Nickel Brook Headstock Light Lager by Laura (Guest Review)

Simon – Laura is another Twitter friend! You can follow her @skinnyandsingle and @helenlaura5, and read her blog! Photo also by Laura!

It’s a beautiful Canada Day in Burlington, Ontario. I’m attending the Canada Day celebrations at Spencer Smith Park with my two girlfriends.

It’s so sunny and hot that of course, I beeline for the beer tents where they are serving Nickel Brook. I was worried the sign said Nickleback and had a small heart attack. Lucky for me, Chad Kroeger was nowhere to be seen, so we grabbed seats overlooking the stage where Suzie McNeil will be performing for us.

FROM THEIR WEBSITE : NICKEL BROOK BREWERY

John and Peter Romano, owners of Better Bitters Brewing Company (since 1992), built the Nickel Brook micro brewery from the ground up, and since 2005, Nickel Brook has quickly developed a reputation for having a lively and enticing line up of beers.

You had your choice of a Light Lager, a Green Apple Pilsner or a Blonde. At seven dollars a pop, I was glad to see they were pulling the cans out of buckets of ice and serving them frosty cold. Nothing like beer in a can to make a girl feel feminine!

I could see everyone who was drinking the Green Apple Pilsner was making a sour face when they sipped on it, so I took a pass and grabbed myself a Light Lager.

The first beer went down in five minutes. It was delicious, it had no aftertaste, and I was surprised how it reminded me of a Coors Light or Bud Light. It was a real beer, not what I expected from a local brewery. It was entirely refreshing and I could easily replace my Coors Light with this beer. Besides, now that Molson is owned by Americans, I’m just as happy replacing it with some local brew.

My girlfriend had the Blonde, and she is normally a drinker of Rickard’s Red and hoped this was a suitable replacement. While she said it had a “hoppy aftertaste” and wasn’t as good as some of the other beers she’s had, I still noticed the glass empty after only a few moments. I tasted it, it was too hoppy for me, this made me very unhoppy. The aftertaste stayed with me long after it should have, and I would have liked a mint. However, since this isn’t my type of beer, and my girlfriend enjoyed it, I can only assume that other Blonde lovers, will enjoy this locally brewed bevvie.

Three beers later and I’m still enjoying the refreshing and delicious Light Lager.

“Nickel Brook has a wide range of beer to choose from including Ale, Draft, Pilsner, Maple Porter, Organic Lager, Green Apple Pilsner, Spring and Winter Bock, Curvee, Gluten Free”

The beer is available at most Beer Stores and LCBO as well as their retail outlet in Burlington, Ontario. They offer tours of the brewery, and don’t forget to bring your children as they have a Non Alcoholic Root Beer that they can drink while learning about why we love being lushes.

Laura McGowan – Beer Drinker Extraordinaire

Nickel Brook Headstock Light Lager – 4.4% 473ml – $2.30 – Ontario