Over the past couple of months a lot of people have been asking me about Molson M, now that it is available in western Canada. Of course, I tried it last June during a trip to Quebec (and posted about it here). They are intrigued and unsure about the “microcarbonation” boast and want to know what it is and whether it is real. Thus, I realized it might be beneficial to write about the beer, which is in the current issues of both Vue Weekly and Planet S.

My views of the beer have not changed a bit. The Vue piece is shorter and more of a review, while the Planet S article looks at the marketing in more depth. I try to link it to past “revolutionary” beer that failed to deliver any kind of real beer change and were promptly killed or slipped into embarrassed oblivion. Ultimately I consider these over-hyped introductions to be the product of marketing people running the show, rather than the beer people. Why do they always insist on insulting our intelligence?

The good news might be that consumers are cluing into their games. When I explain Molson M to people, very few express surprise that there is no real innovation in microcarbonation. My answer usually just confirms their suspicion. That is a change. I can remember when the Dry-s came out. I was in my early adulthood, and I fell for the marketing just likes thousands of others. Maybe, just maybe, those kids today are a bit smarter than I was.

Maybe people will drink this beer. Maybe some people will even like it. But I doubt it. You can read the whole Vue review here and the Planet S article here.