The local market has begun to respond to the prevalence of awesome beer from Germany and the Czech Republic, looks like.  Shaftebury Brewing Company (owned by Sleeman; what a fucking surprise) has given greater Vancouver “the Big Shaft”.  No really — that’s what they’re calling their answer to half-litre cans of awesome beer from Europe.  (Don’t bother looking up Shaftebury’s website — they’re advertising something called the Golden Shaft, which I guess has to do with fan-created advertisements.)

Anyway, Shaftebury’s large-canned offerings are slightly less expensive than their Euro counterparts ($1.89 at my local BCL rather than $1.95) and slightly less voluminous (473mL instead of a full 500mL).  Unfortunately, they’re also slightly (or, depending on the beer, substantially) less tasty.  With some reservations, I picked up two cans of Coastal Cream ale and Four Twenty (are we smoking pot or celebrating Hitler’s birthday here?) “brilliant” lager.  Neither is remotely interesting — neither good nor bad.

I can hardly complain: I obtained (nearly) two litres of beer for $7.96 (10¢ deposit on each can), which is far better than I’d do on something execrable like Blue.  Still, I wish I’d spent an extra 24¢ and picked up four cans of Tuborg.  If you’re the sort of short-sighted flag-waving patriot that cannot bring s/h/itself to drink beer that’s not Canadian, eh! — Shaftebury’s offerings are right up your alley.  Otherwise: stick to the European stuff.