Spearhead Sam Roberts Band Ale. Available from the Spearhead Online Shop in 473ml cans with discount for volume purchase.

It’s somewhat odd to think that this is beer that was first available in 2014 at a festival that no longer exists, offered by a brewing company that has since changed hands and which has transferred from Toronto to Kingston, Contract to Physical, and the brewing duties of which have transferred from father to son. The beer is actually older than the current iteration of the brewery and the career of the brewer. It’s a funny old world. 

In 2014, I didn’t know who Sam Roberts was, but I’ve listened to a lot of CBC Radio 2 since then and Brother Down gets a lot of airtime. Catchy hook. I did have opinions on the beer at the time. I thought it was a little overly assertive for what it was trying to accomplish as a Session Ale, which is how it was marketed. Quite bitter, quite metallic. Well, sometimes artists switch labels, and here we’re managing expectations on the new batch by stripping out the declared genre. Terraforming, if you will. 

Pulling this from the fridge and cracking it immediately probably does it a disservice. You’re going to want it around 6-8 celsius to get it to show properly. Philistine that I am, I’ll just catalogue it from fridge temp. There’s something here on the nose that immediately puts me in mind of the old school; something vaguely like Carastan malt. Toffee, not butterscotch, solid barley sugared cereal above that. There’s a connotation of pine, but also of hedgerow, so that transatlantic hop combination is at play. Maybe Centennial and EKG. It says there are three varieties on the card that came with the samples, but the important thing is there’s a pleasant spiciness that dries out the finish and leaves you wanting another sip, which is sort of the point of a 4.5% pint of Best Bitter. 

If anything it’s a great deal more successful than the 2014 version. I don’t envy any contract brewer trying to land a celebrity collaboration on a specific date, especially before facilities for that really existed. I don’t think I’d view this as a throwback so much as a sign of the evolution that Spearhead has gone through since the move to Kingston. I’d say it’s the second best beer they’ve released this year, just behind the Oatmeal Cream Ale, which seemed to disappear from my glass with alacrity. 

Did You Buy This Beer?: No. Spearhead stuff turns up pretty frequently due to the benevolence of Mr. Hayter.

Knowing What You Know Now, Would You Buy This Beer?: I wouldn’t have in 2014. The 2022 version is a very good option to scratch that English Pub itch. I’d put it in the same class as Granite IPA, but that would win on cask.

Did You Finish It?: Might have a second one watching the baseball.