Steve: They've been brewing this since 1950, which was the real anniversary, and it was good enough that they made it a stock item. I can't wait until 2000, when they come out with a 100th Anniversary. However, this tasted suspiciously like their Ice. Sharp, clean taste, smooth going down, with no aftertaste. A bit weak as far as ales go. Nice label makes it a good addition if you have a collection.

Steve: This was purchased at The Beer Store in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, while I was on vacation, and came in a nice 650 mL bottle (approx. 24 oz). Hearing for years that the Labatt exported to the US sucked compared to the stuff sold in Canada, and liking Labatt, I jumped at the chance to buy this. I stuck the bottle into my cooler, drove back across the border to Michigan, and anticipated a great after-dinner beer. What I found instead horrified me so much, I almost cried. American Labatt is better tasting than Canadian Labatt!!! Sure, the Canadian stuff has more alcohol (5%, whereas ours is what, 4.5?), but I guess you need that extra kick to make you forget you're drinking the stuff. This tasted like I was drinking it right out of a can, I swear. And the flavor was a bit on the watery side, very little going for it in the way of flavor. Ours doesn't either, so maybe it's the can taste that does it. All I know is, I was very disappointed. Good thing I picked up a case of some decent Canadian beer while I was there. (11/2/2002)


Tim: I found a bottle of this in my fridge once. Somebody had brought some beer over and left it. Being the only beer left in the place I drank it. Well half of it. It tasted skunky, but at the same time watery. I checked the date on it. No reason it should be skunky. And so it reconfirmed why I don't drink it. It's overly carbonated and just doesn't taste good. And it's not a lack of taste, it's a bad taste. It's not watery enough to pound back in a hurry if that's what you're up to. Which is probably why the Canadian trailer park population has responded well to the marketing of American beers (brewed by breweries like Labatt and Molson at around 5% alcohol) like Bud and Coors Light. They can pound that foreign swill back twice as fast as they can pound back the local swill. (8/23/2003)

Steve: Very little Canadian beer is sold in the US outside of the Labatt, Molson and Moosehead names, so among those this was always my favorite, and among the Canadian mega-brews, this still is. This is a light, crisp, refreshing beer, much superior to its counterparts in the US and Mexico, and an all-around everyday beer, not a special occasion beer. After trying some craft-brewed Canadian beers, it fell down the list a little, but it's still a sentimental favorite. Not as strong as its Canadian version, since they feel us Americans can't handle the good stuff, but the taste is different (see Labatt Blue-Canada review). I'll take better taste over higher alcohol any day. (11/2/2002)

Steve: Like many of the "light" versions of the North American pale lager (Miller, Bud, etc), this has one constant quality: It's like making love in a canoe....f'ing close to water. However weak it's overall flavor might be, though, it's still better than its competitors in America. And on a hot, sticky day, this would be perfect. Much better than Corona (and still not as much water). However, for a light beer, I would still recommend Amstel over this. Stick with this if you don't want to send your hard-earned dollars to those troublesome Dutch. (12/17/1998)

Kris: Not much to this. Not much taste, not much smell, not much color. A perfect trifecta of bland. On the plus side, not much good also means not much bad. In other words, I've had worse. (9/3/2005)

Tim: I had this while sitting on some restaurant patio right along that tacky tourist strip in Niagara Falls called Clifton Hill, probably across from a wax museum. It figures that they wouldn't have a good tap selection. I think my options were Blue, Bud, Bud Light, and this. The "honey brown" phenomenon in Canada must be too good for Labatt to pass up. So they made one. But you know they should have done more than just pour a half cup of honey into a bottle of Blue. You could say that's a little harsh, but I was honestly thinking of buying a bottle of Blue and pouring some honey in it just to see if it would taste any different than this. But then I'd have to buy Blue. This is the worst honey brown I've had, but it was better than the other Labatt swill that they had on tap where I was. If only they would have had some Labatt 50. Maybe I should have tried the Niagara Falls branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. That would have been good times. (12/18/2005)

Steve: Like many ice beers, crisp, no aftertaste. Similiar in taste to Molson Ice, but IMHO a little better. Not as tasty as Blue, but after a sixer of this, who the hell cares?! Kris has his "Get drunk beer." Now I have mine.


Tim: If you find yourself drinking this, drink it quick before it gets warm. If that happens, you may as well dump it out and lick the bottle cap, it has the same taste. But then you won't be ingesting the 5.6% alcohol which I think is why those guys just out of high school like to split a two-four of this when they're drinking in their parent's garage. Or the fact that it's cheap. They must be immune to the gut rot I got from drinking this stuff too. Or maybe you forget about that when your head is thumping. Either way, this is a get drunk beer. Not as vile as "Maximum Ice" and if you drink it cold it's tolerable (watery). I'd hate to experience what this tastes like out of a can. (7/24/2004)

Tim: People drink this for one reason. The 7.1% alcohol content. And I'm convinced that Labatt brews it under the assumption that people only drink it in order to get drunk quickly, so who the hell cares what it tastes like. The majority of it's drinkers probably don't notice the colour as they just guzzle it straight from the can, usually shotgunning it. But I did pour it into a glass and noticed an amber colour to it. Usually I like beers that are this colour, it means that they've got some taste. This one has a taste. A vile disgusting taste that you won't be able to bear unless you drink it quick. But then isn't that the idea of a beer like this. I rated it one because I can conceive of there being worse beer out there, but I've yet to taste it. (9/13/2003)

Tim: Apparently they use a "unique corn adjunct" in making this beer. You can sure smell it, and maybe that was what I was tasting. But what I remember tasting most was a unique metal adjunct. Overall it's just real watery. Although after the first few, I took to drinking the rest of this stuff that I had at the coldest temperature possible so as to avoid the full brunt of it's metallic taste and bad corn funk. Popular because it's cheap, not because it's good. (8/7/2004)

Steve: This is another Cana-lager; A German beer (normally brewed in Munich) brewed in Canada under license (since Labatt's imports it to the US, I'll go out on a limb and suggest they brew it, which isn't a bad thing). Löwenbräu is always one of my sentimental favorites since it was one of the first beers I started drinking in college, but it is a decent beer. It's crisp, clean, no foul aftertaste, just a basic lager. This beer won't disappoint you too much if you're in the mood for something basic, unless you are offended at the thought of paying more than $12.99 for a case of beer (like Bud). (4/7/2001)

Tim: I drank 7 or 8 of these one night playing poker with the guys. And if that's the type of thing you're doing this is a good fit. My buddy thought it was great that he could get a 24 of this and a pack of smokes for less than $30 (CDN). If that's the way you're thinking about things than this beer is also a good fit. This is cheap beer and tastes like cheep beer. A little sharper than most cheap beers, and not awful. You can drink several over the course of an evening and not feel ill the next morning. That said don't drink this stuff warm or it will taste a little too chemical. So if you enjoy drinking beer for the sake of drinking beer, this will do. I'd drink this ahead of a lot of the cheap tasting beers that I've tried. I suspect that this is the same as the beer of the same name down in the states. Just brewed under contract by Labatt for the Canadian market. Because, well you wouldn't pay import prices for this. (4/16/2005)