The LCBO seasonal product call process has been documented numerous times at Free Our Beer - we have been successful with Garrison’s submission into the Autumn 2010 release but unsuccessful with the Winter Warmers release. The basic process was pretty straightforward.  An agent or brewery would submit to the LCBO beers for consideration along with [...]

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Yesterday at the Session beer festival, for the first time at a festival in Ontario we poured Garrison, both the IIPA and Hop Yard Pale Ale.  For many of the patrons there, Garrison was an unfamiliar brewery, and we described the beers to interested drinkers who seemed to quite enjoy both beers. And often we [...]

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Last year we set up a 2nd private order of Garrison beers to follow on the heels of the successful first one.  We would offer basically everything that Garrison had to offer, and it took a while to get all the orders in.  We had about 2 pallets of beer ordered by customers - the [...]

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With the great news from the LCBO that IIPA was accepted into the fall release, came the great unknown. What was next?  I assumed paperwork, and I was correct.
Shortly after I received acceptance from the LCBO, I was informed of the paperwork that needed to be completed.  There were three primary forms: the “Request for Label Examination”, [...]

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Nova Scotia has a provincial liquor commission that operates retail stores similar to Ontario, called the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, or NSLC.  Their stores do a fine job of providing a range of wine, spirits and beer to consumers.  For a province of about 1 million, there isn’t a huge market for specialty products, or [...]

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News broke last week by Dean Beeby of The Canadian Press that the recent minimum price that beer can be sold in Ontario by the case, up to $25.60 from $24.00, was implemented by the LCBO on the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance.  This has sparked some discussion on Bar Towel and quite a few news [...]

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As we originally discussed in July, Beau’s was having serious challenges with The Beer Store and Beau’s unique swing-top bottles.  Since Beau’s does not sell their beer in The Beer Store, they were refusing to give them back to Beau’s when customers return them.  
Good news for Beau’s however.  As Beau’s reported, as did CTV, [...]

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The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has an extensive online archive of TV and radio clips from their broadcasting history.  One of the topic areas that’s available is entitled “Selling Suds: The Beer Industry in Canada” that covers clips from 1961-2005.  It’s very interesting to see some of changes to the industry over the years.  Something [...]

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Last night I was having some beers with friend Troy Burtch, and the topic of beer at fine restaurants came up. He had just written a post about the subject, and we both agreed that generally it is quite frustrating that many Toronto restaurants pride themselves on food and wine, but seem to not [...]

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Ted Chudleigh, the Member of Provincial Parliament for Halton, recently published an article in the Burlington Post about how Ontario needs to rethink how the beer retailing system works.
Mr. Chudleigh has indicated that he will read into the record at Queen’s Park the petition collected by Derek Forward about breaking up the current system.  He’s [...]

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