Beaus Lug Tread Lagered Ale

Draught half-pint at The Manx in Ottawa, July 18 2007. Hazy bright gold with a nice lasting small white creamy head and more than a spot of lacing....fresh, grainy, lightly hoppy-grassy aroma offers faint pungent-farmy notes, honey and a light but distinctive noble hop character....rather sweet on the tongue but plenty of grassy hops keep things very drinkable, fairly crisp and dries out quite nicely at the finish, a nice light mineralic bite caps the experience....could be just a bit fuller and the sweetness is a tad overdone, but these are minor complaints; this is solid, whether pilsner/helles (what it tastes most like) or kolsch (what it’s listed as). Very odd experience....not the beer itself so much as getting to a computer and reading about it here. Did I have the same beer all of you did? I knew nothing about what this was at all when I saw it on the board at the Manx, and was hugely impressed. I’m sure it helps that the tap lines for both beers I tried were obviously very clean, and this was very, very fresh....but still, the ratings mystify me. At any rate, I’ll look for it again when I’m next in Ontario and see if this was just a fluke, a huge improvement in quality, or if perhaps my taste is just very different.

Tap at Clocktower. Pale golden beer, thin white head. Grainy pale malts and a bland aroma. Metallic flavour throughout. Terrible.

Tap. Pours gold with large white bubbly head. Gentle sweet aroma, malty lagered ale. Chewy texture, caramel and toffee, Sweet in short. Short lasted finish.

(Draught) On tap @ the Manx. I kept hearing "Bowes"... "Bowes" and I asked at the Manx, "the stuff from Quebec?" She replied, "I guess?". Obviously this isn’t Bowes from Quebec, makers of Special 7 and Treebu. Pours a frothy white head with a thick, amber body. No carbonation. Nose of pure corn and canned veggies. The flavour is fizzy, corn sryup malt and herbal spice notes. Who put Kolsch? I was guessing a malt liquor. All in all VERY VERY disagreeable... why would the Manx have this CRAP!!! Original Score: 3/2/1/1/4; Re-Rate (Draught) At the URGING of others - and the radically different review from newbie MikeKChar - I am re-rating this beer as its been pointed out as being better on tap at the Clocktower (5 blocks away from me). Pours a thin, lasting foamy white head with light carbonation activity and an amber body. Nose of corn, tin and grainy. Somewhat an oily texture, the flavour is acidic, buttery with strong corn malt overtones. The finish is lactic and bitter. I still conclude that this isn’t either a kolsch or its terribly off. It can pass as an Amber Ale (texture, malt) but I’m sticking with my first impression that this best examplifies a Malt Liquor. Very little difference that the Manx. Re-Rate: 4/3/3/1/6. If its any justification - the Clocktower Kolsch was also somewhat off being tinny and lactic. I still believe its in the BREWER’s best interest to re-call this beer - since first impressions are most important. But now I’m out $10 after a second pint - but what do I know - perhaps people will keep coming back - I did.

Draft at the Cottage and a Kitchen, August 25, 2006, with GRM. Golden lager with a thin white head. Sweet fruity aroma with notes of watermelon and light sulfur. In mouth, a rather sweet unbalanced kolsch, with lots of phenolics, nail polish remover, and an oily mouthfeel. A rather cloying offering. I will have to give it another chance when the second batch is available as this is the first batch by these courageous entrepeneurs (just consider what happened to OVBC, Harts, Masters, Abe and Roscoes, Copperhead...in the difficult eastern ON market!...Ottawa is a hard nut to crack!).