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 care about beer.

What is even more frustrating is the existence of a Ontario law that could make the fine-dining experience for a beer connoisseur significantly better, if the law only applied to beer. That law is the Bring Your Own Wine endorsement of a liquor license, regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

This law, introduced a couple of years ago, promised to bring “exciting new choices in Ontario”. It allows consumers to bring a bottle of commercially-produced wine to have at a restaurant and take the rest home if they don’t finish it. Restaurants need to apply to the ACGO for the endorsement added to their liquor license, and generally they charge a corkage fee. According to Bringmywine.ca, there are a fair number of restaurants in Toronto that allow consumers to bring their own wine to a restaurant. I’ve done it myself and it’s quite convenient.

Why this is so aggravating for beer fans is that the law applies to wine alone. Beer is not permitted whatsoever. The government said at the time of the law announcement that it is “good for restaurants and it is good for consumers”. Well, it’s good for wine consumers, not beer consumers. Not only does this law completely disrespect beer as an accompaniment to a meal, it prevents connoisseurs to enjoy a good beer with a meal considering that many restaurants in Toronto do not take the time to offer a decent beer selection.

Now I’m not saying that it should be allowed to bring a two-four of beer and sit it next to your table. Perhaps that was one of the reasons that beer was excluded from the law in the first place. But there’s no reason that the law should exclude beer that comes in the same packaging format as wine. The LCBO offers as a part of their general list 750mL bottles of Unibroue Blanche de Chambly, Maudite and Fin du Monde, and also the excellent Belgian Trappist beer Chimay. Having a bottle of one of these beers with a meal is just like having a wine. So why does the law prohibit consumers from bringing their own beer?

On the surface it seems to be just another example of wine being treated as a premium beverage over beer – that wine is meant for fine dining and beer is not. The Government of Ontario has shown in the past to favour wine over beer, and this is helps to add credence that theory. But the law also works against small and specialty brewers, who tend to be the ones who produce beer in packaging formats similar to wine.

It is nice to see restaurants such as beerbistro who work to level the playing field between beer and wine when it comes to fine dining. But there are many restaurants that just don’t seem interested in offering a good beer list. Allowing consumers to bring a bottle of beer for dinner might demonstrate to restaurateurs that a good beer list is worth maintaining. But more importantly it would give consumers the “choice” that the Government of Ontario promised when it introduced the law. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Beer connoisseurs in Ontario are let down once again.

Did you know that the LCBO offers alcohol purchase and delivery online?  I’m not sure if many people do, and it’s certainly not something that the LCBO makes a big deal of – there doesn’t seem to be any links to it from their main web site.  But at LCBOgifts.com, you can order select wine, spirits and beer online for delivery to your home.

I’m really not sure what to make of this site.  Its primary focus is encouraging gift giving, rather than simply buying booze for yourself, although non-gift set items may be purchased.  It is an extremely simplistic site – basic navigation and hardly any information about the products that are being offered.

From a beer standpoint, it’s pretty non-existent – 17 beer items are available for sale – a few gift packs (for example, the Historic Ales of Scotland) and some random 6-packs and singles.  Any serious beer fan probably wouldn’t actually order anything from the site – the selection is much greater at any decent store location.

So what’s the deal with LCBOgifts.com?  It feels like something that’s all too familiar with alcohol in Ontario – I call it the “just enough” strategy.  We’ve seen it before – the LCBO does “just enough” to answer a criticism and thereby not highlight the issue.  Take Trappist ales for example – the LCBO could be criticized for not having many Trappists.  But they do have Chimay and the odd other one through seasonal releases – thereby diffusing the issue.

It is obvious that few resources are being put into LCBOgifts.com.  The site experience is bland, the selection is terrible and it is not promoted anywhere.  Perhaps the LCBO is testing the market to see if e-commerce is something they want to invest more in.  Or perhaps its being left to die to prove that e-commerce isn’t a worthwhile for the LCBO.

The advent of e-commerce has brought selection and shopping options across a wide range of industries like never before.  This is unfortunately not the case with beer.  It is commendable that the LCBO is making an attempt – the same cannot be said for The Beer Store which has no e-commerce whatsoever.  But our beer system locks down e-commerce just like traditional retail.  Unless we push for change, we won’t see any specialty beer stores online, just like we won’t see any on the street, anytime soon.

The CBC has posted an article asking their users about their thoughts about liquor privatization.  There’s been fairly active discussion, with 52 comments posted as of Thursday morning.  Check it out here.

Thanks to Troy Burtch for the tip.

The Beer Store and its claim to be “The Ultimate Source for Beer in Ontario” is one of the most ridiculous statements imaginable.  Refuting this claim is not a difficult task, but it is a lengthy one.  Hence, this post is entitled “Part One”, and will be an ongoing series looking at The Beer Store and how they are one of the primary reasons that our beer retail system lives in the dark ages.

One of my many pet peeves with beer retailing in Ontario is the almost complete lack of beer-related merchandise sales.  Individual microbreweries in Ontario do a good job of selling extra goodies – glassware, signs, openers, coasters, etc.  But try to find your favourite foreign brewer’s branded glass and you will be out of luck.  With the exception of the LCBO’s gift packs during the holiday season, it is virtually impossible to find merchandise from brewers, especially at “The Ultimate Source for Beer”.

The Beer Store has a section of their web site dedicated to “Beer Gear”.  Keep in mind no sales are through their site, just listing what you could get in store, pending availability (there are no stock listings either).

Under the Glassware section, there are precisely two branded glasses available for purchase: pint glasses branded Molson Canadian or Budweiser.  That’s it.  You can get them with coasters, a bucket or just by themselves.  This is what represents the glassware offerings from “The Ultimate Source for Beer”.

Suffice it to say, this is completely pathetic.  Glassware is one of the many important facets to enjoying beer.  Anyone who has been to Belgium will understand how important the glass is to a beer experience.  Not only does branded merchandise such as glasses provide a nice collectible for beer lovers, it provides revenue to small brewers to help their business.  But in Ontario, our beer retail system holds back even this. It’s not just our beer that needs to be freed.  Glasses, too.

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 even got a printable PDF online if anyone would like to add their name to the petition (currently the government only accepts petitions that are hand-written).

Now although I am pleased to see a member of the provincial legislature taking up the cause about the flawed beer system that we have, let’s not forget that this is politics.  Mr. Chudleigh is a member of the opposition PC party, not the governing Liberals.  He’s also picking up the mantle from Mr. Forward, who happens to be a resident of the Halton riding.

That being said, anything that can be done to raise awareness that our beer retail system needs to be fixed is most welcome.  We’ll be paying close attention to the reaction (if any) of the government about this issue.

It’s been a little while since my last post, so it’s good to be back.  This one is about a little place you might have heard of called California.

California is the most populous state in the U.S. and home to much glamourous American culture – Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco, Napa Valley, etc.  I was able to visit for a week to L.A. in August of this year and was impressed.  I’d love to go back and hope to do so again.

California is also home to a significant wine scene, which you’ve most certainly heard of, but also a thriving beer scene, which you may not have heard of.  Two of the pioneers of craft beer have are from California – there’s the legendary Anchor brewery in San Francisco, famously saved in the 60s by Fritz Maytag, and one of the first microbreweries, Sierra Nevada in Chico.

In recent years California has seen an explosion from in the craft beer scene from across the state – AleSmith in San Diego, Lost Abbey in San Marcos, Stone in Escondido, North Coast in Fort Bragg and Russian River in Santa Rosa.  These breweries make big, bold and exciting beers, some of the finest in the U.S.

What’s a shame for Ontario beer drinkers, if you haven’t guessed by now, is that you wouldn’t know that these fantastic beers even exist when you go into your local Beer Store or LCBO.  The U.S. in general is significantly under-represented in the Ontario market, but California is especially so.

Now I know it’s a futile exercise to compare wine and beer when it comes to the LCBO.  The LCBO’s primary mandate is wine and spirits; beer is generally an afterthought.  But the LCBO offers precisely two California beers – Anchor Steam Beer (in a six-pack) and Anchor Liberty Ale (in a 650mL bottle).  They have been offered by the LCBO for a few years now, although Steam was de-listed a couple of years ago and brought back again.  The Beer Store does not support U.S. microbreweries and I don’t believe any are available there.

What is frustrating is that if one does a search for California wines on the LCBO’s web site, it returns 677 results!  One would have to assume that these results reflect the vast spectrum of California wines – different styles, regions and and quality.  This accounts for the vast majority of wine imported from the United States. The LCBO has even recently launched a “California Style” promotion that features, of course, exclusively wines.

Safe to say then that the Ontario marketplace of wine drinkers are certainly fond of California wines.  And no doubt that California’s “cool” helps push the region too.  But why no microbrewery love?  A scan of upcoming beers available through the LCBO reveals no California beers.  There is a U.S. micro-specific release in spring 2009 but no details have surfaced yet.  Even Roland + Russell, who have been doing a remarkable job of offering unique beers from around the world through private importing, do not offer any California beers.

Do the brewers of California not want to deal with Ontario, or do the drinkers of Ontario not care for Californian beers?  I would think that if given the opportunity beer lovers in Ontario would embrace the remarkable beers from California.

As we progress through fall in Ontario, and all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey, I’m still dreamin’ of California beers.

Oftentimes it’s easy to believe that if something is a certain way here, it must be that way everywhere else.  But we all know this is certainly not the case with local customs and cultures.  However, sometimes we fall into this trap when it comes to alcohol in Ontario.  Today I’m writing a new article category called Tales from Abroad.  With this I’ll offer up how other jurisdictions handle alcohol, specifically beer.  We are led to believe that the way beer is governed in Ontario is optimal and not worth changing.  Understanding how retail environments operate in other areas will show that our system is certainly not optimal.

Recently I took a trip to Chicago, Illinois.  Illinois has a private liquor system, whereby alcohol is sold in private outlets – including corner stores, grocery stores and specialty stores.  The state of Illinois does have a Liquor Control Commission, who authorizes retail and event licenses, and manages social responsibility programs including seller and server training, including underage checking.

But I want to talk about a chain of stores called Sam’s Wine & Spirits.  Sam’s has four locations in the Chicago area, and I visited the location in the South Loop of Chicago, on East Roosevelt.  Upon entering the store I encountered a fantastic selection of alcohol – wine, spirits and beer to top anything that we see in Ontario.  But the selection was not surprising, this is common in the U.S. to have private stores whose selection exceeds that of the LCBO.

What stunned me was the presence of an in-retail wine bar that Sam’s offered.  This wine bar, built into the retail space of the store, featured a high bar and multiple tables with chairs and couches.  It was very nicely designed and comfortable, facing both the racks in the store and out onto the street.

Now get this: at the wine bar, you are permitted to take anything that the store sells – be it a bottle of wine, champagne or beer, even food (they have a great selection of fine cheeses), have the bottle chilled by the wait staff and you can drink it right there in the bar.  Not only that, you pay the retail cost of the products with no markup.

Upon experiencing this it instantly became the best selection I had ever seen at a bar.  I walked up to the shelf, grabbed a Jolly Pumpkin I had never had before, had it chilled and drank it while relaxing on a couch.  It was simply incredible.  They even offered recommended drink selections and cheese plates if you can’t decide on something specific.

It was truly remarkable to see the creativity of Sam’s as a retail experience.  Why should alcohol not be able to be enjoyed where it is purchased?  This is not something that we ever see in Ontario.  We are led to believe that alcohol can only be drank in certain locations.  Buy it at the Beer Store or LCBO, take it home and enjoy it there.  Sure, the LCBO hosts tasting events but would they ever set up their own bar for people to enjoy their products on-site?  The LCBO has invested heavily in creating a sophisticated shopping experience, and this would be a natural extension of that.  I doubt, however, that we will see anything like the Sam’s wine bar in Ontario.

So remember, just because we are used to the “way things are” when it comes to alcohol in Ontario that does not mean that it should be that way.  We will only be able to enjoy an experience similar to Sam’s under an alcohol system that is more open and free.

And by the way, Sam’s also sells all their products online through their web site for home delivery.  That’s a commentary for another day.

One of the often overlooked problems with our beer system in Ontario is how the rest of our great country is generally omitted. To a casual beer drinker in Ontario, the craft beer selection consists of beers from Ontario and the rest of the world. Not, however, from the rest of Canada.

Canada has thriving microbreweries from coast to coast. Unfortunately, as an Ontario beer drinker you will rarely, if ever, have an opportunity to discover what is beyond our provincial borders, unless you physically travel out of province. The LCBO and The Beer Store simply do not offer any substantial selection from outside of Ontario.

Let’s look at the numbers for a second. The LCBO claims on its web site to offer 340 brands of beer. From a more detailed seach, the LCBO offers 15 total craft beer brands from outside of Ontario:

• Alberta: Big Rock Traditional, Warthog, Grasshopper and Pale Ale
• Quebec: Belle Gueule; Unibroue Blanche de Chambly, Maudite, Ephemere Apple, Fin du Monde; McAuslan Griffon Extra Pale, Griffon Red, St Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, St Ambroise Pale, Apricot Wheat; Messagere

15 beers. 5 breweries. 4% of the LCBO’s 340 brands available. Pretty sad. The Beer Store isn’t any better.

Where’s Tree or Spinnakers from British Columbia? Alley Kat from Alberta? Half Pints from Manitoba? Garrison and Propeller from Nova Scotia? Dieu du Ciel and La Barberie from Quebec? You have to get them in their home provinces. Taxation and trade barriers are certainly a problem – there is a lot of evidence about how provinces treat beers from within Canada but outside the home province as foreign and are therefore taxed and governed by a different set of rules.

Aside from the odd one-off release at the LCBO, out-of-province beers are an extreme rarity. Similar to the perception of U.S. craft beers, if you asked a casual drinker they probably would not even know there were interesting beers in other provinces.

In Ontario, we like to support our own brewers, and of course the major international ones. Unfortunately this support is not extended to craft brewers from the other nine provinces. That’s a damn shame.

I was tipped off to a story from Ottawa about Steve Beauchesne from Beau’s on the CBC this week (MP3 file) discussing their challenges with The Beer Store and bottle deposit returns.

Beau’s recently began offering their Lug Tread Ale in 750mL ceramic swing-top bottles at the LCBO.  This bottle is certainly a premium bottle and costs more than the standard beer bottle.  As we all know, bottles sold at the LCBO are only collected back and refund given at The Beer Store.

As Steve explains in the interview, The Beer Store is taking back the bottles when consumers are returning them, but they are refusing to give the bottles back to Beau’s.

Here is a case where our flawed beer retail system is causing harm to a local brewery.  Not only is The Beer Store discouraging innovation with their policies, but as Steve points out, they tout environmental responsibility yet the bottles are going to be destroyed rather than re-used.  Free Our Beer?  How about Free Our Bottles too. 

This will be a new feature at FreeOurBeer.org: Unavailable Beer of the Month.  This column will feature different beers from around the world that are unavailable for sale in Ontario, but might possibly be available under a private retail system if we had one.

Today I’m tasting a beer from one of the most famous breweries in the world – Cantillon.  Cantillon, located in Brussels, Belgium is renowned for their traditional lambic beers.  Lambics are truly a unique style and certainly one of my favourites.

The beer I’m trying is Rose de Gambrinus, a lambic flavoured with raspberries.  Unlike most of the lambic versions that the LCBO releases (such as Chapeau Kriek which is part of the current summer release), Cantillon’s are much more “traditional” in style – very sour and tart rather than sweet and ‘poppy’.  To some it can be an acquired taste!  The beer pours with only a slight amount of carbonation and no head.  It’s got a rich fruit flavour and an intense sourness upon sipping.  I love sour fruit and especially sour beers, and this one is one of my favourites.

This particular bottle I acquired during the famous Cantillon private order from 2003/2004.  What made this order famous is that the Cantillon Kriek was rejected for sale in Ontario due to the presence of a chemical which is acceptable in wine but not in beer.  The challenges that Cantillon were faced with has led to there not being any more private orders offered to the public since.  To my knowledge Cantillon has never been available for retail sale in Ontario.  One can, however, have Cantillon at beerbistro, who secured a private order for themselves recently.  Cantillon is regularly available for retail sale in the U.S., and can be found at Premier Gourmet in Buffalo.  

Rose de Gambrinus is representative of one of the most unique styles of beer in the world.  Under a private retail system which favours beer aficionados, this one would undoubtedly be a big hit.  Alas, as things stand right now, it is unavailable to buy and enjoy at home.