Winnipeg brewery throws shade at the Riders with 'Sask. dozen' 13-pack

A promotional image for the “Saskatchewan Dozen”, a special edition pilsner from a Winnipeg brewery. (Source: Trans Canada Brewing Co.)

It may still be August, but the cheap shots that lead up to the Labour Day Classic and the Banjo Bowl between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers have already begun.

Winnipeg’s Trans Canada Brewing Company is bringing back its “Saskatchewan Dozen” beer, a pilsner first introduced in 2023 ahead of a Labour Day Classic that the Riders won in dramatic fashion.

The special edition beers come in a case featuring a referee and an unnamed green football team, with a player wearing number “13” with a wheat stalk sticking out of his mouth, a protruding gut and a banjo to boot. The case also claims to come with a “free penalty flag and whistle.”

Topping off the not-so-subtle digs at the green and white: breaking from the traditional 12 pack to include 13 beers – hence, the Saskatchewan Dozen.

“To commemorate our friends-next-door’s 2009 championship appearance—the one when they played a 13th man instead of the usual 12—their loss is your Gain(er),” an Instagram post advertising the launch reads.

A free banjo is also being given away – with one winning can hidden in the cases.

The Banjo Bowl, a nickname given to the rematch between the Riders and Bombers the weekend after Labour Day, is a name the Riders tried to move away from in 2023. But given that the first official Banjo Bowl was played 20 years ago this year, the name has stuck for quite some time.

“I always knew it as the Banjo Bowl,” Rider receiver and Regina product Mitch Picton told CTV News in 2023, who also admitted he still calls it the Banjo Bowl. “Troy Westwood I think made those comments about Saskatchewan but I don’t know it’s almost throwing stones from a glass coming from Winnipeg.”

The Saskatchewan Dozen is available in certain Manitoba liquor stores and vendors.

Trans Canada also brews a “Bomber Beer”.

The rivalry beer scene hasn’t always been hostile between Regina and Winnipeg – Regina-based Rebellion Brewing teamed up with Winnipeg’s Torque Brewing in 2022 to create a beer called “Frenemies”.

Off-field digs aside – the Riders have already beaten the Bombers once this season heading into the annual home-and-home series, which kicks off Sept. 1 at Mosaic Stadium.

--With files from Brit Dort