Commercial Red Amber aka Why I Homebrew

[birvine]

I went to a dinner at one of the nearby Legion Halls where an air cadet squadron was celebrating its 70th anniversary. It was nice.

However... I was excited to see Alexander Keith's Red Amber Ale in the fridge (mind you, only two of them) so I ordered one. I had never tried this beer.

The first thing is that now that I brew AG, I am used to really flavourful beer for 25 to 50 cents per beer. This beer was $3.50.

The second thing is that there was NO flavour. I sipped. I tried to savour. I smelled. No, nothing there.

I know we all know this, but it was the final "coin in the cup". I was pretty sure I was going to brew a red ale today... now I KNOW.

B

 

[COLObrewer]

Yea, Alexander Kieths brews, (lager(blue), brown(brown) and pale ale(red)) are now at best an "acceptable" Inbev product. Brown is too sweet IMO, never heard of red amber though.

 

[GreatWetNorth]

I'm surprised you made it through that entire post without mentioning their "India Pale Ale", which seems to taste a lot more like every other Canadian macro-lager than any IPA that I've ever drank. If you're giving an IPA to someone who doesn't drink craft, you have to explain that it won't taste anything like Keith's because Keith's is an IPA in name only.

 

[moti_mo]

I'm surprised you made it through that entire post without mentioning their "India Pale Ale", which seems to taste a lot more like every other Canadian macro-lager than any IPA that I've ever drank. If you're giving an IPA to someone who doesn't drink craft, you have to explain that it won't taste anything like Keith's because Keith's is an IPA in name only.

That's hilarious. My co-worker got a sixer of Keith's IPA last year when we were in Vancouver for a conference. He brought one to me, saying "You have to taste this IPA, it tastes pretty much exactly as good as a Miller Lite". I thought he must be exaggerating, but when I took a sip, I realized he definitely was not. Hard to believe they can label that an IPA and get away with it. I vowed never to try anything made by Keith's again (only up in Canada once in a while, so that's not terribly difficult, but...)

 

[JefeTheVol]

That's the beauty of the hobby...make the beer you like, and make it better than commercial. At least that's my goal.
-Jeff-

 

[Phillyphoodie]

I head to Canada every summer and inevitably forget just how much I dislike Alexander Keith's IPA and pretty much all of their other brews. Bland.

 

[birvine]

I'm surprised you made it through that entire post without mentioning their "India Pale Ale", which seems to taste a lot more like every other Canadian macro-lager than any IPA that I've ever drank. If you're giving an IPA to someone who doesn't drink craft, you have to explain that it won't taste anything like Keith's because Keith's is an IPA in name only.

The Keith's IPA was right beside the red. In a past un-knowing beer order at a restaurant in the area I decided to try the Keith's IPA. The server was quite proud to bring it over when he realized that I knew one or two things about beer. What a gross insult to the name of IPA!

The moral of the story: From past experience I should realize that a big-box brewer is a big-box brewer and giving the benefit of the doubt will end up with a glass of not-what-I-really-wanted.

B

 

[Boodlemania]

This is pretty much the same reason I started brewing. The beers I like I couldn't get in my hometown. So in the interest of not taking "no" for an answer, I explored making it myself.