Creemore Oktoberfest Celebratory Lager (5.5%)

I am old enough to remember when Creemore took great pride in brewing one and only one beer, Creemore Springs Premium Lager. So popular was the beer in those early days that there was a legendary, and perhaps apocryphal, waiting list of bars wanting to get it on tap, each and every one of which brewery founder John Wiggins would personally visit before he allowed them to join their distribution list.

The waiting list eventually vanished, but save for a fall seasonal urBock, the single beer strategy persisted into the early 2000s, when Wiggins sold controlling interest in the brewery to a quartet of employees. Not all that long after that, the group resold the brewery, this time to Molson, and a seasonal Traditional Pilsner appeared, which eventually became a permanent brand in 2007.

(The launch of a pilsner was a curious development, since Wiggins had never been shy about the fact that his Premium Lager had been inspired by the original pilsner, Pilsner Urquell. It was also then, and in my view remains today, a thoroughly underwhelming beer.)

Other brands, both permanent fixtures and seasonal additions, were launched as the aughts faded into the 2010s, eventually landing at today’s stable of five core brands, a handful of seasonals, including this Oktoberfest, and a recently added Discovery Series, which I was rather surprised to find currently highlights a Lavender Sour. I suspect that Wiggins, who passed away in 2021 long after having been vocally critical of the sale of the brewery to Molson, would not have approved.

But back to the beer at hand, which pours a lovely medium gold with a rocky, off-white foam. On the nose, it is properly malt forward, though without the suggestion of fresh or floral honey that one finds in many modern Oktoberfests. Instead, the aroma offers orangey caramel, perhaps a hint of spice, and frankly not much else.

On the palate, this beer is similarly pleasant but on the simple side, with caramelly malt on the front end and some rather disjointed hop bitterness joining the malty sweetness, creating a flavour that leans more towards the sharp and hoppy than it does the sweet and soothing. Leafy, grassy, bitter hoppiness begins to dominate as the beer moves through to its mild to moderately bitter, highly tannic finish that somehow manages to be both dry and cloying.

While it’s unlikely anyone would be put off by the character of this beer – unless they were to have zero tolerance of bitterness – neither is this firmly of either the Old or New School Oktoberfest style. Rather, it is something unto itself, somewhat unidimensional, a bit too assertively hoppy, and both uninspired and uninspiring.

70 ($3.95/473 ml)