Tristan and Donovan are off again-on again roommates and good friends from London, Ontario. Good, local food and beer are just some of the common interests these two share. While they realize that they don’t know everything there is to know about craft beer (and cider) (and mead), they’re always willing to try something new for the greater good. Neither is a beer snob, and both have been known to drink beer store favourites such as Molson Canadian, Budweiser, and their old friend James Ready. They also encourage any readers to recommend their favourite craft beers for review, just email The Iron Warrior!
We wanted to kick off this season of BoB with a special edition, so we picked up 3 different brews from Cameron’s Brewing Company in Oakville, Ontario. The three that we picked up are Captain’s Log lager, Ambear red ale, and Cosmic cream ale. We were initially drawn to Cameron’s Cosmic by the bright and cool pastel can design, and when we saw that there were three brews by Cameron’s it seemed our mind had been made up for us.
The Captain’s Log is an everyman’s kind of craft beer. Mellow and smooth, it tastes similar to a craft beer analogy of Canadian. This is one of the more widely accessible beers we’ve had, similar to the Block 3 King Street Saison from last term. It would pair well with a nicely barbequed burger and potato salad. There are no obvious faults with it as a beer, besides not standing out from the crowd. We gave this a unanimous three out of five for being good, but sticking too closely to a popular macro brew formula.
Donovan was particularly excited to try the Ambear, being a big fan of other Red ales like the Sparkhouse from last fall. Hops are pretty much essential to making a craft beer, but the Ambear takes this too far. There isn’t a whole lot to the Ambear besides being bitter. It is able to retain the lightness of an ale without morphing closer to a stout, but this is really the only thing it has going for it. Overall it’s a boring experience and we settled on two out of five.
Cream ales have given us some of the tastier brews that we’ve tried in the past, but the Cosmic doesn’t live up to the reputation. At first taste it was almost like diving right back into the Ambear. Over time, the inner flavour began to reveal itself, but it was too little and too late. Too often we’ve come across ales that just try to push hops into a nice flavour but that can’t find the right balance. For the Cosmic and the Ambear we can taste the beers that the brewmasters at Cameron’s were trying to make, but just couldn’t. We gave this one two and half out of five, and were utterly disappointed with Cameron’s.
Overall we weren’t thrilled with the Cameron’s brews. The taste pallets just didn’t line up right for a terrific tasting craft beer experience. The latter two beers were overly bitter and hoppy, and this is coming half from Donovan, who appreciates the hell out of a bitter beer when done right. If you’re a newcomer to the craft beer game though, give the Captain’s Log a try. Once again, please taste responsibly and don’t forget the cheese and crackers between beers.
Next issue will be our tenth tasting so keep your eyes peeled! Till next time Broskies!
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