Peavey Hook
Sawdust City Brewing Co.

 

April 17 2026

473 mL can from the LCBO, included in the Hop Stars Vol. 1 mixed pack (a collaborative pack with beers from Lake of Bays, Sawdust City and Merit Brewing). Dated Feb 2 2026 and served barely chilled.

Pours a clear golden-yellow colour, capped with two fingers of fluffy, foamy white head that fades within five minutes' time. A thin cap and modest collar live on, with a half-inch band of even lace draped around the perimeter; looks good to me. Clean aroma of grainy pale malts and freshly baked bread, with just a hint of grassy hops - straightforward yet wholesome.

The flavours tow the same line - this is not a complex lager, but you can tell that quality ingredients were used. Bready pale malts dominate, though there's also some grainy cereal sweetness, as well as a biscuity quality. These flavours are countered by a grassy, slightly spicy noble hop bitterness on the back end, concluding with a balanced finish of grainy malts & grassy hops. Light in body, with average carbonation; crisp and very crushable.

Final Grade: 3.9, a B+. Peavey Hook is not an exciting beer, but it's a good facsimile of the real German article. I enjoyed my glass and finished it quickly - hardly surprising, given that I appreciate most German-style lagers, and also because SDC rarely disappoints. The only gripe I can come up with is that this is unusually light (in terms of abv) for a Helles lager - however, this turns out to be a bit of a non-issue, as the flavours and aromas are surprisingly full for such a light brew. If this ends up at the LCBO as a single, I've no doubt that it will enter my rotation, alongside old favourites such as Hofbräu Original and Paulaner Münchner Hell.