Beer # 142 Tailgate Pilsner Grand River Brewing

Tailgate

Grand River Brewing Company

Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Pilsner 4.5 % ABV Brown Glass bottle 500 ml
$3.50 (Canadian) At LCBO 


Twitter: @grandriverbeer

There is not a lot of information about Grand River Brewing on the web, and they haven't been on my radar long enough for me to know a lot about them. They are from Cambridge and they are situated in an historic 100+ year old Victorian factory. that was home to the Galt Knife Company. (Galt Knife is the name of one of their beers too!) Galt was actually the original name of Cambridge It was changed in the Second World War during sweeping anti-German sentiment. (The city next door Kitchener... used to be called Berlin). Interesting side note is that Galt's hockey club played for the Stanley Cup  (pre-NHL era). On January 5th and 7th 1910 the Galt Hockey Club Challenged the Ottawa Hockey club for the Stanley Cup and lost.

Enough history... onto the tasting.

Clear gold in colour with a thin white head that disperses almost instantly leaving a soap suds slick across the top of the beer. Nose is very grain forward, almost skunky when I first sniffed it. slight hints of ammonia and wet grain. The wet grain and ammonia carry over into the taste. grain is way to strong. what little citrus I can sense is stomped all over by the malt. Finish is sour. Body is very thin, and lacking in character. Aeration brings more grain forward, and a touch of citrus, aftertaste is thin and watery.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS

Beer Style: 2/6 SO-SO
Re-Order:  0/6 FAIL
Experience:  3/6 SO-SO


Final Thoughts: 

Well I didn't know what to expect with this beer and it really threw me for a loop. when I first got my nose over it I thought it had gone skunky. but the "brewed on" date said June 2014. Something just never sat right with this beer. There is the bones of a pilsner in there, but they are hidden. There is too much malt, it overwhelms. A pilsner is and easy drinking crisp clean beer, it should not be weighed down with a ton of malt. I have had, however, some malty pilsners that were good... this was not one of them. Very disappointing indeed. I don't often say this, but this is probably one of those beers you can avoid.

Cheers

CJT



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