Vintage Lager - Hogsback Brewing Co.
Here's something the average person probably doesn't encounter in their day-to-day life. Getting handed beer in unlabelled bottles, from upcoming breweries. Happily, this is a part of my life. A few weeks back (yeah, I've been pretty busy), Greg Clow passed me a bottle of Hogsback Brewing Co Vintage Lager (not to be confused with the Hogsback Brewery in England, makers of the epic T.E.A.) while at an LCBO tasting. A bit of description and his point of view, and we went on with the tasting. The bottle has been patiently waiting for me since. I decided today to finally open it up. In advance, I went to check out their website, but couldn't, as it's a flash-based design (head's-up: web geek hat just went on), and there was no browser/os detect script to feed me (at least) a mobile version, if not (better) an non-flash version, Steve Jobs still keeping iPhones adobe-free zones (except for the other industry standards, youtube and .pdf reading). I've since checked the site on my desktop, and seen that it's quite a sharp design that pays homage to a "days of yore" type feel, and has talk sort of in the same vein as Beau's or early Steamwhistle. Dudes making beer, quality stuff, yada-yada. Quite nice, and accented by the usual flash-y interface. In mild protest, I didn't spend much time on the site, but it looked like you could spend a good bit of time there. So, with all that said and done, picture taken, and we're ready to get to the real deal, actually drinking the beer:
[caption id="attachment_938" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Vintage Lager - Hogsback Brewing Co."]
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From an unlabelled 341ml ISB, the beer pours a nice amber colour with a lazy carbonation. A gentle pour resulted in a bit of head, which dropped to a little piece of film pretty quickly. Aroma is richly malty, nearly like a Vienna lager, just heady and sweet. There's a bit of a herbal hop in the background, but the main event is malt. Taste is, again, mainly malt. A bit more hop comes out in the flavour though. A bit more herbal and mineral now. But those malts are lovely, not sweet like a Scotch ale, but wonderfully warm and grainy. Finish is very quick, and there's just a touch of the hop left on the palate. Totally sessionable, but not just another pale lager (for one, it's not really pale), there is a lot more complexity then most of the macro-equivalents being produced by a lot of other craft brewers. Which is possibly my favourite thing about it.
I digress: I think it's admirable that brewers produce beers that are easy for the Blue drinkers of the world to consume. They make pretty simple beers, but make them well, using great ingredients and honest processes. I don't particularly like the brews (and I'm not going to point fingers, because when fingers get pointed, somebody's going to get poked), but I like the idea behind them.
This, on the other hand, is a fairly interesting lager. Sure I probably wouldn't go out of my way to find it, but I'm super happy to be drinking it, and would order it again in a heartbeat, if I found myself at a licensee serving it. Yes, it might be daunting for the Coors Light crowd, but as a somewhat geeky beer geek, I'm still quite happy to sit back and enjoy.
Great work Hogsback, just fix up that website. Here's to a great future!
6 comments
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I like the sound of this "there is a lot more complexity then most of the macro-equivalents being produced by a lot of other craft brewers"
I like the sound of this "there is a lot more complexity then most of the macro-equivalents being produced by a lot of other craft brewers"
Matt,
yeah, totally cool beer. Like I said, I wouldn't drive to Ottawa to get it, but I would happily have one at a party or order one at a bar. To be fair, it's probably not going to be your thing, a little to much emphasis on the malts, and less on the hops, but still.
Matt,
yeah, totally cool beer. Like I said, I wouldn't drive to Ottawa to get it, but I would happily have one at a party or order one at a bar. To be fair, it's probably not going to be your thing, a little to much emphasis on the malts, and less on the hops, but still.
Terrible beer. Tastes like Canadian in another label.
These guys don't even make their own beer. Tastes like they just relabel Canadian.
I just drank one of these beers -- terrible.
Tastes like Canadian with a different label.
These guys don't even make their own beer. I wouldn't be surprised if they just funnel out of the Canadian tap and put their own label on it.