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I know most of you canadiens think american beer sucks...it used to but these days we make as good as any in the world...the micro/ craft craze has changed this [ praise the lord]...one thing i wan to know is ...i used to like the skunky canadian brews say back in the 80's..where'd they go?

   

Kokanee. People love this beer, but I can't to this day drink one (ok, I'll drink one, but I don't have to like it!) without that foul skunk taste hitting me.

m

   

Kokannee is a Labbatts product. That probably explains why you don't likt it...it sucks.

   

I have never drank canadian beers in Canada, but my brother goes fishing every summer up in Manitoba with his inlaws and claims that the beers that they buy up there are much better then the same beers bought south of the border. Is this true? Like with many 'import' beers, the alcohol content is different for export... Just wondering.

We do have good micro brew beers, but your every day 'domestic' beer is hands down much better then our 'piss fast' (as the Germans call it) swill.

   

Yeah, our domestic beer is better than your supermarket brands, Yankee. Our micro-brews match up to yours pretty evenly.

If you look into prohibition, the way it played out in he US goes a long way to explaining why the US has so many low-quality beers. You're still paying for that little adventure in a very real way and it's creeping up on a century since the men got back from WWI to discover that while they were away somebody banned booze, gambling and whores. I'd imagine that explains why Paris was so popular with American in hte twenties.

   

As a teacher of history, and a amature home brewer, I am only too much aware of the watered down legacy of the 'noble experiment' that was prohibition...

During WWI, there were increased requirments on all resources (rationing). One way to conserve on resources was to lighten the barley content in beers. Rice, Corn and Wheat were used in increasing quantities. An added bonus was to lessen the alc content. This was desired to help raise the productivity level of the workers that were needed to run the mills driving the war... Plus, with all the men that were gone, there were more women drinking beer then ever, and the lighter beers is what they demanded...

By the end of the great war, many states had outlawed alcohol, and by 1919 the federal government did as well. This spelled the end to a very diverse and localized brewing industry. The big boys (Anheiser Bush, Coors, Papst, Miller..) were able to diversify into making other malt and bottling related products. (These were the companies that had spear headed the move to lighten the beers) The local breweries were left totally out in the cold, and nearly all closed shop, never to open again.

Really jelous that you blokes can go anywhere (even in po-dunk towns) and order a decent priced pitcher of quality beer. Here in most small towns you can never find good beer (micro or import)on tap, and then it is only sold in pints, and is VERY expencive, if you have any tolerance above that of an child.

   

Another set of questions,

What are the most popular domestic beers (not micros), and what do you usualy have to pay for them (pint, pitcher, case...) Along with that, what is the current exchage rate? It's been since '98 that I was to Canada, and I am sure it's changed

   

Thanks for the history lesson, Yankee. I might drop you an e-mail out of the blue looking for research references one day...ya never know. I'd love to do something on the history of beer in North America.

The domestic major brand beers that I see being consumed most often in Manitoba are: Molson Canadian, Labbat's Lite, Molson Dry or Coors Lite (close to a tie) and Labbatt's Blue. Not a scientific survey and it changes from place to place and demographic to demographic. Just like cigarettes it is more a matter of what you started drinking as a kid than actual taste.

All of the above can be had for about $33.00 per 24 in Manitoba. A high price that consists mostly of taxes. That is someplace around $20.00 US.

Kind of a sidenote, but loyalty to domestic beer brands seems to be right up there with loyalty to pick-up truck brands. I'll drink Canadian and drive Chevies 'til I die and I know it doesn't really make sense....Both have changed dramatically over the years.

   

Rev,

If you're looking for american beer history, look for home brewing books. That is where I learned most of my knowledge on the subject. None has all the story, but they all tell parts of it. Would be nice to see a presice collection and synthisis (sp?) of the entire story on either side of the border. On a side note, is there really an 'Elsinore Beer' (ala 'Strange Brew') in Canada? Sorry couldn't pass up that opportunity!

Cheers!

   

I think somebody released one shortly after the movie came out...just something else in an Elsinore bottle, a sales gimmick.

When Bob and Doug first started out they were surrounded by Canadian cases. I'm not sure why that changed.

I've read quite a few home brewing books, Yankee. That and researching the anti-pot laws is where I found out how badly Prohibition affected the quality of beer in the US.

Here's a cool story about restrictive beer laws. I work with a Brit. He came to Canada in the early to mid 1960s. He was used to British pubs and a lot of choice. He got to Winnipeg and discovered beer parlours where you just ordered beer because all they had was nameless draft. The tables were lined up to discourage conversation. You could not, by law, carry your own beer across the bar. ou could order two small glasses of beer at a time because there restrictions on how many ounces you could have in front of you at any given time. If you didn't have a chair the bouncers would kick you out. It was basically, "Here's your beer, no having fun allowed."

   

And then there were the segregated beer-parlours, Rev. You wouldnt be old enough to remember them - I've only seen one myself, when I was about 20 in a place on the Island called Ladysmith.

You might remember old bars with separate doors "Men" and "Ladies and Escorts"....well they meant it. Same beer parlour, but with a wall down the middle and a large archway between. Mens side: bare lino floor, bare round pub tables, tin cans for ashtrays. Ladies side: carpet, fuzzy tablecloths, ashtrays, lampshades on the hanging lights.
My buddy and I walked in and thinking "screw this", sat on the nice side. Waiter came by and was friendly enough, but wouldnt serve us until he asked if we were "expecting someone".

We werent, he wasnt, we moved......



oh and ps, not to be picky, but with a 76-cent dollar, your math would be closer to $25 US these days.

   

What the fuck, over. What is a po-dunk?

m

   

Local microbrews are good.. my favs are from Victoria and Vancouver..
The popular reg. beers are alright as well..

There are some good U.S. brews too!!

   

I remember the wall being there in the Ituna beer parlour, non-rev. It wasn't segregated anymore...just as dingy on both sides...but I knew the story behind it. I think that law changed in Saskatchewan before my dad could go in there.

I had my first ever beer in a bar there. I was 15 and with my grandfather. We'd been hauling bales all day and it was hot out. It wasn't unusual to stop at the bar on the way home from the farm, but usually I had a coke. This particular time Grandpa ordered me a beer. The bartender said I wasn't old enough. Grandpa just glared at him, said something almost under his breath in Ukranian then in English said, "He worked like man all god damned day, now give him a beer god damn it." The bartender got kind of pale and got me my beer, then another. Grandpa K was not a man to be trifled with.

   

Mukluk,

'Podunk' is a term that must be used only inthe Mid west of the us to describe very small isolated rural comunity. Substatute with 'back water', 'hole in the wall', 'middle of nowhere'... Not slaging it,(I'm from there!), just explaining what I was unaware was slang!

Cheers!

   

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