Beer O'Clock: Puppers

My favourite episode of the TV show Letterkenny has to be the one entitled, "Bock et Biche." It's the one where the gang heads across the border, into Québec, to attend a stag-and-doe party.

It's a love story. As much as you can have on Letterkenny.

As a beer lover, the opening segment of the show, where the main cast describes craft beer, was the best:

In every episode, Wayne (Jared Keeso), Katy (Michelle Mylett), Dan (K. Trevor Wilson), and Daryl (Nathan Dales) can be seen drinking a beer, called Puppers, and I had always wondered if it was a real beer, instead of, like other shows that use props such as breakfast cereals and packs of cigarettes with made-up names. I suspected this was a fake beer.

Folks, it's real.

And according to the LCBO, it's brewed by Mill Street Brewery, which is owned by Labatt Brewing, which in turn is part of AB InBev.

While the lager in Letterkenny comes in a bottle, it's only available in cans through the LCBO. And that's fine by me.

Puppers Golden Lager (5% ABV)
Mill Street/Labatt/AB-InBev
Toronto ON

Appearance: clear, medium-golden, with plenty of effervescence; a dense, foamy-white head that settles down to a solid cap and, eventually, a tight lace.

Nose: lemongrass and biscuit with a hint of floral.

Palate: more biscuit and good malt flavours with a solid body and a medium, clean finish that leaves traces of lime. 

Overall impression: if Blue is your go-to, you might want to give this a try. It's a solid-drinking lager. Before I went looking for this beer on the LCBO Web site, I did a general search on Google and saw a reference to Puppers, where the description stated that it was made by Labatt's, and I was set to be disappointed. I expected this lager to taste like Blue—in fact, I merely imagined that Labatt would simply be repackaging Blue for Letterkenny.

It's not.

Granted, it's a basic Canadian lager and doesn't really stand out, but it's got decent flavours held together with a good body. It's very easy drinking and will appeal to all levels of beer connoisseur. 

I can be an unapologetic beer snob, at times, and I like this lager.

Beer O'Clock rating: 🍺🍺

In the "Bock et Biche" episode, the gang are introduced to another fine beverage, one that now gets me double-knocking my shot glass on the counter. I'll review that one sometime soon.

Cheers!