http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... inemakers/
Joe O’Connor: New Nova Scotia law lets liquor corporation shut down in-store winemakers
Charlie Patton worked for Sears Canada for many years until he lost his job, found another, and then lost that job, too.
Mr. Patton was in his late 40s at the time and living in Halifax. He did not want to leave Nova Scotia to find the next job, like so many others he knew did, and so he moved home to New Glasgow, opened Water ‘N’ Wine and started selling brew-your-own beer and wine kits.
Over time, he expanded the business, hired two full-time employees and added a wrinkle to the repertoire by offering customers the option to make their Merlots or Sauvignon-Blancs or Chardonnays on the premises and leave them for 30 days to ferment before returning to bottle, label, cork, box and take away the booze.
“I saw a void in the marketplace,” says Mr. Patton, now 63, and himself a home brewer of fine English Ales before opening the business.
“But if you listen to the government talk about what we do one of the remarks that you will hear is that stores like mine are responsible for binge drinking among teenagers, underage drinking — and bootlegging.
“Well, I’ve got to tell you something: My customers tend to be in their 50s and 60s and 70s — and my 80-year-old customers, the little old ladies, they aren’t going out there and bootlegging.
“What the government is saying just doesn’t wash at all.”
But it is what the provincial NDP government has done that has put Mr. Patton’s livelihood at risk. The legislature passed an amendment to Nova Scotia’s liquor laws last week that gives the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) — a provincial Crown corporation — the power to obtain a Supreme Court injunction to put Charlie Patton out of business.
“Under the Liquor Control Act public policy — government policy — is that the NSLC is the only body who can determine who can retail and wholesale beverage alcohol in a finished product,” says Rick Perkins, a spokesman for the NSLC.
“Selling kits is allowed because it is not beverage alcohol — it is just the pieces that go into making wine and beer — and we have allowed, and have allowed for some time people, as hobbyists, to acquire those kits and make it at home.”
Buy and brew at home and live happily ever after. Buy and brew at Charlie Patton’s, or at a handful of other Nova Scotia retailers offering the same in-store service, and beware the NSLC — which pumps about $200-million into the province’s coffers each year, opened 53 stores between 2005 and 2010, enjoys year-over-year growth and has as a monopoly over retail liquor sales in Nova Scotia.
“It is an irrational, maniacal control issue,” says Ross Harrington, the owner of Wine Kitz in Halifax. “It’s like a schoolyard bully saying you can’t do something, just because.
“The government has given the NSLC quasi-police powers — badges, we don’t need no stinking badges — to be able to go to a judge and shut me down.”
Get Mr. Harrington talking about the new legislation and he might not stop. In-store brewing is legal in New Brunswick, a two-hour drive from his store. It is also legal in Prince Edward Island, Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
“When people move to Nova Scotia we always say set your clocks back an hour and your calendars back 50 years,” Mr. Harrington says. “Cheers.”
Less jovial and demonstrably harder to reach are members of Premier Darrell Dexter’s government. Five days after I requested to speak with Graham Steele, the Finance Minister and responsible for the NSLC, a spokesperson called me back — on a Sunday.
The message: Mr. Steele had no comment.
Meanwhile, a request to speak with Ross Landry, the NDP MLA for Pictou Centre, which includes New Glasgow, was redirected to Mr. Steele’s office.
Mr. Landry did speak to a local reporter in early December, and argued that brew-your-own outlets lead to bootlegging and binge drinking among minors.
At the root of his argument is price. A bottle of self-brewed wine is about 50% cheaper than a low-end vintage purchased from an NSLC retail store. Cheap booze, they say, creates big social problems.
“If kids want to get drunk at the school dance they want to get drunk tonight,” Mr. Harrington says. “They don’t want to spend 150 bucks at my store and come back five weeks later to get their wine.
“I don’t serve minors. And I’m not a bootlegger.”
Neither is Charlie Patton. He has close to 700 customers. Some are curious. Some are longtime hobbyists. Some live in apartments and are cramped for space. Some are too old and frail to heft about heavy winemaking equipment.
Josie McInnes is a regular. She is 73. Her back and wrists ache, so she lets Mr. Patton’s staff do the heavy lifting for her. She is not a bootlegger. Merlot is her favourite grape.
“Charlie is just a small business owner trying to make a go of it,” Ms. McInnes says. “I don’t know why the government would want to put an end to that.”
