The Bar Towel

Spearhead is finally setting up shop, but in Kingston:
http://www.momandhops.ca/spearhead-open ... -kingston/

Masterplan wrote:Spearhead is finally setting up shop, but in Kingston:
http://www.momandhops.ca/spearhead-open ... -kingston/

i wish these guys luck.
i don't see it flying. they had a piece of the market back in 2011-12. competition's fierce and their beer's kinda gross.

I used to like the Hawaiian pale about, yeah 5-6 years ago, but havnt had one in years. Everything else I've had, like atomeyes says, was pretty bad

I was starting to think they'd gone belly-up because I hadn't even seen a Spearhead product on shelves in the better part of two years. At least, until those Hawaiian Style tallboys started rolling out a few weeks ago. I picked a few up for old times' sake: it's still a pretty good pale ale, but it's not 2011 anymore. It's 2017 and there are already a dozen other 'pretty good pale ales' available at any well-stocked LCBO.

So I pretty much have to agree with the sentiments that have already been expressed above. They had their chance to make a mark earlier this decade, but we're at the point where it has probably slipped through their fingers. The competition has stepped up its game enormously over the last 6 years, so they'll have to come up with something better than Moroccan Brown or Belgian Stout if they want to secure a stable slice of the market. Making up the lost ground won't be easy but I wish them well.

Interesting. Are they still jawboning other breweries/brewers while talking up their own products?

Stopped in today at lunch for their grand opening. They've spent a good amount of money on transforming the industrial building into their bottle shop and tasting bar area which has a large glass wall for viewing of the brewery. It's nice but sorta dark. Don't think there's a kitchen.

They have a new lager, a spicy stout, and bitter, but not available at this time to go. Only the HPA, morrocan brown, and sam roberts band beer.

They've also installed 4 Tesla charging stations out front.

Despite all the negative comments above, these guys are still going strong.

I've made two on-line orders from them this year, and while I'll skip the details, I wanted to give a shout out to Stephanie Whittaker for great customer service.

S. St. Jeb wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:59 am Despite all the negative comments above, these guys are still going strong.

I've made two on-line orders from them this year, and while I'll skip the details, I wanted to give a shout out to Stephanie Whittaker for great customer service.

I always liked 'em! Pick up any good seasonals?

shintriad wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 6:34 pm

S. St. Jeb wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:59 am Despite all the negative comments above, these guys are still going strong.

I've made two on-line orders from them this year, and while I'll skip the details, I wanted to give a shout out to Stephanie Whittaker for great customer service.

I always liked 'em! Pick up any good seasonals?

I’ve heard from a few people, really good things about the oatmeal cream ale.

shintriad wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 6:34 pm

S. St. Jeb wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:59 am Despite all the negative comments above, these guys are still going strong.

I've made two on-line orders from them this year, and while I'll skip the details, I wanted to give a shout out to Stephanie Whittaker for great customer service.

I always liked 'em! Pick up any good seasonals?

Oatmeal Cream Ale was good.
Sam Roberts Collider Fusion IPA was perhaps a tad harsh at first sip, but I came to like it....and might be little biased because I like the band.

Have in my possession but yet to try Amber of the North British Style Red Ale and The Mahones Golden Ale.

S. St. Jeb wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:59 am Despite all the negative comments above, these guys are still going strong.

I've made two on-line orders from them this year, and while I'll skip the details, I wanted to give a shout out to Stephanie Whittaker for great customer service.

I think Spearhead is a really positive beer story in Ontario. They begun as a contract brewer, which is never easy. They persevered and built a bricks & mortar brewery in an unexpected (and perhaps under-served) city in the province, with (as far as I know) all of the original founders gone. And they seem to be doing well, and they continue to make quality & interesting beers. I’m happy for their success.

Meh, they play it safe and make beers that are approachable to the macro crowd. The moved into a nice big facility next Raxx pool hall/bar. I'm sure they move a lot of product and seem quite popular locally, just not my local beer of choice.

I don’t mind breweries doing things like oatmeal cream ales instead of just milkshakes and hazy’s. Kind of bucks the trend which I’m fine with.

I don’t really know anything about Kingston so don’t know Raxx…is that good or bad?

Raxx is a giant pool hall, it claimed to be the biggest in Ontario or something when it first went up like 25 years ago.

It's an odd part of town for a brewpub if you're trying to survive as a restaurant. Zero foot traffic. Basically nobody can walk there. But it's down the street from all the box stores and such, so they might do a pretty steady business throughout the day off that.

The flip side is they probably have lots of space and the rent must be cheap. It's very accessible by car to the suburbs so they're well positioned to sell beer to go.

It's kinda like the part of town that barncat, reference and jackass are in Cambridge, if you're familiar with that.

They are located in a fairly large pre-eng industrial building (formerly Knorr Brake factory). I think they may own the building but not sure on that one.

They constructed a nice internal bar area and a patio on the roadside.

Given the large space (think bigger than Bellwood Hafis), they have held Oktoberfests, wrestling matches, drag shows, etc, as well as occasional live music.

As Craig indicated, they are in a light industrial location near big box stores, so driving is required. Their bread and butter is the happy hour/after work crowd that come for a drink and leave with discounted 48 pack.

There beer is decent enough, and they did a great job supplying the Brier a few years back. Just not really my go to. I can't remember the last time I bought a 2-4 of any one beer, let alone two of them.