boney wrote:As someone who drinks all styles of beer year round, I hate the way the myopic way the LCBO organizes seasonal releases based on styles. Nevermind some fairly bland offerings, but 7/10 beers are stouts and porters. Now I love stouts and porters, but aside from spiced Christmas Ales and Halloween Pumpkin beers, I can't make a good argument, beyond dogma, why a particular season needs to be associated with particular beer styles. I think the lack of variety probably shoots the LCBO in the foot in terms of causual beer drinkers who may be more inclined to try a wider variety of beers, rather than needing to tick 7 stouts and porters.
I find myself having less and less reason to visit any LCBO when there are more than 2 dozen local breweries that I can drive to that have at least as interesting seasonal selections (as a group) compared to whatever is in the LCBO, not to mention travelling to Buffalo.
I agree with you. They should set aside at least 1/4 of the spots for other styles not traditionally associated with that season. In addition, they should pay careful attention to the beers that are "hot" in the micro brew community, so that these breweries are rewarded for their latest efforts. Lastly, they should vastly expand this program to include more seasonal beers; there is no conceivable reason why one of the largest monopolies of booze retail in the world isn't able to bring in at least 50 new seasonal beers, instead of the usual and meager 10-20. They need to revamp this program a bit and include way more input from the craft community.