There have been a few threads where we were talking about one subject and wound up talking about beer - which is actually a good thing if you think about it - so we might as well have a beer discussion thread. I take up the converstation left off here
http://www.canadiancontent.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86228#86228
Part of the reason why American mass-produced beer isn't as good as Canadian mass-produced beer is because some of the big American brewers substitute rice instead of barley for part of their recipes, which of course is blasphemy. I don't believe any of the Canadians do that.
The big brewers have developed processes to speed the aging of beer. Properly, it takes several months for beer to age but the mass-producing brewers do it quicker. Also, I was once told that the mass-produced brewers inject carbination into the beer during this process, but I don't know if that's true or not.
Because of all this, I don't put much stock in the whole national beer thing. I like Blue better than a Bud, but I also like a Teen burger better than a Big Mac. However, I'd rather eat a Filet Mignon than either hamburger. Of course, one's preference for a Blue over a Shaftsbury Cream Ale is always a personal one and completely subjective.
I like Sleeman's Said1, but I'm always a little leery about beer in a clear bottle, even if its a super cool bottle like Sleeman's. There's a brewery south of Toronto called Creemore Springs which I think makes a fantastic product if you haven't tried it yet. When they first opened over a decade ago, I went out to the brewery in Creemore. It was on a street corner in either a big old house or small store property. Cool.
BTW the beer here sucks in Florida. I once called the Big Rock brewery to see if I could get it shipped down here, but it would have cost me something like $60 for a case.