Beer in the news

[mr x]

Pints for £1 in the homebrew revolution

[/b]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ution-beer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mr x]

Irish county passes motion to let certain rural drivers drive while legally drunk

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic ... ally-drunk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[LeafMan66_67]

Irish county passes motion to let certain rural drivers drive while legally drunk

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic ... ally-drunk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And we thought NS liquor laws were bad ...

[Graham.C]

"In 2011-2012, sales of Ontario craft beers at the LCBO spiked 45%. Receipts are up from $2 million in 2004 to $22 million last year."

If NSLC won't release their numbers, I bet its safe to assume they are close.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2013 ... eer-market" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NIAGARA - There’s something brewing in Niagara’s culinary scene.

Drive along Niagara Stone Rd. in Virgil and there, nestled in the heart of wine country, are two newly minted craft breweries.

Silversmith Brewing Co. is a veritable suds shrine, setting up shop in a renovated church, while nearby Oast House Brewers, named for the kilns that dry hops for brewing, sits like a beacon for beer drinkers in a big red barn on a well-travelled artery of Niagara’s Wine Route.

The region’s latest homages to hops, barley and yeast join Taps Brewhouse and Grill and the Syndicate Restaurant and Brewery — home to Niagara’s Best Beer brand — in Niagara Falls, the Niagara College Teaching Brewery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the cornerstone of fermented goodness in St. Catharines, the Merchant Ale House, as places pouring pints of locally made brews.

But if the thought of breweries popping up in a region that has carved out an identity as a world-class producer of wine seems odd, those tapping into the craft beer industry locally would beg to differ.

“There’s the old winemaker’s proverb that it takes a lot of beer to make good wine,” said Matt Swan, Silversmith co-founder.

Given that Niagara has created a culinary tradition that works hard to eschew the mass-produced, there’s room at the table for unique beer brewed on the small scale, noted Cian MacNeill, a partner in Oast House, sommelier and winemaker.

Fellow winemakers and chefs alike have stepped up to the tasting bar at Oast and raised a glass to the arrival of local beer in Niagara.

“People’s eyes are really opening to beer’s diversity and how well it does at the dinner table,” MacNeill said. “That craft beer made with quality ingredients can do as well at the table as wine can, sometimes better. It’s coming out of its reputation as a low man’s drink.”

The proof is in the pint glass.

Thirsty locals and tourists are virtually foaming at their mouths to drink in what Niagara’s — and the rest of Ontario’s — craft brewers are fermenting.

One need look no further than sales at the LCBO to see that beer culture isn’t just emerging. It’s exploding.

In 2011-2012, sales of Ontario craft beers at the LCBO spiked 45%. Receipts are up from $2 million in 2004 to $22 million last year.

Meanwhile, the big guys — the Molson Coors and Labatt — are seeing their market share erode and are buying up established craft breweries in response. Molson Coors is now the parent company to Creemore and Granville Island breweries.

Those in the industry locally say Niagara’s landscape is far from saturated when it comes to craft beer. There’s room amongst the vineyards for more breweries.

Even wineries are considering getting into the beer game with breweries of their own, said Jon Ogryzlo, dean of the college’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute.

Jon Downing, brewmaster professor at Niagara College, said another six breweries are expected to open in the near future between Niagara and Hamilton.

Some will be farm breweries — the estate winery version of beer makers — where the ingredients will be grown and fermented in the same place.

Soon, Fort Erie could be home to its own nano-brewery, Brimstone Brewing Co., at the Sanctuary Centre for the Arts.

Industry growth isn’t stopping with brewing. Niagara College will grow its own hops next to its teaching vineyard and Oast House has plans to harvest hops in three locations in the region with the hope of bringing the terroir — that sense of place — found in Niagara’s wines to its bottle-fermented brews.

But just because a brewery is small, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily mighty or a guaranteed success. Quality trumps size more than ever as the craft beer industry grows at seemingly rapid-fire speed, Swan said.

“If you can’t brew beer of a certain quality, the days of getting a pass because you’re small and independent are gone,” he said. “You have to be able to brew a good product.”

As a result, beer culture being created by the cold ones of today is different than what has typically been associated with Canadian suds.

Now, it’s about experimentation, bending the beer-making rules by mixing this spice with that malt, aging brews in wine or whisky barrels, adding local fruit, upping the alcohol content to achieve barley wine and thinking outside the usual beer case filled with watery lagers and ales.

“Growing up in Canada, we learn a certain beer culture and that beer culture has revolved around a ubiquitous quality of beer that doesn’t reflect beer’s potential or its history,” Swan said. People are realizing there’s a wider variety of tastes that no other beverage than beer can offer, noted Downing. And they can have that variety more often.

“You can make a new cuvee and vintage every week (with beer), which wine can’t do,” he said.

Downing, Niagara’s grandfather of craft brewing, who opened the region’s first brewery, Atlas Brew Pub in Welland in 1986, and Ogryzlo credit the college’s brewmaster program with the growth of Niagara’s craft beer industry. Downing lobbied for the teaching brewery to fill the void of professionally trained brewers in Canada.

The program, the only of its kind in Canada, has been such a success since starting in 2010, that the college is working with a college in Olds, Alta., to start a sister program there.

Ogryzlo said the college is also partnering with schools in Germany to create a program to train cicerones — beer’s version of sommeliers — to internationally recognized standards.

“Every time I turn around, something new is happening,” Ogryzlo said. “It’s a very exciting time for Niagara and I think a lot of people are excited that Niagara is home to the only (brewmaster) program in North America.”

Admittedly, though, it took some selling to start a teaching brewery in wine country, Downing said. Now, no one is looking back.

Instead, people are wondering why it took this long for Niagara to have its own beer culture.

“It’s something Niagara’s needed for a long time,” MacNeill said. “I’m surprised no one else has done it — that craft boutique brewery.”

BEER FACTS

What is craft beer?

Craft beer is made by breweries producing less than 400,000 hectolitres of beer a year. That’s about 2.8 million cases.

In 2011-2012, sales of craft beer brewed in Ontario and sold at the LCBO spiked 45%. Sales are up from $2 million in 2004 to $22 million last year.

Craft beer’s market share more than doubled in that same period, from just under 2% to about 5% of the beer volume sold in Ontario.

There were about 50 licensed craft brewers in Ontario in 2011.

[GAM]

"In 2011-2012, sales of Ontario craft beers at the LCBO spiked 45%. Receipts are up from $2 million in 2004 to $22 million last year."

If NSLC won't release their numbers, I bet its safe to assume they are close.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2013 ... eer-market" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NIAGARA - There’s something brewing in Niagara’s culinary scene.

Drive along Niagara Stone Rd. in Virgil and there, nestled in the heart of wine country, are two newly minted craft breweries.

Silversmith Brewing Co. is a veritable suds shrine, setting up shop in a renovated church, while nearby Oast House Brewers, named for the kilns that dry hops for brewing, sits like a beacon for beer drinkers in a big red barn on a well-travelled artery of Niagara’s Wine Route.

The region’s latest homages to hops, barley and yeast join Taps Brewhouse and Grill and the Syndicate Restaurant and Brewery — home to Niagara’s Best Beer brand — in Niagara Falls, the Niagara College Teaching Brewery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the cornerstone of fermented goodness in St. Catharines, the Merchant Ale House, as places pouring pints of locally made brews.

But if the thought of breweries popping up in a region that has carved out an identity as a world-class producer of wine seems odd, those tapping into the craft beer industry locally would beg to differ.

“There’s the old winemaker’s proverb that it takes a lot of beer to make good wine,” said Matt Swan, Silversmith co-founder.

Given that Niagara has created a culinary tradition that works hard to eschew the mass-produced, there’s room at the table for unique beer brewed on the small scale, noted Cian MacNeill, a partner in Oast House, sommelier and winemaker.

Fellow winemakers and chefs alike have stepped up to the tasting bar at Oast and raised a glass to the arrival of local beer in Niagara.

“People’s eyes are really opening to beer’s diversity and how well it does at the dinner table,” MacNeill said. “That craft beer made with quality ingredients can do as well at the table as wine can, sometimes better. It’s coming out of its reputation as a low man’s drink.”

The proof is in the pint glass.

Thirsty locals and tourists are virtually foaming at their mouths to drink in what Niagara’s — and the rest of Ontario’s — craft brewers are fermenting.

One need look no further than sales at the LCBO to see that beer culture isn’t just emerging. It’s exploding.

In 2011-2012, sales of Ontario craft beers at the LCBO spiked 45%. Receipts are up from $2 million in 2004 to $22 million last year.

Meanwhile, the big guys — the Molson Coors and Labatt — are seeing their market share erode and are buying up established craft breweries in response. Molson Coors is now the parent company to Creemore and Granville Island breweries.

Those in the industry locally say Niagara’s landscape is far from saturated when it comes to craft beer. There’s room amongst the vineyards for more breweries.

Even wineries are considering getting into the beer game with breweries of their own, said Jon Ogryzlo, dean of the college’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute.

Jon Downing, brewmaster professor at Niagara College, said another six breweries are expected to open in the near future between Niagara and Hamilton.

Some will be farm breweries — the estate winery version of beer makers — where the ingredients will be grown and fermented in the same place.

Soon, Fort Erie could be home to its own nano-brewery, Brimstone Brewing Co., at the Sanctuary Centre for the Arts.

Industry growth isn’t stopping with brewing. Niagara College will grow its own hops next to its teaching vineyard and Oast House has plans to harvest hops in three locations in the region with the hope of bringing the terroir — that sense of place — found in Niagara’s wines to its bottle-fermented brews.

But just because a brewery is small, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily mighty or a guaranteed success. Quality trumps size more than ever as the craft beer industry grows at seemingly rapid-fire speed, Swan said.

“If you can’t brew beer of a certain quality, the days of getting a pass because you’re small and independent are gone,” he said. “You have to be able to brew a good product.”

As a result, beer culture being created by the cold ones of today is different than what has typically been associated with Canadian suds.

Now, it’s about experimentation, bending the beer-making rules by mixing this spice with that malt, aging brews in wine or whisky barrels, adding local fruit, upping the alcohol content to achieve barley wine and thinking outside the usual beer case filled with watery lagers and ales.

“Growing up in Canada, we learn a certain beer culture and that beer culture has revolved around a ubiquitous quality of beer that doesn’t reflect beer’s potential or its history,” Swan said. People are realizing there’s a wider variety of tastes that no other beverage than beer can offer, noted Downing. And they can have that variety more often.

“You can make a new cuvee and vintage every week (with beer), which wine can’t do,” he said.

Downing, Niagara’s grandfather of craft brewing, who opened the region’s first brewery, Atlas Brew Pub in Welland in 1986, and Ogryzlo credit the college’s brewmaster program with the growth of Niagara’s craft beer industry. Downing lobbied for the teaching brewery to fill the void of professionally trained brewers in Canada.

The program, the only of its kind in Canada, has been such a success since starting in 2010, that the college is working with a college in Olds, Alta., to start a sister program there.

Ogryzlo said the college is also partnering with schools in Germany to create a program to train cicerones — beer’s version of sommeliers — to internationally recognized standards.

“Every time I turn around, something new is happening,” Ogryzlo said. “It’s a very exciting time for Niagara and I think a lot of people are excited that Niagara is home to the only (brewmaster) program in North America.”

Admittedly, though, it took some selling to start a teaching brewery in wine country, Downing said. Now, no one is looking back.

Instead, people are wondering why it took this long for Niagara to have its own beer culture.

“It’s something Niagara’s needed for a long time,” MacNeill said. “I’m surprised no one else has done it — that craft boutique brewery.”

BEER FACTS

What is craft beer?

Craft beer is made by breweries producing less than 400,000 hectolitres of beer a year. That’s about 2.8 million cases.

In 2011-2012, sales of craft beer brewed in Ontario and sold at the LCBO spiked 45%. Sales are up from $2 million in 2004 to $22 million last year.

Craft beer’s market share more than doubled in that same period, from just under 2% to about 5% of the beer volume sold in Ontario.

There were about 50 licensed craft brewers in Ontario in 2011.

Remember I was there this summer!

Sandy

[akr71]

Baillie boosts booze in Nova Scotia grocery, corner stores
Baillie wants province to review liquor business
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia ... ner-stores" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is time to take another look at how people buy booze in Nova Scotia, Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie said Wednesday.

Baillie said he is not touting any particular model for the liquor business in this province, but he said there needs to be a discussion about how best to arrange the sale and distribution of beer, wine and spirits.

“The time has come to look at retailing beer and wine, for example, in our grocery stores and our corner stores,” Baillie said after a speech at the Halifax Club.

“The time has come to look at the ownership structure of … Nova Scotia Liquor Corp.”

Baillie said the liquor corporation’s recent crackdown, enabled through legislation from the Dexter government, on stores where customers make their own wines prompted discussion of updating other liquor laws.

The Tory government in 2000 decided against privatization of the liquor business after a consultant looked at the issue.

Rodney MacDonald, then the minister responsible for the then-liquor commission, said at the time there was “no demonstrable benefit for Nova Scotian taxpayers in the wholesale privatization of the liquor business.”

The report did open the door to agency stores in small communities not close to liquor corporation outlets and private specialty stores.

Baillie said he thinks there is more of an appetite for change now, with more experience in other provinces and states that have more modern liquor businesses.

Finance Minister Maureen MacDonald, the minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp., said the government has no interest in privatization. MacDonald said many grocery stores now have liquor outlets next to them.

“I’ve seen a lot of changes in the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. over the last number of years. We have agency stores across the province, and we have very modern network of retail locations.

“They perform very well. They raise a large amount of revenue for the province in a controlled environment. A piece of their mandate is around social responsibility.”

The government expects a profit of more than $224 million from the liquor corporation in the current fiscal year. Baillie said if the liquor system was changed in a proper way, there wouldn’t be a loss to taxpayers.

Baillie’s talk was about new directions for the province, including reducing handouts and bailouts to businesses.

[derek]

"In 2011-2012, sales of Ontario craft beers at the LCBO spiked 45%. Receipts are up from $2 million in 2004 to $22 million last year."

If NSLC won't release their numbers, I bet its safe to assume they are close.

I suspect the numbers are lower in NS - the second last time I was in Ontario, I went looking for craft beers that were supposedly available in the Beer Store, and mostly they weren't, but this past Christmas, I discovered large numbers of them available in LCBOs. At least some of the LCBOs are really actively retailing them. The NSLC barely even finds shelf space for Propeller/Garrison, let alone anything more obscure.

[John G]

The NSLC sure seems to have enough shelf space for Faxe strong beer. I guess they have a real demand for cheap, high alcohol beer. It must be eating into sales of mouthwash at the grocery store though

It sure doesn't jive with their "responsible" consumption and pricing message they use repeatedly in the media when defending their price structure.

[Graham.C]

That is my biggest issue with state controlled liquor stores. Booze is not toothpaste, and we do need to have some enforcement on its sale but their resistance to support local business drives me up the wall. LCBO has finally caved on OCB (which is not small when all of OCB is counted), but it's rules still suck for any new comers. Not to mention from what I have been told your "samples" generally sit around in a non-climate controlled warehouse for months before they taste them do decide if they want to stock them. What is worse, unless under a managers picks/seasonal type program, the minimums they request are absurd (at least for the small wineries I know). Plus they can't actually favor local/Canadian because of NAFTA, something a private store wouldn't have to worry about.

[mr x]

AFAIAC, you need to take every single employee of NSLC making over $90,000, and fire them. It's the only way forward. And no slush fund board members/scum either.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

some minister just made a comparison between selling beer in grocery stores, and privatising nova scotia power. not really the same thing...

[jeffsmith]

some minister just made a comparison between selling beer in grocery stores, and privatising nova scotia power. not really the same thing...

Depends on who you ask.

[GAM]

some minister just made a comparison between selling beer in grocery stores, and privatising nova scotia power. not really the same thing...

Maureen Macdonald.

Shoot me now. She's my MLA but not by my doing.

Sandy

[akr71]

some minister just made a comparison between selling beer in grocery stores, and privatising nova scotia power. not really the same thing...

Depends on who you ask.

IMO Utilities should be Public Utilities (that's why we call them Public). Busting up a government run monopoly to promote competition sounds like supporting business & lets face it, the gov't will still collect taxes on alcohol, no matter who sells it.

Of course NSP has a monopoly too, which should also be opened up to competition...

[jeffsmith]

some minister just made a comparison between selling beer in grocery stores, and privatising nova scotia power. not really the same thing...

Depends on who you ask.

IMO Utilities should be Public Utilities (that's why we call them Public). Busting up a government run monopoly to promote competition sounds like supporting business & lets face it, the gov't will still collect taxes on alcohol, no matter who sells it.

Of course NSP has a monopoly too, which should also be opened up to competition...

My smart ass remark was more about some people possibly considering the product NSLC sells to be an "essential service or utility" like NSP.

[mr x]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot ... -nslc.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Finance minister says no to selling alcohol in corner stores

[/b]

[akr71]

My smart ass remark was more about some people possibly considering the product NSLC sells to be an "essential service or utility" like NSP.

I figured it was tongue in cheek - just throwing in my .02 One needs to be eliminated and the other never should have been privatized... & if privatizing our power company was necessary, don't hand them a monopoly, deregulate and open it up just like the phone companies were forced to - has anybody worried about their long distance (landline) bill lately...

[akr71]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot ... -nslc.html

Finance minister says no to selling alcohol in corner stores

[/b]

She can easily lose her job come next election.

[GAM]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot ... -nslc.html

Finance minister says no to selling alcohol in corner stores

[/b]

She can easily lose her job come next election.

NDP could run Satin on a bender and win that seat.

Sandy

[akr71]

NDP could run Satin on a bender and win that seat.

Sandy

but she can only remain Finance Minister IF the NDP win again.

[GAM]

NDP could run Satin on a bender and win that seat.

Sandy

but she can only remain Finance Minister IF the NDP win again.

True, but the "I'll vote (How my parents tell me) is not doing us any good in a University town.

My Lefty friends say I'm Righty and my Righty friends say I'm Lefty.

I am thinking jello wrestling is as good a selection process.

And yes you should have to pass a test to vote MF.

Sandy

Standing down off the soap box!

[LeafMan66_67]

Another story on Propeller expansion ...

http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/Business/2 ... artmouth/1

[hogie]

For all my brosephs on here:

The role of alcohol in forging and maintaining friendships amongst Scottish men in midlife.

Objective: Men drink more heavily and are more likely to die from alcohol-related causes than women. Most alcohol research focuses on young drinkers. We describe the context of men's drinking in midlife and explore how alcohol is associated with the construction of masculinities. Method: Qualitative research was used to examine the social context of drinking alcohol. We conducted 15 focus groups (single and mixed sex) with respondents in the west of Scotland, United Kingdom. Here we focus on the findings from 22 men aged 28 to 52 years. Results: Men regarded drinking pints of beer in the pub together as an “act of friendship” and this functioned as a hegemonically appropriate way to communicate with and support each other. However, male friends also constructed some nonhegemonic behaviors as forgivable—and indeed acceptable—while drinking alcohol together. This included practices such as the explicit discussion of emotions and mental health and the consumption of “feminine” drinks under certain circumstances (e.g., in private, with close friends). Conclusions: This exploration of drinking reveals the fluidity of gender constructions—and the strategic ways in which men take up positions around hegemonic masculinity—in midlife. The close interweaving of drinking pints in the pub with notions of male friendship could lead to both health-damaging (excessive drinking) and potentially health-promoting (social support) behaviors. Health promotion experts need to be sensitive to cultural constructions of gender to address the high rates of drinking in this age group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/hea/32/1/33/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PEIBeerGuy]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 39948.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brewing Controversy Over Proposal to Make Water Cheaper Than Beer -
In Czech Republic, Idea Taps Strong Feelings; Birthplace of Pilsner

[canuck]

Shit like this pisses me off. Talk about living in the stone ages!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns ... g-618.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;