The first Sam Roberts Band and Spearhead Brewing Company collaboration, nearly ten years ago, was so successful, that Josh Hayter and Sam Roberts decided they were going to do it again.
The first round saw Sam Roberts Band Session Ale, a dark beer with caramel undertones designed to mimic one of the musician’s favourite beers, Guinness. It was crafted through a collaborative, in-person process, with Roberts and the gang taste-testing every version until agreeing upon the final flavour profile. The limited-run brew was sold in restaurants and bars across the city, as well as online and in select LCBO stores.
The second iteration, though, was way different. Called Collider, the brew is an IPA, infused with citrus undertones and classic beer hops. “Because of the pandemic, we just weren’t able to be there and meet with Sam and have them out, do all these test batches and everything,” Hayter, the Spearhead Brewing president, explains.
“We started from the standpoint of, we wanted to do the collab, and we wanted to make it very Sam Roberts. So Sam and Dave [Spencer, the band’s manager]Â put together a list of songs and albums and were like here, have a look at our songs around tell us what inspires you,” he says.Â
Brewmaster Tom came back almost immediately, having found his muse. It had to be Collider. After all, Collider was released in 2011, the same year Spearhead Brewery was founded. Tom’s vision came from the name and the album cover (which is on the can as well). “He said, why don’t we take a very old hop, something that we’ve been using since like 1900, and do a mash up with a very new school, like only been around a couple of years hop, and have those worlds collide,” Hayter explains. “And I pitched that to Sam and he’s like, Yeah, you got it. This is this is what we’ve got to do.”
To accommodate for the changing beer market, the Sam Roberts Band brew switched from bottles to cans which, Hayter explains, is better for the beer, as cans are both air-sealed and light-sealed, whereas bottles are only air-sealed.
Of course, the collaboration is just one of the unique offerings Spearhead has cooked up since its inception, including Hawaiian flavours, events at the brewery, and unique partnerships that give back to the community. “We look at it as we get to come in here and try to find the right beverage for everybody. Because there is a right beer for everybody or a beverage for everybody,” Hayter says. “And that might be an alcoholic or non-alcoholic, or it might be something with crazy ingredients, or it might be something super traditional. But that’s why we live that motto of beer without boundaries.”
Since Spearhead releases a new beer every month of the year, the second collaboration has been brewing for over a year, well before Roberts even agreed on the final flavour profile. And, with restrictions in place for most of that time, Hayter and the Spearhead Brewing team found themselves shipping the beer to Roberts (in his hometown of Montreal) and Spencer instead of having them at the brewery. It was a different experience, Hayter says, but still a positive one.
The limited release is available across Ontario via Spearhead Brewing’s website while beers last. It’s also available at Stack Restaurant on Yonge, who bought the last kegs available at Spearhead. A third of the cans sold out in the first week, and the remainder of the limited run cans are available for Ontario-wide shipping on Spearhead’s website.