Strong golden-hazed bitter gathers Scotch malt insistence, nutty ascension, and buttery texture, despite finishing a bit watery. Slight mocha tinge hidden below stabilized hop salience.
All posts by John Fortunato
MOOSEHEAD CANADIAN LAGER
Made at Canada’s oldest independent brewery, this spritzy lager merely coalesces nutty hop astringency with gentle barley-wheat toasting to salty bottom. Fizzy carbonation tickles tongue, settling into flimsy, yet soothing, lemon-soured pungency. Serve to light-hearted novices.
MOORHOUSE’S PENDLE WITCHES BREW ALE
Rich barley overtones, creamy caramel malting and banana-nut breading moderate buttery frontage before bittersweet musty fruit finish consumes enjoyable foamy-headed dry English ale.
MOORHOUSE’S BLACK CAT ALE
What’s with the cool Halloween names of these Moorhouse ales? Sweet chocolate malting and dry-roasted barley provide initial strength, but mocha richness lags when ashen earthiness subsides. A peculiar brew some will mistake as German-styled dark wheat or cheap stout imitation.
MONTEGIOCO ARTIGIANALE DEMON HUNTER
Hefty 8.5% alcohol rumble ensures full-bodied nature of strong Belgian-styled dark ale from Italy. Stupendous chestnut-hued artisan-watered conqueror allows affluent herbal spicing to enliven spritzy hop-fizzed caramel malting and brown chocolate-y butterscotch amble. Sour plum-soaked Muscat grape and pino grigio illusions enhance white peppered lemongrass dingle, cinnamon-anise mingle, and marshmallow tingle.
MONTE CARLO LAGER
Impossibly transparent paleness, puffy cumulous head, and fey malt pungency further dulled by unripe quince dalliance. Putrid alcohol astringency negatively affects unassuming ethanol aftertaste.
MOLSON XXX BIERE
Hefty 7.3% alcohol content negatively affects musty barley aroma, buttery Scotch mouthfeel, sticky sugar malt persistence and sweet cherry backdrop. Worse, delicate hop-backed diacetyl finish lacks pizzazz. Dry fruit jag and creamed corn respite cannot overcome soapy flow.
MOLSON ULTRA
Ultra smooth dry brew with strong alcohol presence, ill-defined grain-malted sweetness, and indistinct finish. Naturally, there’s some punch, but Canucks drink better ales than this insipid trendy refuge.
MOLSON SMOOTH DRY LAGER
Fizzy straw-hued brew lacks sufficient dry grain-hopped character. But crisp water and unspecified cake-like sweetness suit mainstream tastes well.
MOLSON RAFTMAN
Doesn’t Unibroue brew these nowadays? Anyhow. Drenched in smoked whiskey malt, delicately smooth-bodied Belgian-styled pale ale caresses yeast-infested honeyed wheat sweetness with peated wood burnt overtones, banana-vanilla variance, and bread crust grove. Peculiar soda-like effervescence quite different from most mountain water-based Molson beers.
MOLSON O’KEEFE BEER
Grainy water-based simplicity sweetened by slovenly sugared corn malts. Faint hops don’t provide enough bitterness to dull finish. Listless blue collar fodder somehow better under Molson banner. Maybe it’s the water source.
(MOLSON) LAURENTIDE LAGER
Translucent pale Molson offshoot brings wheat-backed sour malt affinity to crisp lemon-hopped briskness. Orange rind bite deepens grainy bitterness, but washed-out soapy finish scales back any dank sweetness.