LCBO Autumn Import / Halloween / Ontario Release 2017

[JerCraigs]

BRUNSWICK BIER WORKS INC | Weihenstephan Vitus | 3.95 | 500 | 7.7

Brewed in Toronto?

Same thing with Omnipollo I believe. That's the Craft Brand Co. guys - they're contract brewing their repped brands locally at their own brewery.

So is $3.95 expensive then? Or a deal? What did it go for when it was coming from Europe?

[seangm]

BRUNSWICK BIER WORKS INC | Weihenstephan Vitus | 3.95 | 500 | 7.7

Brewed in Toronto?

Same thing with Omnipollo I believe. That's the Craft Brand Co. guys - they're contract brewing their repped brands locally at their own brewery.

So is $3.95 expensive then? Or a deal? What did it go for when it was coming from Europe?

Not quite sure when this listing is from, but apparently $3.70: http://lcbosearch.com/products/265140-w ... aner-vitus. An article I found from 2012 had it at $3.10 when it arrived back then, so $3.95 seems reasonable.

I am quite intrigued by Brunswick Bierworks, reading through their website is interesting. It appears they plan on doing collaboration brews in addition to contract brewing/recreating international recipes locally. They've listed some info about a collaboration brew with La Trappe on their Facebook page that seems to be something unique. Definitely a cool concept.

[cratez]

Looking forward to these:

Imported:
HET ANKER NV | Cuvee van de Keizer Rood | 9.95 | 750 | 10
TO OL APS | Black Ball | 4.95 | 500 | 8
THE THORNBRIDGE HALL COUNTRY H | Thornbridge Eldon Bourbon Oak Imperial Stout | 3.65 | 330 | 8

Halloween:
DUVEL MOORTGAT USA, LTD | Boulevard Funkier Pumpkin | 16.95 | 750 | 8.5
CENTRAL CITY BREWERS + DISTILL | Central City Imperial Pumpkin Ale | 7.95 | 650 | 8
COLLECTIVE ARTS BREWING LIMITE | Collective Arts Project Sour Harvest Saison | 3.45 | 473 | 5

Ontario:
FORKED RIVER BREWING CORP. | Forked River Flanders Red | 8.95 | 500 | 6.7
THE PUBLICAN'S HOUSE LIMITED | O'Leerie Stout | 3 | 473 | 4.6
REFINED FOOL BREWING COMPANY I | Suburban Menace, American Amber Ale | 5.95 | 650 | 5.7
JUNCTION CRAFT BREWING | Junction Black Lager | 2.85 | 473 | 5.1
COLLECTIVE ARTS BREWING LIMITE | Collective Arts Project IPA No. 4 | 3.45 | 473 | 7.1

But overall this is a disappointing release. Really wish they would bring Pumking back.

[CraftBrandChris]

BRUNSWICK BIER WORKS INC | Weihenstephan Vitus | 3.95 | 500 | 7.7

Brewed in Toronto?

Same thing with Omnipollo I believe. That's the Craft Brand Co. guys - they're contract brewing their repped brands locally at their own brewery.

It's actually being imported from Weihenstephaner as per usual. It was just submitted into NISS through the Brunswick license. There was a collab done with La Trappe that is being launched when the tap room there opens this fall.

[CraftBrandChris]

too bad we cant get Dragons Milk in the smaller size format (they have it in 4 packs in the states)

I guess Great Divide Yeti is part of the winter release?

The bomber of Dragon's Milk is the one that they have made compliant for the LCBO, it would take a reworking of another label/package so we are a little limited in what format can be shipped.

Yeti is part of the winter call.

[spinrsx]

What format will Yeti be in? Bombers like the Dragons Milk?

too bad we cant get Dragons Milk in the smaller size format (they have it in 4 packs in the states)

I guess Great Divide Yeti is part of the winter release?

The bomber of Dragon's Milk is the one that they have made compliant for the LCBO, it would take a reworking of another label/package so we are a little limited in what format can be shipped.

Yeti is part of the winter call.

[lister]

But overall this is a disappointing release. Really wish they would bring Pumking back.

I enjoy many of Southern Tier's products however I bumped into one of the Southern Tier Directors of Brewing & Quality earlier this year at Bar Hop 2. Southern Tier itself couldn't justify have their product at the LCBO. He said something about the dollar exchange (which is kind of strange considering it favours the USA) and something else. Time has made that memory a little blurry. I expressed my disappointment.

[Craig]

But overall this is a disappointing release. Really wish they would bring Pumking back.

I enjoy many of Southern Tier's products however I bumped into one of the Southern Tier Directors of Brewing & Quality earlier this year at Bar Hop 2. Southern Tier itself couldn't justify have their product at the LCBO. He said something about the dollar exchange (which is kind of strange considering it favours the USA) and something else. Time has made that memory a little blurry. I expressed my disappointment.

The dollar exchange doesn't favour US producers. They have to charge higher prices here to get the same amount of US currency as they get at home.

[DeMarco]

But overall this is a disappointing release. Really wish they would bring Pumking back.

I enjoy many of Southern Tier's products however I bumped into one of the Southern Tier Directors of Brewing & Quality earlier this year at Bar Hop 2. Southern Tier itself couldn't justify have their product at the LCBO. He said something about the dollar exchange (which is kind of strange considering it favours the USA) and something else. Time has made that memory a little blurry. I expressed my disappointment.

The dollar exchange doesn't favour US producers. They have to charge higher prices here to get the same amount of US currency as they get at home.

On the other hand, collective arts/nicklebrook/flying monkeys can be seen stateside and that would definitely favour them with the american dollar.

[cratez]

I enjoy many of Southern Tier's products, however I bumped into one of the Southern Tier Directors of Brewing & Quality earlier this year at Bar Hop 2. Southern Tier itself couldn't justify hav(ing) their product(s) at the LCBO. He said something about the dollar exchange (which is kind of strange considering it favours the USA) and something else. Time has made that memory a little blurry. I expressed my disappointment.

The exchange thing doesn't sound quite right but I can understand why it may not be worth it for them to export to Ontario and deal with the LCBO. I just did the brewery tour a few weeks ago and they said they plan to double their production in the next couple of years just to meet domestic demand. So it could be similar to when Dogfish pulled out of Ontario a few years ago i.e. they're so busy trying to meet growing US demand they can't really bother with foreign jurisdictions (especially ones with onerous regulations). It's unfortunate to see them gone as I enjoyed most of the special releases they sent here (Pumking, Choklat, Gemini, etc).

[Belgian]

however I bumped into one of the Southern Tier Directors of Brewing & Quality earlier this year at Bar Hop 2. Southern Tier itself couldn't justify have their product at the LCBO. He said something about the dollar exchange (which is kind of strange considering it favours the USA) and something else.

Not really - it sounds like ST can't justify dropping their sell price enough to make up for the LCBO's sudden shortfall in margin, and if I'm not mistaken the LC basically dictate the proposed supplier sell price in order to target a specific shelf price at a set markup. Sometimes they come back and tell the supplier to charge more than they would just to maintain 'Socially Responsible' store prices here.

Exchange could mess with that. As long as the CAD was anywhere near parity with USD the LC could import anything without worrying about exchange, but now that our dollar is low the LC can just bail if their usual markup formula doesn't work. Where else you gonna shop?

[CraftBrandChris]

What format will Yeti be in? Bombers like the Dragons Milk?

too bad we cant get Dragons Milk in the smaller size format (they have it in 4 packs in the states)

I guess Great Divide Yeti is part of the winter release?

The bomber of Dragon's Milk is the one that they have made compliant for the LCBO, it would take a reworking of another label/package so we are a little limited in what format can be shipped.

Yeti is part of the winter call.

Yeti is in a Bomber too but if things go good we would look to perhaps convert if over to another format.

[S M A]

...if I'm not mistaken the LC basically dictate the proposed supplier sell price in order to target a specific shelf price at a set markup.
....
Exchange could mess with that.

Definitely agree that they exert pricing and term pressure, although it can't be as simple as them just dictating price. Like for this fall's Boulevard one (and Saison Brett), they're not ~$19 just because the BO says so.

Regardless, the exchange has to make it less favorable for US breweries to be in Ontario. I'd think that it's only because of the BO's pricing pressure that we don't feel that more (so far).

Does anyone else wonder how long they're going to keep bringing in some of the more specialty brews? Seems a lot don't sell well, and individual stores are getting quicker and quicker to discount them. I got a whole bunch of Jolly Pumpkin Oro last week for $8.50 each. Bons Voeux is another good example. Great for now, but hard to see breweries wanting to keep taking the hit for the discounts, or even stores wanting to keep bringing a lot of riskier stuff in.

[darmokandjalad]

Does anyone else wonder how long they're going to keep bringing in some of the more specialty brews? Seems a lot don't sell well, and individual stores are getting quicker and quicker to discount them. I got a whole bunch of Jolly Pumpkin Oro last week for $8.50 each. Bons Voeux is another good example. Great for now, but hard to see breweries wanting to keep taking the hit for the discounts, or even stores wanting to keep bringing a lot of riskier stuff in.

I think this is just a result of poor stock allocation. Looking through the LCBO inventory, Ottawa (and eastern Ontario in general) seems to be really overstocked with Oro de Calabaza for some reason. E.g. St. Isidore, a town of less than 1000 people, has multiple cases in stock, which at face value looks pretty silly - maybe they're hoping Quebecers will cross the border to get some JP? Or I guess it could just be a private order.

I bet if they had allocated more stock to areas such as Toronto proper (not the suburbs) or the KWC-Guelph area - neither of which seem to have much in the way of lingering stock - there wouldn't be so much of it lying around. There are only so many people per city/region willing to fork over the cash for ultra-premium beers such as Oro, and judging from the inventory count Ottawa is totally over-saturated.

[portwood]

I bet if they had allocated more stock to areas such as Toronto proper (not the suburbs) ...

I'd be ok if all the good stuff was stocked only in hipster 'Tranna as long as they also made everything available for online ordering for the rest of us rednecks in farm country