Ghost of a flea

Oh, why does most Canadian beer suck? If it were not for McAuslan, I would truly despair for this land...umm..and Unibrou. Other than that - the void. I stand to be corrected gladly.

Maybe what he meant to say was that the major breweries suck (i.e. Labatt's, Molson's). I doubt anybody would contest that! =)

P.S. Alan I'm interested in your thoughts on Sergeant-Major IPA. Good, bad, or ugly?

Steamwhistle is one of the best lagers I have ever had. My local has stopped selling it!

And I am partial to Maudite.

I avoid lagers generally but am willing to try Steamwhistle which is at the LCBO in sixes here. I am not familiar with Sgt. Major. Is it a Wellington product from Guelph?

The brewer is the Scotch Irish Brewing Company of Fitzroy Harbour (Ottawa). No idea on its availability at the LCBO. It's available at at one of my lunchtime watering holes (C'Est What?), though. The hoppiest thing I've ever tasted.

I was wondering how it would rate in comparison to the other IPAs you've sampled for the National Six-Pack.

Very interesting. That is just two hours north of here but not in our LCBO. I will have to check with my brother in Oddywa.

I am looking at pale ales (rather than India pale ales) which are a far less common thing than I would have thought. When I was a kid in the 80s in Halifax, everything was a pale ale. Now its honey brown and special this and india that. I just want to start with the basics.

The Maritime Brewing Company had some decent stuff before being bought out by Sleeman's. I don't know if Sleeman's has wrecked the brands yet or not.

I liked Black Pearl a lot but Sleemans had to drop brands that were just not selling. I think they may have had 6 or 8 when they opened up originally.