We’re always on the lookout for how to get the most bang for our buck in the province. While doing our shopping for Christmas 2019 a few months ago, we stumbled upon Lucky Lager Force 8. As the strong beer war has been heating up over the past few years in NL, we decided to grab a pack.
The Recent History of Strong Beer in Newfoundland
It helps to look at the strong beer landscape of Newfoundland in the past few years to understand why Lucky Lager Force 8 exists in the first place. We’ll recall it to the best of our ability.
Labatt Maximum Ice was the strongest domestic beer you could buy in Newfoundland for a long time. Available in 341ml six-packs and with an alcohol percentage of 7.1%, it had quite the kick compared to the industry standard 5%. Max Ice was the go-to for anyone in Newfoundland looking to get their beer buzz going on the cheap. 473ml single cans were introduced as well, providing another option for beer lovers.
Enter Molson XXX in 2017 or so, which immediately began challenging Maximum Ice largely due to it’s slightly higher 7.3% alcohol by volume. The brand grew rapidly. After being produced only in 473ml single cans, a six-pack of 341ml bottles and an eight-pack of 355ml cans followed not too long after. It’s worth noting that Molson XXX had been sold in the NL market decades before this return.
Introducing Lucky Lager Force 8
So, what do you do when a rival company one-ups your product? If you’re Labatt, you release Lucky Lager Force 8. The 8 in its name represents the alcohol content: a whopping 8%. Ironically it’s also sold only in eight-packs – for now, at least. This isn’t even the first time that beer giants Labatt and Molson have gone head-to-head with strong beers!
Based on reviews, it looks like Force 8 has been around other parts of Canada for a few years. The regular Lucky Lager brand itself has been around since the 1930s in the USA and has been on Canadian shelves since 1934.
[bctt tweet=”So, what do you do when a rival company one-ups your product? If you’re Labatt, you release Lucky Lager Force 8.” username=”nltimes709″]
How’s it Taste?
Much like Max Ice and XXX, you won’t be drinking Force 8 for the taste. That’s for sure. But actually, we don’t notice much of a taste difference between these three brews. If you’re like us you’ll just go for the one with the best value. Since they all seem to be the same price, that makes Labatt’s newest strong beer a winner.
Time will tell if Lucky Lager Force 8 will see the explosive growth that Molson XXX saw, but Labatt has made a big move in Newfoundland’s beer market. The recent growth of strong beers can probably be credited to the province’s poor economy. It doesn’t look like that will be getting better any time soon.