First Draught — 4 lagers that are better than Bud Light

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/01/2018 (3005 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s already been just about two weeks since I posted a picture of Prairie Firehouse’s bottled beer menu on social media. I was absolutely excited to see one of the top rated IPAs in the United States, Todd the Axeman by Surly Brewing, selling for less ($10 per 500 ml can) compared to a bottle of Bud Light ($15 per 341 ml bottle).

Well … I never expected the photo to become viral and see everyone in Canada reporting about it — and not only that, seeing people on the internet talking about it. Some were angry, others were absolutely happy to see it, and some were just “why not stop selling Bud Light in the first place?”

I have to give Anna and her staff at Prairie Firehouse some serious props; they’ve dealt with a lot of hate mail all for doing something that I would have done if for some reason I owned a craft beer bar — sell Bud Light at an expensive price point to hopefully influence people to try something new. The craft beer scene has been absolutely booming here in Manitoba, and places like Prairie Firehouse are wanting to provide beers made by people in our region for people in our region that happen to use ingredients grown here on the Prairies.

I’m excited to see what kind of beers they will be featuring on tap once they change their beer list in March, removing Bud Light from the menu permanently.

I’m not a fan of lagers, but in the past week or so I’ve been sampling more lagers than I care to count to create this week’s edition of First Draught. I feel it’s my duty to recommend lagers that I feel are better than Bud Light. When I think of a lager, I’m thinking of something crisp, light, easy to drink to the point that it’s easy to drink two of them while watching a Jets game. I don’t recall how many lagers I tried, but these four lager-themed beers are the top four I ended up enjoying the most.

• Miller High Life — 4.6 per cent ABV — I’m starting off this review with one of the most popular light lagers available in the United States. In fact, this was once my mom’s go-to beer when she was looking for cheap beer to bring home from Minot, N.D. Miller Brewing is now owned by Labatt’s owners AB InBev since mid last year, so one of the stipulations in order for the brewery to be purchased was to sell off a lot of their North American brands to Molson Coors. This included MGD, Miller Lite and Miler High Life.

Molson brewed Miller’s brands for the Canadian market until 2013, so the brand isn’t new to them, except that this is the first time that High Life is available in Canada.

Miller High Life is your typical American light lager. It pours a clean, golden straw with a liberal amount of carbonation, and a bit of a frothy white head. The aroma gives off notes of corn, sweet grainy malt, light grassy hops and a hint of champagne to it. The taste its clean, crisp, moderate amount of creamed corn, a bit of a graininess from the barley, a hint of grass and overall, sweet but easy to drink.

I have to say that I recall absolutely hating this beer when down in Minot, but for some reason, I’m not hating it at all, but I’m not loving it either. This is a very easy drinking beer that pairs with family barbecues or beer league slo-pitch baseball. It’s reminiscent of a typical North American pilsner or lager and perhaps Molson is using a higher ratio of barley to corn compared to what I’m used to from the U.S.? It’s always possible, but who knows. Definitely better than Bud Light, and retains a good amount of corn sweetness, which is what some people expect in a typical North American light beer. The beer has pretty broad distribution throughout Westman and is available in individual 473 ml cans, six packs and up to 24- packs (two fours).

2.5/5 Pints

• Lake of the Woods Lakeside Kolsch — 5.0 per cent ABV — This Kenora, Ont.-based beer is one you can easily find at Prairie Firehouse. A Kolsch is essentially a style of ale that’s tank-conditioned at cold temperatures to taste pretty much like a lager. Lakeside Kolsch is described as being a crisp, clean ale with lager characteristics, delicate and subtle beer with a hint of malt and fruit in the nose. Lakeside pours a pale straw yellow with a light amount of carbonation, slight amount of cloudiness, and a light amount of white foam on top.

The aroma is maltier than expected, it’s sweet and caramelly, slightly grainy, light in grassy hop profile, and has an aroma that reminds me of dessert — it has a bit of a hefty bread profile, as well as a bit of a icing aroma to it. The taste of the beer comes out bready with notes of honey, a hint of apple, grassy hops, and a light hint of graininess from the barley. Lakeside Kolsch is easy on the palate but is sweeter than I ever expected. It’s reminding me a bit of glazed doughnuts, which isn’t a bad thing … because now I want a fresh doughnut! Good deal of malt presence, grassy hops and easy to drink. Available at Liquor Marts in Brandon and Virden for $3.09 per 473 ml can.

2.5/5 Pints

• Waterloo Brewing Landshark Lager — 4.6 per cent ABV — I previously reviewed this beer for The Sun back in July 2016, and I’ve had a few people tell me that this was one of their favourite beers I’ve ever suggested to them. Got to start somewhere, right? If you’re a fan of Jimmy Buffet’s music or just happen to love an ice cold beer somewhere along a hot, tropical beach, this is the beer for it.

Landshark pours a light straw body with a fairly liberal amount of carbonation and a light amount of white head right on top of the beer. The aroma is a light, sweet grainy barley malt lager with notes of honey and caramel, a touch of grassy hops. The taste is sweet, a bit grainy, notes of honey and a hint of corn popping up here and there, and a light grass hop presence that’s not disturbing this barleyful beverage. It’s crisp, light, fairly sweet, minimal aftertaste, and easy to drink. Comparing my notes to my review back in 2016, I’m finding that this beer is still decent tasting, for a lager! Waterloo Brewing’s Lakeshark Lager is available at Liquor Marts in Brandon, Dauphin, Neepawa and Virden for $2.75 per 473 ml can.

3/5 Pints

• Hop City Polly Want a Pilsner — 5.0 per cent ABV — Hop City, a subsidiary of Moosehead Breweries, has been on my list for a while to do a review. Polly Want a Pilsner is a classic style pilsner brewed as a mashup of both German and Czech styles. The can is a bit of a gusher as soon as I open it — foaming up and going all over my clothes. But once I was able to get it into the can, it has a light, cloudy pale straw body with a good deal of carbonation, and the head quickly diminishes, leaving behind a lot of lacing on the side of the glass.

The aroma has notes of lemons, crackers, a hint of skunkiness, and a hint of honey sweetness. The flavour is light, much more citrusy than the other three beers I’ve reviewed tonight as it gives off a good presence of lemon, a surprising amount of bitter hop presence with notes of pine and grass, which I wouldn’t really expect in a typical pilsner.

The mouthfeel is slightly creamy, making it not as crisp as the rest, but it’s definitely easy to drink. This is definitely not what I was expecting in a pilsner today — maybe it’s my can, but it has some citrus notes that simply remind me of an unfiltered wheat ale more than a pilsner. I would say that this is something to try for something different for once. Available at Liquor Marts in Brandon (Corral Centre, 10th Street and Victoria Avenue) and Minnedosa for $3.13 per 473 ml can.

3/5 Pints

» Cody Lobreau is a Canadian beer blogger who reviews every beer he can get his hands on as he believes that he should try every beer twice to get an understanding if it’s truly good or bad.