United Nations of Beer

Fort Garry Pale Ale

by Dallas Reimer
(Beer Delegate, MB, Canada)

Fort Garry Pale Ale
Fort Garry Brewing, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

I picked up a six-pack of Fort Garry Brewing Company's Pale Ale for three reasons: First, I can't review Fort Garry Dark twice. Second, it was a grey, snowy, windy winter day outside and I was feeling pretty pale myself. Third, it came with bonus Air Miles.

Fort Garry Pale Ale is a 5.0% abv English style pale ale, sold in cases of six and 12 at most beer vendors and liquor marts in Manitoba and some parts of Alberta. I paid $10.50 for a box of six 341ml bottles (the price of beer in Manitoba warrants an entirely separate article).

Having "disabled" my vehicle a few days earlier in a non-beer related incident, I walked home.

I carried the beer, a bottle of rum and several pounds of work junk through the blowing snow and covered sidewalks for just short of four kilometres (about 2.5 miles). Somewhere between losing my second and third toes to frostbite I thought: This beer better be pretty damn good.

Upon reaching my apartment, I placed five in the fridge for later consumption and put one in the freezer for 13 minutes (I set the oven timer for 20, but my willpower is somewhat lacking) in order to chill it beyond the beer sauna it sat in at the liquor mart.

My first beer was probably close to eight or ten degrees Celsius. Later, I would find out that this is probably the perfect temperature to drink it.

When poured, Fort Garry Pale Ale produces a laughable head, easily pushed aside with a touch of nose grease and a swirling finger. What lay underneath was what I was after, anyway. It was the color of, well, the bottle that carried it. I lifted the glass and held it up to the light, trying to decipher its exact hue, but then I got thirsty. In short, it's light brown, or something.

My first impression of Fort Garry Pale Ale was that it had a lot in common with Fort Garry Dark. Sure, the pale ale is lighter and sweeter and drinks like an Alexander Keith's IPA, but it had something extra.

You could say that it tasted like half a Keith's mixed with half a Fort Garry Dark, although I don't suggest actually attempting this.

The fact is, at the end of the night, I still had one whole beer left in the fridge (which I appreciated the next day).

What this tells me is that although I really liked Fort Garry Pale Ale, I wouldn't feel guilty having a rum and coke or two between rounds. She's a saucy gal, alright, but sometimes a guy needs some variety. Miss Dark, however, I would never cheat on.