The Thistles 1907 Stanley Cup win; the 1973 CIBC bank robbery; the momentous 2013 reopening of Lake of the Woods Brewing Co.: all three landmark (& strangely unrelated) events, that have helped put our little town of Kenora ‘on the map’ (insert wink here). Dead Man’s Switch – a hazy NEIPA hop bomb loaded with enough Citra & Amarillo to stuff a getaway car twice over – this brew immortalizes the surreal & film-esque Kenora Main St. bank robbery; the only such event in history that actually shut down the Trans-Canada Hwy. for a day. Best consumed while doing laundry.
DEAD MANS SWITCH NEW ENGLAND INDIA PALE ALE
BEER STYLE: New England India Pale Ale; COLOUR: Straw to Yellow, Hazy; AROMA: Tropical Fruit, Citrus; HEAD: White Head, High Retention; MOUTHFEEL: Medium to medium-full body with a smooth character. Medium carbonation; TASTE: Low to medium bitterness, low to medium malt flavour with bready, grainy, light sweet flavour; VITAL STATS: ABV: 6.8% | IBU: 40 | SRM: 5
From a JUICY real-life story comes an infamous, unfiltered, crazy hazy New England IPA. To this day, it is unknown who the bank robber was. Every beer has a story…this one is a little intense…kinda’ like the beer.
On May 10th, 1973, a masked bank robber walked into the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Kenora, Ontario, armed with a rifle, a pistol, and a homemade bomb made from six sticks of dynamite. He held a dead man’s switch—a clothespin—in his teeth to detonate it. The robber demanded his duffel bags be filled with cash and ordered the bank manager to call the police and arrange for a half-ton truck and driver for his getaway.
As he left the bank, a police sniper took the shot. The bomb detonated, killing the robber instantly. Downtown Kenora rained cash (about $100,000 of it!), which was mostly recovered, believe it or not!
In the aftermath, investigators found the robber’s wallet containing $176, a pair of handcuff keys, and a receipt from the Kenricia Hotel. He had checked in under the fake name Paul Higgins with a false address. The explosion destroyed his features, and despite fingerprint records and DNA tests, his true identity was never uncovered. His remains are buried in an unmarked grave at Lake of the Woods Cemetery. Crazy, right?!
THE MYSTERY BOMBER, PART 1: KENORA BANK ROBBERY OF 1973 | W5 INVESTIGATION
THE MYSTERY BOMBER, PART 2: WHO WAS BEHIND THE BANK HEIST? | W5 INVESTIGATION
