Three years ago next week, the Ontario Government received a report which itself commissioned to review the distribution and sale of alcohol in the province. This was called the Beverage Alcohol System Review, the full report available online. The lead finding from this report was “the consumer would get greater convenience and choice and would benefit from a competitive retail environment“.

On the very same day, the Finance Minister Greg Sorbara outright rejected the report with little explanation or justification. There seems to have been nothing from this ministry since that news release.

It’s time as consumers that we speak up and let the government know that our retail system, specifically for beer, is severely flawed. Let’s raise a glass to freeing our beer.

Recently I came across an article, still online, written by Stephen Beaumont entitled “The Trials of Beer Buying”.  Stephen is one of the most respected beer writers around, an successful author in both the printed and virtual worlds.

In this article he discusses the ownership of The Beer Store and suggests some changes that could be made to improve things from a consumer perspective.  Reading this article, now over 10 years old, I realize how little has changed.

Think of how culture and society has evolved since December 1997.  Not so much change when it comes to The Beer Store unfortunately.

You can read Stephen’s article here.

Contrary to what you might believe from the look of it, The Beer Store is not a government organization.  It sure looks like one – the bland store layouts, lack of shopping experience, functional ordering procedure, etc.  But it is a private enterprise, and one of, if not the most archaic retail dinosaurs in our society.  The Beer Store is operated by Brewers Retail Inc., a government-sanctioned company which is owned by Molson, Labatt and Sleeman, a.k.a. MolsonCoors, InBev and Sapporo.  We’ll have more on The Beer Store as we go.  In the meantime, please see this excellent Beer Store ownership overview from the recent series about The Beer Store from the Toronto Star.

Ontario’s beer retail system is flawed.  At least it is, from a craft beer point of view.  That’s what this site is going to be about.  In Ontario, it is not necessarily easy to be a craft beer fan.  The province’s beer retail sales are tightly controlled, and it does not benefit beer fans.  FreeOurBeer.org will explore Ontario’s retail sales system and how we can work towards changing it.  Stay tuned, keep reading and please participate – it’s going to take a lot of us to make a difference.

The Toronto Star ran a series of articles over the past few days entitled “Bad Brew” – shedding some light on the problems with the beer retail system in Ontario.  Be sure to give them a read:

Part I: The real reason your beer costs more than it should

Part II: Cornering the beer market

Part II: Express stores hurt small brewers

Part III: Ontarians thirsty for answers

Video: Bad Brew series