United Nations of Beer

Bulldog Amber ale

by Dallas Reimer
(Beer Delegate, MB, Canada)

Bulldog Amber ale

Half Pints, Winnipeg's second largest (and also just plain second) brewery, produces some interesting, if not odd, beer. I attended the University of Winnipeg Geology club's trivia fundraiser last Thursday at the King's Head Pub and had the opportunity to try a variety of beers that I hadn’t before. One of these beers was Half Pints' (now) infamous Bulldog Amber Ale.

From the first innocent sip to my disgusting tonguing of the glass when it was all gone, I fell in love with this beer.

Sick and giddy with adoration after half of it had disappeared, I persuaded my fiancée Jovan to try a taste.

After shaking her head violently and gagging slightly, she managed to spit out, "It tastes like Teddy Grahams. Like crushed up Teddy Grahams mixed with beer."

For the uninitiated: Teddy Grahams are a teddy bear-shaped graham cracker. They are sold in several flavours and were immensely popular with my school mates and I during the 80s and 90s.

(Coincidentally, so was beer.)

I took another sip afterwards and decided that yes, this 5.4% abv beer does taste like it was infused with tiny bears of graham. Perhaps honey flavoured.

Was regression into my childhood lunch-hours the reason I treasured Bulldog Amber ale so?

I happily slurped down my sweet but sturdy ale while answering questions like, "What is Buzz Aldrin's mother’s maiden name?" Jovan, meanwhile, stared quizzically at my delight while she sipped an Alexander Keith's and shook her head.

For the few perfect minutes that I shared with the Bulldog, I felt like I could do no wrong. I was the go-to man.

Also, due to some sort of delay, my impromptu trip to the little boys' room resulted in exactly zero missed questions. I was king of trivia, king of beer.

At the end of the night, my team ended up in fifth place and I ruined my streak of great new beers with a Hoegaarden, which left the taste of cold hot dog water soup in my mouth.

But, despite the night’s disappointing finish, I found a new favourite beer to add to my mental list.

Bulldog Amber ale is one tasty puppy.