I came to this forum as a member of homebrewtalk.com so naturally I'm going to make my first thread relevant to beer.
In short, I CANNOT STAND the LCBO!!!!!! I live in Sault Ste. Marie, which is considered to be in northern Ontario. The ideology of beer drinkers in northern Ontario is as follows:
- the cheapest beer is the best beer
- Alexander Kieth's is a premium beer (and an accurate reflection of an IPA)
- Busch Light is a great beer
- beer that is hopped tastes skunky
- the cheaper the beer the better
Because of this, my options when it comes to trying different brews is EXTREMELY limited, for two reasons:
- the one store that isn't owned by the gov't and can decide what to put on its shelves is owned by the major breweries and charges exorbitant fees to any independent breweries who may want to sell in their stores (The Beer Store/Brewer's Retail)
- the LCBO here, that carries the complete series of Dan Aykroyd and Pelee Island wines as though they're a terrific novelty, stocks its beer section with Coors Light, Groelsch, and a few other European imports, but rarely an Ontario beer, in spite of the growing micro-brewery scene in southern Ontario
The last point is especially difficult for me to understand since the LCBO is owned by the Ontario gov't and you'd think they'd be doing everything they could to promote Ontario businesses by stocking their products. Is the concern that the beer won't sell and will expire on the shelf? Well here's a question - how many people in Sault Ste. Marie are drinking Negro Modelo? A: Maybe 3 out of the 75,000 who live here, and only when it's on sale and they're offering Air Miles on the purchase. Yet there it is everytime I go in to hope they've mixed it up a little and stocked something a little different.
So, what have I done to overcome the government's efforts to have me drinking cold-filtered lagers for the rest of my life? I've been spending my $$$ across the river in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, buying beer at the corner store there that carries a decent selection of Michigan micro-brews, as well as some from other states. I absolutely love it in the sense that I can take a 15-20 minute drive and be in possession of 2 six-packs of Short's Black Cherry Porter (and fill up my truck for .40c a litre less than I can here, but that's another story) but it drives me nuts that I'm not supporting the Ontario breweries, because I can't!
Ok, angry rant complete. Thoughts anyone??
-jjmclell