KLB Cream Ale

341mL bottle thanks to matt7215, thanks man. Pours a hazy orange with a large off-white cap. Aroma is extremely faint, sweet indistinct malts and fading hops. Flavour is also quite bland, really not very interesting, sweet with an odd hop-touch to it which is not at all bitter. They’re using either hop extract or malt extract to brew this, or both, the finish is sort of HB like. Of little redeeming quality. Seems like an aborted attempt at a Pale Ale that they just decided to call a Cream Ale. No real Cream Ale aspects to it. Thanks for the bottle Matt, but your HB is far superior to this stuff!

so i walk into the beer store on this cold windy may evening and order a case of KLB Cream Ale. i did this for a couple of reasons. firstly ive never rated KLB cream and im a ticker, secondly its summer (or its supposed to be) and cream ales should drink nice at this time of year. the beer store employee smirks at me, takes my money and motions for me to go wait for my beer. my order rolls down the rollers and i just start to laugh. 2 completly different 12 packs make up my "case". the older is the old style KLB 12 pack with the bottles stamped "0611A 046 08:05" there is at least an inch of dust on the case and all the bottles inside are quite dusty. the second 12 pack is the newer style. ive yet to consume a bottle but will post the stamp # once i do. the newer 12 was less dusty and the bottles had no dust. now let me say if i cared at all about freshness i would have probably said something but the humour in the whole situation was more then enough compensation for the old beer. i poured my first bottle and sat down here to pass along my findings. pours golden with more carbonation then ive ever seen in any beer ive ever had. weird black dots float around and settle into the bottom of my glass. the carbonation sustains a huge white head that formed upon pouring. the aroma is of dust, melon, and decomposing pale malt. the flavour is awesome. complex malts, light, fruity, strange but wonderful. i cant believe how good this tastes! the body is very over carbonated as i said but it doesnt take anything away from this brew. ive yet to consume the black dots but ill update as i see fit. what a strange thing to happen on a tuesday night. more to come....

Bottle at Pub Italia- Grassy, apples and pale malt nose. Pours a sparkling gold with a creamy white foam. Sweet appley flavour with grains and pale malts with some sweet cookie leading the finish. Just the faintest offering of a hop is present. I generally enjoy cream ales if they are well made, but this one is far fruiter and duller than what I prefer.

grassy nose, medium head. malty a little bitter, odd fruit aftertaste, some malt and a touch of hops but a decent session beer

nice large head. malty grainy flavours. nothing too exciting here. nothing caught my attention. the other ratings seem to have it right.

Bottle. Sigh, a Cream Ale, these are never good. Pours a clear copper with a large semi-lasting foamy white head. Typical average and boring grainy aroma with a faint hint of hops. Flavour’s a tad better as it actually has a bit of taste, there’s some mild hops, grain and caramel malt -- it’s still very watery and bland though. The aftertaste is kind of unpleasant. Light bodied. This isn’t very good at all.

Bottle (341ml). Oh boy, cream ale ... well, it’s a rating. Poured a clear brassy gold with an average creamy-rocky white head. Aroma of straw, grain and a bit of honey - light yet harsh but I’ll give it 5 because it doesn’t smell like a Delmonte product. Tastes the same - grainy, sweet, yes a little harsh, but it reminds me of slightly sweeter old style Canadian ales - not that that’s a particularly good thing, but yer Dad would probably like this one. Mouthfeel is almost stingingly sharp, a little too bitter - leaves a slightly harsh bitter aftertaste. Beats Blue.

Poured a sample at the brewery, so far so good. Smells light. Starts fairly fresh and clean and then a stale harsh finish creeps in on it and spoils the party. Nice to be sampling the beer taps when I drop by to get a six-pack of the Amsterdam Framboise, the only real specialty beer they make when it is available.