I am returning home (sort of) with this review of Hogback's Vintage Lager, I say home because they are from Ottawa, which is where I live. Geography aside I tried this beer sort of by accident, and I am glad that I did.
Microbrew fans are often skeptical about lagers, and I am no exception. Most of this skepticism is because the most of the large commercial beers are lagers and the mostly taste the same. This makes it particularly difficult to distinguish a good one from a bad one but Hog's Back has managed to come up with a good one. Personally I like Vienna lager's like this one especially when it is hot and I am either watching a sporting event or eating a large amount of meat, or both. Fortunately Hogsback have made something that doesn't taste like Budweiser or Canadian, so it ended up being the perfect companion to the large portion of ribs that I was about to chow down on. As a Vienna lager It's much more of a golden colour than most commercial lagers and it tastes very crisp without being too sweet, so it reminds me of Austrian beers like Gosser or Stiegl but because they kept the sweetness under control I found it more refreshing than those Austrian ones. I found that it has a really consistent flavour to it, nothing very complicated but just the right balance for those hot summer barbecues. There is a good reason for why it wins awards and why it is now on my list of great summer beers, however I don't know if I would drink it when not at a barbecue
It's available at a large number of locations throughout the Ottawa area (they have a nifty map on their website) as well as at the Beer Store and LCBO in other parts of Ontario.
Rating:
When eating a fangorious amount of meat on a summer day: 4 steins
Every other day: 3 steins
What you need to know
Unfortunately they don't list their address on their website so I don't think they have a brewery tour our outlet.
Website
http://hogsback.ca/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/HogsBackBrewingCompany
Twitter
@Hogsbackbrewing
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