Stubbies

You like having the right bottle for your beer. If you're Canadian, that can only mean a stubby.

Check out this insanely extensive photo library of Canadian stubby beer bottles - http://www.stubby.ca/ - and you'll know what I'm talking about. When I was growing up, beer came in stubbies. Then some bright light at one of the big breweries decided to switch to the long neck bottle. I'm sure they had their reasons, but fuck 'em: Canadians liked their stubbies and still do.

Craft brewers have caught on to this simmering passion. Heritage Brewing, Brick, and Scotch Irish all have stubby-bottled beers. Heritage Traditional Dark is quite tasty, although it seems to be uncommonly headache-inducing. Scotch Irish's Sgt. Major IPA also seems to have a similar morning-after effect. Unfortunately, though, it also tastes a bit like ass (this may be in part the fault of the liquor store - the clowns were storing the beer at room temperature, a no-no for the Sgt.). Brick's Conners Best Bitter and Red Cap are both unremarkable but go down easily enough. The latter has been quite successful, both because of its reasonable price and, you guessed it, stubby bottle.

There's SFA to be done about the situation, though. Expecting Canadians to boycott our favorite long neck beers is as naive as expecting the Leafs to win the Stanley Cup. If there's one hope, though, it's that a craft brewer brings out a tasty, mainstream, widely-distributed lager - in a stubby - that beats the large brewers at their own game. That might get the ball rolling.