One Offs: St. Ambroise Pale Ale (that's "Biere Blonde" for all you French-Canadians)

A PREAMBLE TO THE REVIEW
by The Beerrister (c) 2010 Drunkard in a Bathrobe Reviews Ltd.

I started this blog for a number of reasons. One was because I wanted to be groovy and just get my opinions out there. Two was because I wanted a record of all the beers I've tried (you know, to ensure that future political opponents will have adequate ammunition for their smear campaigns). Those two very good justifications aside, I've thrown my hat into the ever expanding blogosphere primarily because my cousin told me to.

Now this particular cousin lives in Vancouver and has been known to enjoy a tasty malt beverage now and again, so during a recent conversation I asked him about craft beer in Canada. His response (if I remember it correctly) was somewhat surprising: craft beer was scarce in his neck of the woods. Admittedly, most of the beer I know that comes from Canada is brewed by Molson or Unibroue...or is made with hemp (thank you, my stoner ex-roommate). Still, I thought that there had to be a craft beer scene in the Great White North. I started looking around for non-Molson/Labatt Canadian beer to try and this caught my eye: St. Ambroise Pale Ale, by the McAuslan Brewery in Montreal.

Not to be confused with St. Ambrose, the patron saint of bees (not making that up).
Just remember: one is a beer, the other is a long dead bishop who probably tastes awful.

Wherein I Describe The Beer
St. Ambroise Pale Ale has good clarity and is dark amber/reddish in color. Its develops a small head with quickly dissolves to a thin film. The smell is reminiscent of a French red ale: neutral in hop and yeast character with a big malty punch. The taste is similar to a French red ale as well; it is very rich and malty (lots of crystal malt flavor), with little contribution from hops and yeast. Although this might sound strange, St. Ambroise Pale Ale's flavor reminds me of taffy (molasses taffy is probably what I'm recalling). Others who have tasted this beer might be perplexed with my choice of adjective, but "taffy" is honestly the first thing that popped into my mind when I drank this beer. The beer has good carbonation and a medium body. The ABV was not listed on the bottle, but the website lists it at 5%. For those readers who enjoy comparisons, think of St. Ambroise Pale Ale as Kronenberg 1664's younger brother. I'll let you unpack that last sentence on your own.

Do you ever feel guilty getting sloshed drinking a beer that directly references Catholicism?
I didn't think so...

The Verdict

• St. Ambroise Pale Ale walks like a French red ale, swims like a French red ale and quacks like a French red ale. So it's kind of like a duck? Wait...
  
• Overall the beer is pretty average, so don't go out of your way to find a bottle, unless the dearth of craft beer in Canada is worse than my cousin suggested. It cost me roughly $2.19 for the bottle, so factor that into whether you want to give this a try.
  
• Canada is not exotic enough to fall under the "Off The Beaten Path" category (sorry, you can blame Molson for that).
  
• I need to stop referencing Bob and Doug McKenzie before I get flogged by the Dissociative Editor...again. Besides, The Kids in the Hall are funnier and just as Canadian.