Beer Review #8: Labatt Wildcat Strong

Picked this one up as part of a special offer at the BC Liquor Store opposite waterfront. It was cheap, but I still think I might have been robbed.

It may be true that I was drawn to this beer because it had a picture of some mountain lion-y thing on the front and I like cats.

It may also be true that the SKY SPORTS ACTION NEWS style font made me associate this beer with getting drunk while something exciting is going on, rather than watching a re-run of mission impossible on a damp sunday evening.

And it may even be true that I held out a faint hope that it would make the Sex-Panther roar when I opened the can.

But none of these things can make up for what I find inside the can.

I've had reasonable experiences with this company before; Labatt's Blue is a bit of a staple out here in Canada and as an inoffensive lager it certainly gets the job done. While I'm naturally wary of extra-strong beers that aren't Belgian I thought I would give the Labatt's boys a break and see if they can impress me with WildCat.

On the pour it actually looks ok. Nice colour, plenty of carbonation and actually retains some head after the initial fizz dies down.

It doesn't have much of a smell - some sweet malt and corn but nothing especially offensive. Trouble is, there's nothing good going on either.

Taste is worse - there's the same lack of any kind of flavour but it's got a rank metal aftertaste that doesn't hit for about 4 seconds, then hangs around for far too long. The aftertaste would be bearable if there's was some during-taste to make up for it, but there's not much of anything going on here.

The brewers are very keen to boast that WildCat contains 'No Additives'. Frankly, if people are drinking 6.1% beer they probably aren't doing it for the health benefits, and if chucking a shitload of E-Numbers, artificial flavourings or asbestos powder into this stuff would improve the flavour (or at least get rid of that sodding aftertaste, which is still with me as I type this, a good 30 seconds after my last sip) then I say go for it!

This beer has low price and high ABV content going for it if that's your thing. If not, avoid, avoid, avoid!

Verdict: 3/10