Canadian beer

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Major brewers like Molson produce brands of beer which are now part of the Canadian identity, such as Molson Dry.

Canada has a rich tradition of beer brewing, often intertwined with the country's history. While the Canadian beer industry is massive and plays an important role in Canadian identity, globalization of the Brewing industry has seen the major players in Canada be acquired by or merged with foreign companies, notably its two biggest beer producers, Molson and Labatt.

1 History
- 1.1 Bottle Labeling
- 1.2 The stubby bottle
2 Molson and Labatt
3 Microbreweries
4 Canadian beer in popular culture
5 See also
- 5.1 Notable brewers
- 5.2 Brewpubs
6 External links

[edit] History

Beer was first introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century, as Canada had an ideal climate for making beer before refrigeration was introduced. The first commercial brewery was built by Jean Talon in Quebec City, in the year 1668. Over a century later a number of commercial brewers thrived, including some that became the staple of the Canadian industry: John Molson founded a brewery in Montreal in 1786, Alexander Keith in Halifax in 1820, Thomas Carling in London in 1840, John Labatt in 1847, also in London, and Eugene O'Keefe in Toronto in 1891. The very first patent to be issued by the Canadian government on July 6, 1842, was to one G. Riley for "an improved method of brewing ale, beer, porter, and other maltliquors."

Prohibition in Canada did not last as long as in the U.S. and was largely passé by the mid 1920s (apart from the small province of Prince Edward Island, where it ran from 1901 to 1948). Nevertheless, it had a similar effect of leaving very few brewers, and it was only in the late twentieth century that there has been a revival and microbreweries have started. Brewpubs are still illegal in some provinces, however.

[edit] Bottle Labeling

Government regulations require that all beer sold in Canada show the alcohol concentration (alcohol concentration by volume) on the label. A standard bottle of beer (341 ml and five percent alcohol by volume) contains 17.05 millilitres of alcohol. Unlike most countries, Canada employs a minimum percentage labeling. In most nations, the labeled alcohol percentage is either the average or maximum percentage allowed. However, as of 1927, most Canadian provinces require the minimum alcohol percentage to be labeled rather than the average. This move was meant to eliminate inaccurate nonalcoholic labeling as well as fraudulent advertisement.[1]

The rationale for standardizing alcohol content (since loosened and disproved) is that consumers would tend to select only high alcohol beers and the breweries would have a war with ever escalating alcohol content. In the USA this was solved by keeping the alcohol content a mystery to the consumer who does not make an extra effort. When alcohol content is shown on U.S. beer, it is often labeled by weight. Since alcohol is lighter than water, this can leave the mistaken impression that U.S. beer has much less alcohol, on average, than Canadian beer. A 3.2% beer in the U.S. (by weight) would be equivalent to a 4% beer in Canada (by volume).[2]

[edit] The stubby bottle

Stubbies are a type of bottle which is shorter and with a slightly larger diameter than the now predominant longneck bottle. Starting in 1962 almost all beer in Canada was sold in stubbies until the beer companies chose to switch to the American-style longneck bottle between 1982 and 1986. The last major label to be available in the stubby was Labatt's Crystal which switched to the longneck in the summer of 1986. The reason for the switch was because surveys showed that women did not like the stubby bottle, and to attract more female beer drinkers a bottle that appealed to them was developed. This bottle is what is referred to as the long-neck. Proponents of "the stubby" note that its smaller shape (while retaining the same volume) means that it is easier to ship and store, chills faster, and is less likely to break. Waterloo, Ontario's Brick Brewing Company and Phillips Brewing Company of Esquimalt, BC, have revived the use of the stubby as a marketing strategy, though they face higher production costs as a result. Brewers (manufacturing facilities) in general prefer the stubby bottle because of the lower center of gravity make the filling and handling of the bottle easier.

[edit] Molson and Labatt

The market in Canada for domestic beer is dominated by Labatt and Molson. Both breweries aggressively market their flagship brands (Labatt Blue and Molson Canadian, respectively) as well as produce niche brands and market American and other imports. Molson and Labatt beers are very popular in American markets on the Canadian border, with the two brands dominating beer sales in cities like Buffalo, NY and Detroit, MI.

[edit] Microbreweries

Microbrewers produce beers that satisfy the connoisseur's eclectic tastes, like this cask ale.

As with the United States, a somewhat flourishing microbrewery industry has arisen in Canada, satisfying niche tastes and providing localized offerings. In British Columbia, craft brewers such as Phillips, Tree, Nelson, Raven, Storm, and R+B provide a wide variety of craft brews in various styles, while in Eastern Canada, brewers like MacAuslan, Unibroue, Creemore Springs and Wellington do the same. Central Canada and the praries have few craft brewers (Big Rock being the most famous), however, there are quality brew pubs and a few microbrewers (like Saskatoon's Padockwood, who produce risky, high gravity IPAs and ales) to be found. Many Canadian craft brews are high quality products, in terms of their ingredients and preparation. However, the narrow palette of the Canadian drinker (due to years of homogenous beer selection perpetuated by the "big three"), combined with the more restrictive liquor laws in Canada makes for a brewing culture that is highly skewed towards slightly bland "Pale Ale" style beers. Very few bars offer truly innovative or extensive on-tap selection featuring seasonal or higher gravity brews. Of the Canadian craft brewers, Unibroue in the East (A Sleeman's owned brewery specializing in Belgian style Ales) and Phillips in the West (a true micro whos beer most resembles that being produced by the innovative West Coast American craft brewers like Stone, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, Bear Republic and North Coast) are the most acclaimed.

[edit] Canadian beer in popular culture

Canadian beer has served as a staple in popular culture, especially comedy. Bob and Doug McKenzie's sketches in particular launched much of the attention; they featured in both a recurring sketch on SCTV and a Canadian beer-oriented movie, Strange Brew.

The movie Canadian Bacon by Michael Moore also spoofed cultural attitudes toward Canadian beer.

More recently, Molson ran a series of themed I Am Canadian commercials which garnered national attention.

In Big Daddy, Jon Stewart's character attests to Canadian beer being "like moonshine."