Creemore Springs Lager

This baby has been sitting in my beer fridge for a good month, and every time I went there to get a cold one, I started drooling but nevertheless resisted the temptation to take her out because I wanted to wait for an opportunity to have a photo shoot. Finally, the time had arrived and Creemore Springs lager finally gets her day in the spot light! This beer, brewed in the town of Creemore in Ontario, one also evokes fond memories of my youth, although of the Canadian part. Having come to this country in the early 1980s as a teenager, I found myself stumped by the fact that I left a place where I was able to drink beer almost but not quite legally because nobody really took this matter all too seriously (being one year short of the official drinking age of 16) to arrive in some Puritan backwater wannabe metropolis called Toronto, the legal age for drinking was 19 - older than the legal age for driving, a combination that never made any sense to me whatsoever. On top of that, the situation was truly bleak for an aspiring beer snob - a wasteland of horrible mass-produced beer that all tasted alike and had no discerning flavours whatsoever (think Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue et al.).

It took about 3 or 4 years, until the arrival of Upper Canada Brewing, for the darkness to lift, and Creemore Springs soon followed, having opened its doors in 1987. What a God-send this fine brew was, a beacon of light among the grim and foul-smelling excrement that still dominated the beer stores at that time. And let me point out that the beer store itself was a smudge of scum on the landscape - a monopolizing retailer that made you feel like you were purchasing something with the intention of destroying the moral foundation of society - nothing on display, only a list of products; you place your order, upon which one troglodyte clerk sent that order via intercom to another one back in the stock room, after which your brews would get shoved through a hole in the wall on a roller belt. Anyway, I fondly remember the 500 ml bottle in which Creemore sold their beer in back then. I don't know when they changed to selling primarily in cans, and while I am happy to see they are above the midget extinguisher standard, I do wonder who thought of the 473 ml quantity that deprives me of those precious 27 ml. Clearly this must be some relic of the archaic Imperial measures system (27 ml equals about 1 fluid ounce), which surprisingly still dominates the great backwater we call the USA as I write this.

Creemore is today owned by Molson, who acquired them around 2004 or 2005. I remember once talking to a Creemore rep at a beer festival, who told me that Molson is taking the hands-off approach so as not to destroy the legions of loyal followers. While this seems hard to believe, the quality of the beer has remained relatively unchanged, and only in the past few years have Creemore deviated from their admirable course of sticking to one flagship brand, with one or two seasonal brews. Lately, they have added an Alt to their portfolio, which I have not yet been able to sample but am looking forward to pouring down my thirsty gullet at the first opportunity that presents itself.

The original premium lager is brewed in the Vienna lager style - a copper beer with ample sweet notes and nice caramel flavours. I found it quite interesting that after writing down my tasting notes and comparing them to the description provided on the can, there was an astonishing amount of overlap. For me, the outstanding characteristics of this beer are a slight acidic malt kick that turns into subtle floral hops notes. Overall, the beer is well balanced with a long malt sweetness that gets cut dry by a bitterness that comes and goes in an instant. The mouthfeel could be richer (and perhaps it once was), and I found the bubbles were rather unstable, making it difficult to build a good head - how disappointing. Possibly this is one small piece of evidence of the long austerity arm of Molson reaching into my pint.

The Creemore Spring: