Beer in the news

[Hub Brewer]

I toured the site a couple weeks ago with the developer and a rep from DME. Loads of potential. Plenty of space. Just needs the right person at the helm.

[akr71]

Dear Santa,

I want. Beer Mitt



Any interest in a Group Buy - seriously...

[canuck]

^ That's awesome! I said screw it and just bought a pair of them!

[chalmers]

Perfect for those attending the Hop Spiel in Fredericton in February! Outdoor Beerfest.

[mikeorr]

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... evolution/

When I first moved to Toronto my chief concerns were, I expect, similar to that of many expats: “Would it be worth all the upheaval?” and “What am I going to drink?”

I’d wake up sweating after seeing myself drinking bottle after bottle of Budweiser. An image of tipping back a bottle of Coors Light would tip me out of bed. How can beer with the flavour of vicars’ wee induce such a hangover? And isn’t that all they drink in North America?

Due to daft Ontario liquor laws, you often have to opt for the big two when you want to stock up on booze: the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) or The Beer Store.

The LCBO stores are much like a regular liquor store in the U.K., just bigger and shinier. The Beer Store, however, is like an ale Argos. When I walked in, I was stared at — not greeted — by a rather disgruntled looking individual. Around the room there were a few products for immediate purchase: crates of their bestselling lagers; some bottle openers; a discounted deck of cards; packets of honey-roasted nuts. Instead of a catalogue though, you have a large wall of beer logos (sorted by premium, domestic and import) with their prices underneath.

On my visit the staff were not able to recommend a beverage; the sour-face on the till aggressively prodded at the screen and miscounted my change, and those who lucked out on the stockroom shift were hiccupping drunk. Probably. Regardless, for an establishment that prides and names itself on being a large storage of beer, it has as much variety as the Johnny Cash Museum’s jukebox.

The Beer Store is worse than any of my nightmares. That’s why Stuart, who manages the beer selection at my nearest LCBO store, is fantastic. He works to provide a more imaginative tipple: a dreamlike array from all the continents are featured — even a better choice of British ales than in some shops back home. But it’s the local craft ales that take prominence on Stuart’s shelves.

And his craft-friendly attitude is increasingly reflected in the boozing preferences of Canada.

BeerCanada.com released statistics earlier this year on beer trends, and reported that the number of licensed breweries in Canada had risen by 50% in a year. Craft beer sales in British Columbia rose by 38% in just one year while its market share in Ontario has tripled since 2002.

Now the successful experimental brews of many craft producers have pushed the larger companies into trying to emulate or derail the craft wagon altogether.

Alexander Keith’s, who are run by North American giant Labatt, released a “Hop Series,” which tasted to me much like their trademark, and frankly terrible, IPA, but infused with grass from the local off-leash dog park. Shock Top, another Labatt subsidiary, stated in a September 2014 connections brief that the “proliferation of [craft beer] brands [are] eroding Labatt’s share,” so they look to be “disruptive” by releasing alternative Shock Top flavours in an effort to disguise themselves as a craft beer rather than what they really are: the runt of Labatt’s extensive but affluent litter.

Canadians should be proud of their developing craft culture, and many of their brews surpass old favourites of mine in England. The brewing giants are clearly threatened, and throwing money around to develop aliases won’t change consumer tastes.

Statistics over the next few years will find out if the growth in craft brews is merely a fad. Personally, I don’t think it is. Those in their early 20s have a concern over what is put in their beer, and after that it’s hard to think of anything except monetary concerns to send you back to the sparkling water taste of the monster breweries.

I was wrong to have sleepless nights. Long live the Canadian craft beer revolution.

(emphasis mine)

[McGruff]

This guy nailed it. Exactly why I make my own beer.

Thanks and cheers.

[benwedge]

http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Local/20 ... -weekend/1
The gathering will also include a visit with brew master Greg Nash, who is from Amherst and now lives in the United States.

Is there something we don't know about?

Fact checking is hard.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/ ... _cohn.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For years, The Beer Store has maintained close to 80 per cent market share because of its control over volume sales of major brands in its chain, writes Martin Regg Cohn.

Thanks to a whistleblower, we now have the secret details of how Ontarians are being hosed by The Beer Store with the wilful involvement of elected officials.
Before stocking up for the holidays, you can read why the province remains captive of a private quasi-monopoly in beer retailing that bankrolls the richest, toughest political lobby in the province.
A still-confidential operating agreement lays bare the foundations of an inglorious cash grab that the big foreign-owned brewers who run The Beer Store don’t want you to know about. And what the government-owned LCBO is too embarrassed to show you.
The Beer Store and the LCBO have repeatedly refused my requests to disclose their mutual non-aggression pact, and it’s easy to see why. Dated June 1, 2000, the document confirms the folly of our Crown-owned LCBO acting on the orders of the Progressive Conservative government of the day (and the Liberal government of today, which is no less guilty).
The 10-page document, authenticated by an LCBO source, details an arrangement that constrains growth in the LCBO’s beer sales to protect the effective retail monopoly of the ever unpopular — but forever profitable — Beer Store.
No wonder the former head of the LCBO, Andy Brandt, is still furious about the cosy deal. In a revealing interview, he blames his former Tory masters for imposing it from on high because “the government of the day intended to protect The Beer Store.” (More on his candid, damning comments below.)
The document does all this while relying on Orwellian, lawyerly language. The doublespeak demands a double Scotch:
“Working together in the spirit of this framework, the Ontario beer consumer will benefit,” it proclaims, improbably.
The title seems unintentionally ironic: “Serving Ontario Beer Consumers — Framework for Improved Co-operation and Planning Between the LCBO and BRI (Brewers Retail, Inc., The Beer Store’s formal corporate name).”
Its bureaucratic wording spells out precisely how beer drinkers shall be gouged. The core of the scheme comes in the section that sharply delineates “Beer Selling Roles” for the two rival distributors — one government-owned and the other privately run — to sharply limit any competition between them.
“Consistent with historical practice, LCBO will not sell beer . . . in packages containing more than 6 containers,” the document declares.
Why would the LCBO agree to tie its hands in such a way? Why give up the right to sell more affordable 12-packs or two-fours (cases of 24) that make up the largest volume of beer buying in Ontario?
And why would the publicly owned LCBO further agree that it “will not promote beer at price points greater than 6 containers?” The effect, of course, is to deny drinkers the cost savings of a 12-pack or two-four available at the privately-run Beer Store, forcing them to pay the higher tab for each individual six-pack.
Another clause spells out the architecture of noncompetition: The LCBO will not sell to restaurants and bars any of the major brands not carried in its regular stores, thus giving the big brewers unchallenged power to gouge the food and beverage industry with their market muscle (which they do by setting prices, and profit margins, unconscionably higher than in most other provinces or in regular Beer Store outlets).
Sales territories are also sharply circumscribed: If The Beer Store decides to move into growing communities, the LCBO will retreat to make way: “Existing LCBO store is to revert to a … 6-pack store and will carry package sizes no greater than 6 containers.”
Oh, and if The Beer Store disagrees with the LCBO on key points, they will operate by “consensus on all issues,” and a joint committee’s decisions “shall be consensus (sic).”
The brewers say jump, and the government asks how high.
Why would our elected public officials give private profiteers a veto? Why hamstring the LCBO’s future growth by binding it to past “historical practice?”
To understand why the LCBO would abide by such a self-defeating agreement, I put the question to its former CEO and chair, Andy Brandt: Why go along with the document 14 years ago?
Brandt tells me he did it under direct orders of the Tory government of then-premier Mike Harris in mid-2000. A former Tory cabinet minister himself from the Bill Davis era, Brandt had been appointed to the influential LCBO post in 1991 by then-NDP premier Bob Rae.
Brandt believes the Harris Tories acquiesced to intense pressure from the privately-owned Brewers Retail, which was plainly spooked about the erosion of its longtime monopoly position. The LCBO had been stocking more beer in its newly renovated outlets, stealing market share from the shabby stores in the Brewers Retail chain.
Despite outdated facilities stuck in the 1950s, the document uses laughably ironic language to advance the fiction that Brewers Retail was investing to “modernize” its storefronts. In reality, it was falling far behind the LCBO, as Brandt points out — and as any unfortunate Beer Store customer can attest.
In yet more fulsome language, the agreement’s covering letter proclaims, “We are confident that by working together in the spirit of this framework, the Ontario beer consumer will benefit.”
Nothing could be further from the truth — then or today. Just ask Brandt, who still grumbles that the government imposed the deal on him.
“That was a government decision, that was not my decision — that was not an LCBO decision,” he tells me on the phone from Sarnia.
“I never quite understood why the government always wanted to protect the (big) beer industry,” Brandt fumes.
But he has his suspicions: “The government had some kind of a deal with Brewers Retail.”
A former interim leader of the Progressive Conservatives before Harris, Brandt believes — as many others do — that election campaign contributions by the big brewers motivated the government’s decision: “That obviously has some influence.”
Bob Runciman, who at the time was minister of consumer and commercial relations responsible for the LCBO, confirms that he wanted the deal done. But he dismisses the allegations about coming under undue influence by the beer lobby.
“I don’t remember that, if it happened,” Runciman said about the Beer Store perhaps getting its way by buying its way. “I doubt it happened, but they do donate to both parties . . . I don’t really believe it was a significant factor.”
Now a senator, Runciman says he always acted in the best interests of consumers to ensure orderly sales.
Unsurprisingly, that’s what The Beer Store says, too.
Apparently, the secret deal was drafted “to facilitate the orderly modernization of Ontario’s beverage alcohol retailing system,” according to a statement sent to me by Jeff Newton, head of Canada’s National Brewers, the industry lobby group that represents The Beer Store in media dealings.
He argues that the LCBO was constraining the growth of Brewers Retail, not the other way around. But doesn't it look like collusion, I ask Newton, to sign a deal that benefits The Beer Store by preventing the LCBO from selling beer in higher volumes at lower prices?
Newton's emailed statement doesn't respond to the collusion question, countering instead: “Clearly Ontario's alcohol retailing system and the Framework Agreement are working.”
However, a law firm representing The Beer Store contacted the Star the next day to comment on the collusion question that Newton had left unaddressed: “This is an inaccurate and inappropriate characterization, to which my client objects.”
Brandt doesn’t buy what Newton is selling. He chafed at the price and volume restrictions imposed on the LCBO, which conferred an unfair advantage on Brewers Retail.
If not for those constraints, “We would have knocked the sales of The Beer Store significantly,” Brandt says, but what rankled him most was a misallocation of revenues:
Rising LCBO profits went straight to the government treasury to fund hospitals, schools and infrastructure. By contrast, The Beer Store’s profits go straight into the coffers of its private (no, not government) owners, whose corporate parents are now based abroad (Labatts, which is owned by AB Inbev of Belgium, plus U.S.-owned Molson-Coors and Japanese-owned Sleeman).
For years, The Beer Store has maintained close to 80 per cent market share because of its control over volume sales of major brands in its chain. The LCBO has been held back to just over 20 per cent, but insiders believe it would make major inroads without the protectionist pact that benefits the big brewers.
At long last, the sweetheart deal is facing more publicity and scrutiny. Earlier this year, the Liberal government asked former TD Bank CEO Ed Clark to maximize the value of major government assets, including the LCBO. He responded by examining its interlocking relationship with The Beer Store, and recommended allowing the LCBO to sell 12-packs for the first time — but not the high-volume cases of 24 that generate handsome profits for The Beer Store.
“We don’t want to undermine its economics by allowing the LCBO to sell cases of 24 — the bulk of Beer Store sales,” Clark noted inexplicably in a speech last fall. He also proposed a franchise fee to retain its monopoly clout (sources tell me the annual take would be less than $100 million).
Package sizes are a big deal, because they are big money.
Ripping up the deal to let the LCBO sell both 12-packs and cases of 24 would “provide the government with a new revenue stream” estimated at $515 million a year, according to Restaurants Canada, which represents the food and beverage industry.
In a submission to Clark’s task force last summer, it questioned why the government still lets the private brewers siphon off massive profits by charging its members much higher prices than retail consumers pay. Its brief argued that another $500 million could accrue to government if the LCBO were allowed to sell all brands of beer in cases of 24 directly to bars and restaurants.
That adds up to total of $1 billion in foregone revenue that could flow to the LCBO but is now captured by the private brewers thanks to their protected position.
Why would the government agree to act as an enabler and enricher of the private profiteers who run The Beer Store — perpetuating its oppressively Stalinist architecture, Soviet-style service, and ossified corporate design? What’s keeping today’s Liberal government from undoing the bad deal cooked up by the Tories in 2000?
Sadly, it’s simple. Both political parties profit shamelessly from generous campaign donations, and both are easily seduced by powerful lobbyists. The brewers have snapped up virtually every big name influencer in town, many of them former Liberal party operatives.
While the Liberal government ponders a few half measures, the prominent Tories who first constrained the LCBO 14 years ago now believe their protectionist pact is outdated: “I think it should be looked at,” Runciman says today. “Loosening it up would be welcome by most people.”
Remarkably, The Beer Store’s sweet deal has been kept secret all this time. Now, with the holiday party season upon us, we can read it and weep.

[the-mailman]

Just saw this on Daily Planet. Now everyone can become a brewmaster.

[canuck]

Too bad some Canadian airlines wouldn't follow suit and serve some craft beer on their flights. And how fucking cool would it be to have a tap at your seat? lol

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2 ... tions.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mr x]

The Beer Store is a hard case for Ontario

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-de ... e21680863/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Although people often complain about the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s near-monopoly on booze distribution, the other side of provincial alcohol sales – the private monopoly known as the Beer Store – often flies under the radar.

So it shouldn’t have been surprising that brewers were caught unprepared recently when former banker Ed Clark, who is leading an advisory panel on Ontario’s government assets, said the Beer Store’s owners should either pay the province franchise fees or surrender their beer-selling monopoly. Contrary to popular belief, the Beer Store is not a Crown corporation, and commenting on a private business was beyond Mr. Clark’s mandate. But in doing so, he amplified a discussion that hasn’t been loud enough.

The Beer Store is operated by Brewers Retail Inc., a monopoly owned by three major brewers. But many beer drinkers don’t realize that these companies aren’t Canadian-owned. They don’t know that the iconic Canadian brand Labatt’s Blue is brewed by multinational AB InBev (head office: Belgium), or that Molson Canadian is, ironically, half-American, brewed by Molson-Coors (head office: Colorado). Looking for a good Canadian craft beer? Don’t look at Sleeman’s; it’s owned by Sapporo (head office: Tokyo).

Brewer’s Retail operates Ontario’s major beer distribution network, handling nearly 80 per cent of all beer sales in the province. The LCBO also sells beer, but is limited by an agreement with Brewer’s Retail to selling only six-packs. Breweries (as with wineries and distilleries) may also sell out of their own stores on-site.

Here’s where it gets confusing, and frustrating.

Other brewers, mostly small craft brewers, can also sell through the Beer Store, but must pay a listing fee – not just for each product, but for each package size. When Wellington County lists its Arkell Best Bitter in six- and 12-packs, it pays two fees to list one beer. These breweries also pay a “handling fee” per listing. These fees are paid only by non-owner breweries, and when fees exceed the costs, residuals go back to the Beer Store’s owners. So what most would call profits (but the Beer Store calls fees) go to the very companies craft brewers are competing against.

It’s a crazy system. It’s also despised across the political spectrum. Those on the right dislike how it quashes free-market competition; those on the left dislike its private monopoly.

As with the LCBO, the Brewers Retail monopoly is a remnant of the end of prohibition. But unlike the LCBO, which was based upon similar models in other provinces and countries, the Beer Store is uniquely Ontarian.

In ending prohibition, the Ontario government created the LCBO to oversee the manufacture and sale of booze. LCBO stores often couldn’t accommodate the volume that beer sales represented – barrels, kegs and bottles took up a lot of space – so the breweries were allowed to consolidate operations at co-operatively operated warehouses, inspected and overseen, of course, by the LCBO.

Thus was born the Brewer’s Warehousing Co., which became Brewers Retail Inc.

Within a few years, many small breweries, financially crippled by prohibition, were bought by larger breweries, which then reduced the number of brands and expanded their markets. The march to monopolistic beer distribution had begun.

For all its flaws, the provincially owned LCBO does contribute profits to government coffers. (It wiped out Ontario’s debt within a few years of its creation.) Contrast this with the Beer Store, whose profits enrich private, mostly foreign owners.

So if the Beer Store is so problematic, why haven’t previous governments messed with it? That’s the billion-dollar question. When premiers as diverse as David Peterson and Mike Harris suggested making changes, opposition came from several quarters. While various groups resisted privatizing liquor distribution, the big breweries themselves presented the main opposition to meddling with the Beer Store. Yet, as the craft brewing industry expands, consumers and brewers are demanding, finally, that action be taken.

Opening this Pandora’s box will release a flurry of questions, opinions and suggestions, before revealing what may be the most substantial changes in provincial liquor distribution in almost a century. Grab a drink, because it should be quite a show.

Dan Malleck is the author of Try to Control Yourself: The Regulation of Public Drinking in Post-Prohibition Ontario.

[the-mailman]

Wasn't sure where this should go but I just saw this on my Facebook and it has some good discounts for lady drinkers.

http://ladiesbeerleague.ca/?page_id=613" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BobbyOK]

New Brunswick just got a new beer category manager - current Director of Beverages at MICCO (Premier, Harvest, Cristall).

https://twitter.com/jonathanwil/status/ ... 3857419265" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[chalmers]

New Brunswick just got a new beer category manager - current Director of Beverages at MICCO (Premier, Harvest, Cristall).

https://twitter.com/jonathanwil/status/ ... 3857419265" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I saw that too, will be interesting to see what he does in his new position, and what happens at the Micco private stores in his departure.

[BobbyOK]

New Brunswick just got a new beer category manager - current Director of Beverages at MICCO (Premier, Harvest, Cristall).

https://twitter.com/jonathanwil/status/ ... 3857419265" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I saw that too, will be interesting to see what he does in his new position, and what happens at the Micco private stores in his departure.

I put that question in the Premier "Vendors" forum thread. Which could probably just be re-named MICCO.

[mr x]

THE CHALLENGE REVISITED
Thirsty curlers ‘keep the lights on’ for beer entrepreneur



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... e22105880/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One of the problems in producing, marketing and selling a beer aimed at golfers is the limited window occupied by what is, for most customers, a summer sport.

That was the headache facing Geoff Tait, the founder of Triple Bogey Brewing & Golf Co., after the first full season distributing his signature blonde lager to roughly 130 golf clubs across Ontario. That’s 30 more than he predicted he would have in the spring, and in addition to the 30 to 40 pubs and 120 liquor-store outlets that also carry the product.

But he stumbled upon another sport in which socializing is taken almost as seriously as the game itself. And it is played almost exclusively in golf’s off-season, to boot.

“We’ve actually done really well with curling clubs, because a lot of the curlers are golfers and golfers are curlers,” says Mr. Tait, who now counts 25 curling clubs among his customers. “This is how we keep the lights on for the winter.”

Curlers will help keep his trucks on the road after a strong summer. Business was so good he ended up turning down the chance to sell at both the men’s and women’s U.S. Open, one of the major tournaments on both circuits, at Pinehurst, N.C., back in June.

“I just couldn’t do it on time,” he says now. “It was about three weeks before the Open and I had to figure out how to get 20 kegs down there across the border, and I didn’t want to shoot myself in the foot, either.”

Keeping up with demand was one of the concerns Mr. Tait had when The Globe and Mail originally profiled Triple Bogey Brewing & Golf Co. back in April for its Small Business Challenge column. In the interim, Mr. Tait decided to slow the growth of his company to a manageable pace, rejecting inquiries from as far away as Alberta and B.C. For now, he is focused on Ontario.

With about $500,000 in annual revenue, the 35-year-old is looking to buy another delivery truck or two. He expects business to double or even triple next year. Every one of the 130-odd golf courses that were his customers in 2014 will return for another season in 2015, he says. He is also in discussions with Clublink, which operates a membership scheme at golf courses across 45 locations in Ontario, Quebec and Florida.

“With the big boys you want to get ahead of the game and start talking to them early,” Mr. Tait says. “[Getting into Clublink] would be another $200,000, $300,000, $400,000 of business.”

One factor that works in his favour is customer service: Mr. Tait delivers much of his beer himself.

“Other guys aren’t doing that,” he says. “I’ve had so many golf clubs or curling clubs say Molson used to do this, or Labatt used to do this. ... Luckily for me, now I’m the one standing there with my fold-out bar giving out a little sample, and it goes a long way.”

Mr. Tait has also expanded to traditional pubs and bars. Triple Bogey is now carried in Real Sports Bar & Grill in downtown Toronto, which offers exposure to the hundreds of hockey and basketball fans who congregate in the place before attending games at the neighbouring Air Canada Centre.

The beer is brewed on contract by Great Lakes Brewing in Toronto, and while Mr. Tait says that the company has been accommodating, he would like to own and operate his own brewery.

“It would alleviate the headache of not having enough beer,” he says. “It would probably be two or three years before we would ever consider doing it on our own because it’s way easier using somebody else’s facility.”

Mr. Tait also has a vision of opening an establishment that would combine his two passions of golf and beer.

“I’d love to turn it into a full concept across the country as a cool little brew pub in every major city,” he says. “You’d have a couple of golf simulators in the back and a bunch of Arnold Palmer stuff on the walls and golf reruns playing all the time and really making it a man cave hangout.”

[canuck]

Dear Santa,

I want. Beer Mitt



Any interest in a Group Buy - seriously...

Andy, got mine today. They rock!

[dean2k]

[akr71]

[mr x]

Wynne says LCBO-Beer Store deal looks unfair and will ‘absolutely’ be changed

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/19 ... e-changed/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TORONTO — The relationship between the foreign-owned Beer Store consortium and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario looks unfair and will “absolutely” be changed, promises Premier Kathleen Wynne.

“What concerns me is that I think there is the appearance, and there may be the reality of unfairness, and a departure from what was intended in the first place in terms of when the Brewers Retail was set up,” Wynne said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press.

An advisory panel chaired by former TD Bank CEO Ed Clark already recommended the province charge the Beer Store for its virtual monopoly on beer sales, saying there was a clear value that could be auctioned off if the brewers won’t pay up.

“The relationship between the provincial government and the Beer Store should be revised to ensure that Ontario taxpayers receive their fair share of the profits from the Beer Store,” said Clark.

The panel also said LCBO stores should be allowed to sell more than just six packs of beer, a limitation that was well known to consumers, but the details of which were only recently revealed when a Toronto newspaper published an agreement signed in 2000 with the Beer Store.

“I want us to take some steps to make it clear that this is something that needs to change,” Wynne said of the so-called secret agreement.

Restaurants Canada, an industry association representing 30,000 restaurants, bars caterers and their suppliers, said the deal between the LCBO and the Beer Store means its members often pay “ridiculously” higher prices than consumers.

“For some brands the price is 30 to 50 per cent higher than what consumers pay,” said Restaurants Canada spokesman James Rilett. “It’s time for Premier Wynne to can this deal and bring competition, fair pricing and choice to the table.”

Tackling Ontario’s complicated and at times antiquated beverage alcohol system was something Wynne campaigned on when she ran for the Liberal leadership in 2012 to replace Dalton McGuinty, so the advisory panel she appointed will help set the course for change, she said.

“Rather than have a separate track where we’re going to deal with the Beer Store and that arrangement and the LCBO separately, it has now been rolled into the work that Ed Clark is doing,” said Wynne. “So people can expect to see changes, absolutely.”

Clark’s panel already rejected the idea of privatizing the LCBO, but said the government-owned agency needs to act more like a private retailer and should expand to online sales of alcohol from around the world.

Canada’s National Brewers, which represents Labatt, Molson and Sleeman, has warned recommended changes to the system would add about $5 to the price of a case of 24 beers.

“We appreciate Premier Wynne’s interest in the Beer Store and are prepared to engage with the premier’s advisory council on government assets in fact-based discussions about the future of the industry,” said spokesman Jeff Newton. “We believe (this) is essential if the advisory council process is to deliver overall improvements for Ontario brewers and consumers without generating unnecessary price hikes for beer drinkers.”

The Beer Store, the commercial name for Brewers Retail, was owned by a consortium of Ontario-based brewers when it was set up in 1927, but is now owned by Molson-Coors of the United States, AB InBev of Belgium and Sapporo of Japan. It operates 448 retail stores across Ontario.

[mr x]

Could magnets could be the answer to foamy beer?
Scientists have discovered a way to solve the problem of over-foamy beer

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink ... -beer.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The days may be numbered for the beer tapper, that scourge of the barroom who delights in bumping bottle tops and causing foam to spill over into the laps of unfortunate drinkers.

Scientists in Belgium have discovered a way to reduce the amount of foam, or ‘gushing’, in beer by using magnets, reported Science Magazine.

Foaming in beer is caused by a protein called hydrophobin, which is created by fungi that infect the malt base during the brewing process.

These hydrophobins attract carbon-dioxide molecules, which in turn rise to the surface and make the beer gush.

To counteract foaming, brewers currently use hops extract, which binds itself to the proteins and prevents them attracting CO2, although this method is not entirely efficient.

However, by applying a magnetic field to the malt, the antifoaming agent is broken down into smaller particles. These bind more effectively with the hydrophobins, preventing them from further binding with the CO2.

“The results indicate that when a magnetic field exerted on hop extract, this compound is dispersed more and smaller particles are formed,” the researchers write in their paper.

“Therefore, the specific surface areas of the particles are increased and interact with larger numbers of hydrophobins.”

What’s more, fewer amounts of hops extract are needed due to their increased efficiency, something that could lower the overall cost of beer in the future.

The research is due to be published in the January edition of the Journal of Food Engineering.

[Toni]

Wynne says LCBO-Beer Store deal looks unfair and will ‘absolutely’ be changed

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/19 ... e-changed/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Beer Store, the commercial name for Brewers Retail, was owned by a consortium of Ontario-based brewers when it was set up in 1927, but is now owned by Molson-Coors of the United States, AB InBev of Belgium and Sapporo of Japan. It operates 448 retail stores across Ontario.

That last paragraph kind of sums it up nicely, doesn't it?

[McGruff]

Yes, it does sum it up nicely. I boycott the beer store and feel good about it. The more I read about these arsehole politicians and the beer store just makes me want to brew my own beer more and more. I think the gov't has their nose in where it doesn't belong. Glad I am off the grid.

[GasMD30]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14 ... craft-beer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another example of Kickstarter and craft brewing. Near my home town

[dean2k]

Full disclosure: I've filled 2 growlers. However....I've ranted enough on the subject, so I'll just leave this here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns ... -1.2882025

NB Liquor has sold a fraction of its 40,000 corporate growlers
Liquor corporation should 'stick to what they are good,' says Picaroons owner Sean Dunbar

NB Liquor purchased 40,000 growlers earlier this year as the Crown corporation prepared for its foray into selling craft beer in the refillable beer bottles, but flat sales have left tens of thousands of the bottles sitting on shelves.

The Crown corporation became the first liquor agency in Canada to allow customers to buy craft beer in refillable beer jugs in September.

The initial concept may have been novel, but sales of the liquor corporation’s bottles have been stagnant.

​Marcelle Saulnier, a NB Liquor spokesperson, said 2,718 of the corporation’s growlers had been sold as of last week.

“Part of the thing is that the program did change to include other growlers. So I wouldn’t necessarily say misjudge, but it was something that we had to adapt to later on,” she said.

“But we will have a plan in place to reduce the inventory, absolutely.”

Originally, NB Liquor intended to require beer drinkers to purchase one of the corporation’s own $10 growlers before they could tap into one of the types of craft beer being sold at the three participating stores.

With that plan in mind, NB Liquor spent $124,210 to purchase the 40,000 growler bottles in advance of the September rollout.

The plan to require beer drinkers to buy a corporate growler fizzled within the first week as many customers balked at the corporate policy. NB Liquor began allowing customers to bring in any 1.89-litre growler to be filled at the liquor store.

Without the requirement to purchase the liquor agency’s self-styled growler, the inventory has been stuck on the shelf.

When the growler program started, the craft beer was only offered in three stores: Fredericton, Dieppe and in the Kennebecasis Valley. The program recently expanded to Sackville, where Saulnier said the liquor agency is hoping to sell more of its growlers.

The growler program is also set to be reviewed in March, when NB Liquor will decide whether the program should continue. There will also be conversations about how to start moving the surplus of empty growlers.

“We will obviously need to have some plan in place [to sell the remaining growlers] depending on what happens after March 2015,” she said.

“If we are looking at expanding, if we are looking at changing stores, unlike our other inventory, it doesn’t go bad, so that is a good thing.”

NB Liquor is also planning more promotional activities where the corporation's growlers will be given away to a select number of customers who show up to purchase the craft beer.
NB Liquor 'should stick to what they are good at'

Sean Dunbar, owner of Picaroons Traditional Ales, said NB Liquor’s growler miscalculation is systematic of a Crown corporation overstepping its mandate.

“For all the good the program is and I applaud it, it does help to point out that one should stick to one’s knitting,” Dunbar said.

“NB Liquor is very, very good at some things and I think they should stick to what they are good at and then find the people who are good at other things and get them to do it.”

Stephen Dixon, the owner of Grimross Brewing in Fredericton, was also surprised by the amount of unused NB Liquor growlers.

“So they have a ways to go. They have high goals, that’s good,” Dixon said when told of the sales figures.

“They are committed to grow the sector, so maybe this is their way to try to grow it. But I think they should work closely with us and maybe we could help them to do that.”
22,223 litres of craft beer sold

While the actual glass bottles have not been flying off the shelves at NB Liquor stores, beer drinkers have been busy filling up their growlers. NB Liquor says 22,223 litres of craft beer have been sold since September.

NB Liquor is unable to track how much individual breweries have sold through the program. Customers are able to purchase 1.89 litre refills of beer that cost between $10 and $20.

There have also been questions asked about the variety of beer offered at the three craft beer taps at each of the growler stations.

For instance, Picaroons has had a guaranteed tap in Fredericton as does global beer behemoth InBev, which leaves one tap as a “wildcard.”

NB Liquor’s Saulnier said the corporation has started an experiment that will see Picaroons offered outside of Fredericton. Last week, Picaroons could be found in Dieppe and Moncton’s Pump House was offered in the capital city.

When the growler policy was being crafted, Dunbar said he was given advance notice, but not all of his suggestions were entertained by the liquor agency.

Dunbar said he thought there would be inter-city crossover of beer brands, so drinkers could taste products that weren’t readily available in that city. In Fredericton, the Picaroons Brewtique is roughly five kilometres away from the NB Liquor store that also pours the brewery’s beer.

“I have no idea why it hasn’t crossed over, I have a feeling that there are some adjustments coming and that might be one of them … It makes no sense to me,” he said.

“Once again, that is a lack of understanding of the consumer and of how that works.”