United Nations of Beer

Griffon Extra Pale ale

by D'Arcy Gray
(Beer Delegate, QC, Canada)

There's Light at the End of the Tunnel - let's hope it's not a bullet train carrying cobalt sulfate.

I have to admit, I haven't held a bottle of the Griffon Extra Pale ale in my hand for a few years, although I've had it many times on tap.

As my plan was to write this blog, I took a moment to read the label, revealing that this "ale is a faithful copy of the fine Quebec ales of the 1940s and 50s".

Something in that statement made me take pause. Wasn't there some kind of controversy over Quebec beer back then? Ah yes, the Dow Chemicals (I mean, Dow Breweries of course!) scare of the mid-sixties.

As the story goes, a million gallons of Dow went down the drain in Quebec in 1966 because of a "mysterious heart disease scare". I think about sixteen people died and one of the main links between the deaths was them having consumed "large quantities of beer". This was defined as "at least seven or eight quarts of beer per day".

At the time, no real connection was made between Dow Beer and the deaths. Later on it came out that (allegedly) they used cobalt sulfate for "head retention" so those guys that were pounding back litres of the stuff per day were, quite simply, poisoning themselves. Dow Breweries was, at the time, the largest brewer in Quebec but they never recovered from this scare.

When I first moved to Montreal in the 1980s, Dow was being made by O'Keefe and still available in those snazzy old quart bottles. I took great glee in drinking the stuff, thinking it was a Quebecois version of eating blowfish. Fugu Me!

Happily, this little research project of mine into Dow put my mind at rest. No, Peter McAuslan isn't trying to take over the planet by recreating the poisonous beers of the 60s, he's trying to stimulate our nostalgia by bringing back tastes of the province from prior to that.

Phew!

What we get is a nice light beer that still can boast a decent flavour. So, if what you are in to is "the Silver Bullet" then you might actually find this Griffon Extra Pale ale on the strong side. For me, there's a hint of hops on the nose but nothing strong. In the mouth, the same hops, and a nice light malty flavour. The finish is clean, but not Uber fast and disappointing like the Silver Bullet.

This is a great summer beer. It would also be a great beer for those planning to over-indulge with seven or eight quarts' worth. Not that I sanction that, but just so as you know.

Avoid the instinct to over-refrigerate. As with most "good beers", there's a lot of nice flavour that will get muted if the beer is too cold. The Silver Bullet, on the other hand, should be consumed as close to the freezing point as possible.

Cheers, squared.