Alexander Keiths India Pale Ale

Brewed by Oland Brewery (AB-InBev)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Halifax, Canada

If this is an IPA, then they took the style to it’s inglorious roots: Brew a lager, throw in some more hops so it still tastes like something after swilling around for months in the cargo hold of a ship heading for the colonies, and serve it when it has become as bland as any unsophisticated british lager would be. It’s the kind of stuff to drink when you are in a place that otherwise only sells Bud, Miller and Corona.

bottle thanks to cavie. Pours clear yellow, thin and fizzy. Aroma has no hops, surprising for a self-labeled IPA, some sweet malts and not much else. Understated, general malty flavor, not a great beer but a good rate!

Pours a deep golden color with a big, small bubbled, white head. Aroma has an early dose of astringent graininess with more moderate sweet apple notes toward the tail end and some light floral hops. Flavor has an almost PIlsner graininess too it, lots of sweetness reminiscent of apples and grapes, lots of floral hops in the taste add an almost honey-ish type of character to it and ends with a strong overall sweetness. Light body, thin texture, medium carbonation and a great lacing on the glass. Not a top tier brew by any standard but better than a lot of other macros out there. My only real big gripe with it, the grainy/corn flavor makes it taste a bit cheap, otherwise a very sweet, non-bitter brew.

Had a few pints of this grassy one in ontario. A little thin, buts interestingly enough improved note of grass, and lemon as the brew was downed. Don’t want to get in to the ipa debate(it’s not) but it is ok.

Pours golden. Tastes more like a generic lager than an IPA. Faint hops, malts, wheat. Light body. Watery mouthful. Still above average for a macro beer.

Bottle from a traveling friend. Pours clear gold with a big white head. Malt aroma first, then some faint crisp hop. Smells more like a pale lager than IPA. Malty flavor up front with a touch of weak hop and a watery finish.

Bottle thanks to Cavie. The look is clear, light clear yellow in color, with a small white head. The smell is floral, plastic, wheat, and malts. The taste is hops, malts, wheat, and watery.

Drank piles of this last year while stuck in Regina, of all places, in the fall. So the best course of action was to buy a case of beer and get drinkin’. It’s quite average stuff, half-decent aroma of grains and alcohol, okay colour, okay taste. Very drinkable but there’s little to differentiate this from so many others on the market.