January 9th, 2009: Moosehead

Uh oh. I've made a classic rookie mistake, and even though I could have predicted that it would happen, nevertheless I'm caught in a bit of a predicament. A week ago my beer drawer in the fridge was overflowing and I had a world of possibilities laid out before my taste buds. Now I've already drunk the more appealing beers in my stock and I'm left with the dregs. However, as I've said before, the show must go on and I must accept my fate for tonight anyway.

Moosehead Lager. What a great name. One of the most effective weapons in the marketing arsenal of any beer company is the name of it's brand. If you were at a restaurant and had you're choice between a beer called Moosehead and a beer called something like Cunningham's or Eckleberg's, you're probably gonna go with the Moosehead. You've got to have something to intice the consumer into giving your brand a shot. Just ask the good folks at Stone Brewing Co. that make Arrogant Bastard Ale. So the brewers of Moosehead Lager have done the first step, now all they have to do is impress me.

Moosehead is the oldest brewer in Canada and used to be a much more popular import in the states than it is today. There is however a solid contingency of Canucks here in America who keep the fortunes of Moosehead afloat in an oversaturated American market. I've had Moosehead in the past, but as I recall there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about this Lager. My tasting tonight reaffirmed the mediocrity of Moosehead Lager. When Moosehead's popularity began to wane in the 80's, they cut the price in an attempt to compete with the Budweisers, Coors and Millers of the beer world. Simply put, there is a clear reason for Moosehead's lack of performance compared to the big boys of beer in America, and it's the taste. Moosehead is not a bad beer. It has all the positive attributes of a good lager, but seems to be somehow not quite up to par in regards to taste, refreshment and quality. I guess the best way I can explain it is that Moosehead is good for what it is, but not good enough to make me want to choose it over many other lagers, given the choice. It's relatively easy to get your hands on a case of Moosehead Lager here in the states, so go ahead and try it. But just in case you do try and you don't like, I'll leave you with my favorite four word saying...."I told you so!"


Cheers hosers!
Ian

http://www.moosehead.ca/