Part of the Waterloo Signature Series. 19.95/ 6x473ml cans at LCBO. Available at Grocery, Beer Stores, and from Waterloo Brewing
Despite its pedigree as the first small brewery in the province with an opening date of 1984, suicidally close to the Labatt owned Kuntz brewery in K-W, Brick Brewing was, for a long time, a one trick pony. That pony was called Laker. In their defence, it was the style at the time and they sold a hell of a lot of it. That said, the Waterloo brands existed in a dignified and slightly staid vacuum; a Dark Lager that had been on tap at Paddington’s in Toronto since I can remember and a 6.8% Amber trapped in amber. Quality products, but with an inability to capture the contemporary imagination.
Then a miracle occurred. Stiegl Radler came to Canada and sold out in incredibly short order. Waterloo, with available capacity and what was near as dammit a sure thing, branched out with a Grapefruit Radler. It was a straight juice blend, 2.5%. It was, critically speaking, a little sweet, but delicious and mostly importantly eminently crushable.
One of the best things about Waterloo is that they are very self aware. They know that they will never be a hype brewery making instagram clout IPA. Wrong demographic, and their products are in no way scarce enough to promote jealousy. The segment is popular, so why not skip the R&D to turn your beer into fruit juice by adding … fruit juice? It worked in 2014, and their Radler is still very popular.
Where most breweries would champion their hop varieties in the marketing description for an IPA, the ingredients listed on the can here tell you the whole story: Water, Barley malt, Wheat, Wheat malt, Hops, Sugars (pineapple juice concentrate, mango juice concentrate, guava juice concentrate, lemon juice concentrate), Yeast, Natural flavour. I practically don’t need to tell you what it tastes like, but I will suggest that the body is lighter than your typical hazy IPA because there’s not a commensurate amount of residual hop matter. There’s bitterness in the finish, but the aroma is all fruit juice.
The other two beers in the six pack attempt to pull the same trick. There’s a Blackcurrant Pomegranate Saison and a Tangerine Peach Wheat. The Saison is fairly successful although slightly tannic, and Peach Wheat is a natural combination. Personally, I think your best bet from amongst their new releases is their Field Berry Radler. If it ain’t broke, just switch the juice.
Did You Buy This Beer?: This turned up on my doorstep like a particularly fruity baby.
Knowing What You Know Now, Would You Buy This Beer?: Not in a six pack format. I think it might be fun to get people to try at a Summer BBQ, which is sort of what the format is meant for. Not really for established craft beer drinkers, but it’s light and fun for a dabbler.
Did You Finish It?: Four sips sated my curiousity. Sometimes you know all you’re going to pretty early on.
We mustn’t forget some of the excellence that preceded Laker and indeed the name change to Waterloo. BRICK Premium Lager was fantastic and it’s really significant that they managed to be the only brewery outside Germany to produce Andechs Hell under license, also Celis White. Sadly though it was hard to keep the Andechs fresh in the Beer Store distribution network.
Absolutely. It bears saying that they are doing just about as good as they ever did from a quality standpoint. Better since they killed off some of the PC brands, in fact.
I think one has to be very careful when talking about quality. In my comment I was merely trying to highlight some of the more interesting or significant beers that they have made in the distant past. In terms of “quality”, I’m sure there’s absolutely no question that the quality is the best it has ever been or should I say quality control. It seems to be a very well managed company from a business point of view at the moment.