Your globetrotting liquor reporter visited Niagara Falls for the wedding of an old college buddy last month, and what a weekend it was!
As per tradition, the bridesmaids became more desperately aware of their unmarried status with each passing hour, leading to much post-party debauchery with your humble narrator, who wisely went stag to the event.
In between a series of shameful snogging sessions with flustered bridesmaids, your intrepid liquor reporter made the time to slip out to visit a few of the local wineries in the Niagara region, Canada’s most productive wine growing area.
However, a man can only drink so much wine in a weekend, so I did have to a make a trip to the infamous Ontario Beer Store, the privately held oligopoly that controls 80% of the beer distribution and sales for the Ontario market.
Like many Canadians, my first exposure to The Beer Store was in the quintessentially Canadian movie Strange Brew, starring none other than Bob & Doug McKenzie.
For those not fortunate enough to have seen the movie, or perhaps spent any time in Onterrible, The Beer Store was set up in 1927, just after Prohibition ended in Canada.
The provincial government of the time was still wary of upsetting the overly shrill and uptight teetotaler demographic, so they agreed that all beer sales in the province would be handled through a single entity.
Not wanting to sully their own hands with such a tawdry venture, the government outsourced to the task to The Beer Store, made of up a conglomerate of large Canadian brewers.
Well, at least they were Canadian brewers at the time. Today, The Beer Store is entirely foreign-owned, with 49% controlled by Molson (now owned by Coors), 49% by Labatt (now owned by Belgium-based InBev), and a whopping 2% by Sleeman’s (now owned by Tokyo-based Sapporo).
The government-run LCBO stores are the only places to buy wine and spirits, and there is even a small beer selection at the government liquor stores. However, The Beer Store controls 80% of the Ontario beer market, all the way from manufacturing, distribution, and sales.
The more cynical readers in the audience may muse to themselves that it would seem a conflict of interest for The Beer Store, which is privately owned by 3 giant brewers, to make it particularly easy for their competitors to sell their wares on the same shelves as the beers from the brewers that own The Beer Store.
Well, in the case, the cynical folk are probably right. It costs up to $25,000 in listing fees just to get province-wide distribution of a particular beer into The Beer Store. If you are a brewer that happens to have four different beers, you’ll be paying up to $25,000 for each brand. And that’s just the fee to get a listing and distribution! There are still per-bottle charges that The Beer Store takes off the top of each bottle sold.
This really burns the barley of the small brewers, who essentially have to pay their cutthroat competitors for the privilege of getting their beer on the shelves. Unsurprisingly, brands controlled by or affiliated with Molson / Labatt / Sleeman don’t have to pay all these fees, as they own The Beer Store.
Many hardworking beer drinkers in Ontario are growing weary of this arrangement, especially when they peer across the border to Quebec, where they see beer prices are significantly lower, and can be purchased in 6000 mom & pop convenience stores across La Belle Provence.
Indeed, Quebec has long held the most liberal and European-inspired attitude towards wine and beer in all of North America. During the dark days of Prohibition in both the USA and Canada, Quebec was the one shining light in the darkness where it was always legal to get a drink.
So, gentle reader, lift your pint glass in appreciation that King Ralph privatized liquor retailing in Alberta back in 1993, so the new drinkers of today have no memory of the dingy monopoly-run warehouses with poor selection and even worse customer service.
Maybe one day our Ontario brethren will throw off the shackles of The Beer Store oligopoly. Until then, show them your sympathy by doing what they cannot – picking up a cold six-pack of the craft beer of your choice at your friendly neighbourhood booze merchant!
