous sort, do not hesitate and pick up a Unibroue as you peruse the aisles at Bootleggers' this weekend.

The Bowdoin Orient has a promotion in partnership with Bootleggers Beverage Warehouse in Topsham, Maine. This week only, Bowdoin students can receive 10 percent off Molson Canadian, Moosehad Lager, Unibroue Maudite, Unibroue La Fin Du Monde and Le Trois Pistoles products upon presentation of a Bowdoin ID.

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