Flagship February is an international affair, and I know people forget about Canada. We’re tucked away up in the decreasingly frozen tundra. But Toronto has more construction cranes in the sky than just about anywhere in world history and sometimes Drake sits on the CN Tower. Toronto is predicted to be the second-largest city in North America by 2040. We’re sort of having a moment.

The cost of this contemporization is that everything, including the beer we drink, moves along international lines. Brut IPA passed through here barely six months after it was invented, and the less said about our Glitter fortnight the better.

That’s right. I said fortnight. We’re part of the British commonwealth. Even after Brexit, although maybe not for a lot longer.

The conventional wisdom is that we’re behind America in terms of our brewing culture, but I’d venture that our best stuff is as good as anyone’s. Our inferiority complex is such that we are perpetually anxious to keep up with the Joneses, and living as we do in the shadow of New York City, that makes us overlook properties that are exceptional by any standard.

I’ll give you an example: Neustadt Springs 10W30.