If you’ve been sleeping all day and haven’t heard, there’s been some beer news.
On January 7, 2015, The Beer Store announced that they would be “opening up ownership opportunities” to all Ontario breweries.
You can read the full scoop over on blogTO where I broke it all down the morning it happened.
Since the news broke, there’s been a veritable shit storm of activity as people reacted and responded to the news. At first, the news seemed like a PR masterstroke. The Beer Store changed the conversation that had largely been about their unfair monopoly up until now and instead issued what would surely be seen as a great step forward for Ontario beer. Right?
Well, not so much.
Reaction has been pretty swift and not all that supportive. People aren’t taking too kindly to the Beer Store, arguably the source of the problem, opting to be the solution to the problem and the move has come off as, at best, a token gesture and, at worst, insulting.
Here’s a round-up of the fallout:
TV and Radio
Jason Fisher of the Indie Alehouse really got the fun started this morning by responding on AM1010 with Jerry Agar (skip to 39:38) and then The Beer Store’s Jeff Newton joined Jerry and got pretty roundly flustered. Lovely stuff.
- The Ontario’s Craft Brewers, who evidently weren’t consulted on this move, issued a statement late this afternoon that was essentially “WTF.”
- City News Toronto chatted with Great Lakes Brewery’s Peter Bulut Jr.
- Peter also appeared on Global News alongside Beer Writer Crystal Luxmore.
- Later on Global, the clip of Peter ran again, and Leslie Roberts chatted with Jason Fisher.
- CTV chatted Beer Writer Stephen Beaumont and, you guessed, it Peter Bulut Jr. Man that guy gets around!
- Steve Beauchesne of Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company chatted with the CBC’s Lorenda Reddicop.
- John Romano, co-founder of Better Bitters Brewing in Burlington chatted with CHCH.
- Steve also chatted with CBC Radio’s As it Happens (skip to 7:10)
- Jason Fisher was on The Exchange with Amanda Lang on CBC last night.
- Jason was also on The Morning Show on Global
- And, running neck and neck with Peter for media darling this week, Jason also went on CBC’s Metro Morning Radio Thursday.
Print Media Coverage
- Beer Store says it will open up ownership to all Ontario-based brewers CTV News Ottawa
- Ontario brewers say Beer Store changes don’t go far enough CP24
- Beer Store opens ownership to Ontario-based brewers City News Toronto
- Foreign-owned Beer Store says it will open up ownership to all Ontario-based brewers National Post
- Beer Store’s move to open up ownership deemed ‘self-serving’ The Globe and Mail
- Ontario craft brewers balk at Beer Store offer Ottawa Citizen
- Beer Store opens ownership to all Ontario-based brewers CBC
- The Beer Store to open up ownership to craft breweries Toronto Star
- Beer Token Gesture Torontoist
- Craft Brewers mixed on Beer Store Ottawa Sun
Photo by Robin LeBlanc
The Blogs
- Craft Brewers Not Consulted on Beer Store proposal Crystal Luxmore
- My obligatory The Beer Store critique Toronto Beer Blog
- A Word of Advice for Ontario Breweries… St. John’s Wort
In the interest of keeping the conversation going and maintaining a resource for everyone to share in the fun, please share your links or news schedule tips as comments here.
Ben's Beer Blog 
Hey thanks for the shout out Ben! I’d hardly say Jeff was flustered, Jerry is about as irate as Bill O’Reilly on a good day.
It’s no secret that there is a sweet spot in Newstalk 1010’s cold little heart for Indie Ale House, and they will relentlessly attack anyone from TBS in order to protect it (I’d be surprised if they weren’t blood brothers for God’s sake). Christ, he even insinuated that you have to drink “special kool-aid” to work here. Sounds like a level headed guy….
Funny, you mention Kool-Aid, Ally…
What is your point exactly?
Haha! Ally! Ally works for the Beer Store everyone.
Clearly. What’s with you people thinking everything is a secret. Get over it and stop being so miserable!
You can add me on CTV at 6:00, Ben.
Just watched Doug Pengely from Junction Craft call the announcement “lipstick on a pig” on CP24.
Spat my coffee out on that one!
I liken this step by TBS to be the worst PR bungle since Ghomeshi!
GLB
CityTV – 5 and 6pm
CTV – 6pm
Global 6pm
I think this was a pretty good attempt by TBS, even if it does fail. Here’s the strategy:
– Bring some (many?) of the small brewers into TBS.
– Give them some cheaper listings, “ownership” and nominal seats on the board where they can’t cause any harm
– Now they feel like they’re part of the system.
– They’ll be on the inside pissing out instead of on the outside pissing in.
– The “craft brewer” lobby is now neutralized
The remainder of the anti-monopoly lobby is, with the exception of OCSA, diffuse. From a political point of view, diffuse opposition is meaningless. It doesn’t raise money, and doesn’t move votes. Mission accomplished.
How do I listen to the AM 1010 interview?
On an iPhone. Nothing shows up to play it..
Hmm. It’s embedded here. If you google Jerry Agar 1010, he’s got a list of shows you can listen to, but you might have the same issue again on your iPhone.