Cranky Reviews

Mountain Climbing

Beer Type

15 to 20

15 to 20

Super Suds

Rating

IBU 40

Other Info

Mountain Climbing

Ridge Line

Blue Mountain Brewing Co.

4.8% Alcohol

Thornbury bought King. Colio bought Thornbury. We loved Thornbury beers here at COMDB. * Clark the pig, once the face, or should we say snout, of Thornbury is now out to pasture, a bacon and ham hocks retirement so Thornbury could concentrate on cider. How do you like them apples?  The affable porcine was replaced by a Blue Mountain branded ridge line graphic that looks nothing like the real Blue Mountain ridge line (check out the brew pic for the real one). Sounds like the work of those heartless marketing mavens, hell bent on separating us from our hard-earned pay any way they can. Even if it means the demise of Clark. So sad. Maybe that’s why the mountain is blue?.

As for breweries owned by wineries, (yes Colio is a winery) we’ve seen mixed results.  The Great One produces some great wines but unlike their super star namesake, none of his beers achieved super suds status. ** Magnotta operates True North Brewery which is just North of Toronto and South of almost everything else in Canada. They’ve not garnered the best reviews with their brews but did recently come up with an awesome super suds dark lager. **

Back to the task at hand, the brew in the can, Blue Mountain’s pilsner is the pour to score. And a golden clear beer it is, with a bright snow capped ridge line. If looks could kill a thirst this one would. It has a malty aroma. First taste is malty and surprisingly sweet with a big time flat dry crisp finish. The sweet is as pronounced as the 40 IBU finish which makes for a balanced brew. It big swigs like a pro with the extra sweet malt bookending the sharp slightly acerbic finish. The word intense comes to mind. But it did start to mellow a bit, or maybe that was me. Either way it settled into nice malt sweet crisp sequence.

This is the full-on flavour kind of beer that the big brewers don’t have the chops, or the hops, to brew. Go tell it on the mountain, this is a great pils.

*Editor’s Comment: All 5 Thornbury brews reviewed received super suds ratings.

**Editor’s Comment: Gretzky Wineries established a brewing company Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing No. 99 which according to their website still produces beer, however when we visited the winery to sample some brews they told us they no longer brew beer? COMDB reviewed 4 No.99 brews, none of them achieved super suds status.

***Editor’s Comment: True North Breweries, a division of Magnotta Wineries, operates out of Vaughn just North of Toronto. After an Imperial Stout poor pour and a Red that barely got an honourable mention they achieved super suds status with their dark lager.

Final Rating: Mountain Climbing to a 17 out of 20

Beer Type

15 to 20

15 to 20

Super Suds

Rating

Other Info

IBU 40

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