LCBO Beau's Brewery Feature

MatttthewGeorge · Post by **MatttthewGeorge** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:47 pm

Kekumba wrote:The Beau's crew are the nicest people I've met in the beer industry. Not kidding. It's half the reason I still bother with them. They love their brand and product they've put a lot of effort into. So, I'm surprised they'd send anyone a testy email regarding their product, but one person is one person...I don't know the context behind it. They're really great people.

+1

Ukie · Post by **Ukie** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:22 pm

spinrsx wrote:on the bright side, people in Ottawa will finally get their hands on the 'brewery feature' beers before the people in Toronto

Actually what will happen is they will use the "Coal to Newcastle" logic and not feature any Ottawa stores and instead 2 stores in Hamilton will be part of the feature......oh goody!

The Mick · Post by **The Mick** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:33 pm

Kekumba wrote:The Beau's crew are the nicest people I've met in the beer industry. Not kidding. It's half the reason I still bother with them. They love their brand and product they've put a lot of effort into. So, I'm surprised they'd send anyone a testy email regarding their product, but one person is one person...I don't know the context behind it. They're really great people.

They are awesome people, no doubt about it. So are a lot of other mediocre breweries, and I think that is a major contributing factor to the problem Chris is talking about in another thread in the Random Talk section. Bar taps and LCBO shelves are being taken up by the 'nice' guys, not the best guys.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:57 pm

The Mick wrote:
They are awesome people, no doubt about it. So are a lot of other mediocre breweries, and I think that is a major contributing factor to the problem Chris is talking about in another thread in the Random Talk section. Bar taps and LCBO shelves are being taken up by the 'nice' guys, not the best guys.

With all due respect, there is absolutely no evidence for that assertion. LCBO lists and de-lists based on sales figures. Beaus sells, much as that disappoints some of you.

ChrisK · Post by **ChrisK** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:40 pm

All very interesting styles that can easily be ruined by poor execution. I think the Saison stands the best chance for success as their Patio Saison was great, but an old ale and wheatwine could get mucked up quite easily. Overall I probably wouldn't buy any of them given the opportunity.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:45 pm

ChrisK wrote: I think the Saison stands the best chance for success as their Patio Saison was great

you are the first person ive heard say this, are you talking about the bottles that were in the best of beaus pack or did you get it somewhere else?

sofakingdrunk · Post by **sofakingdrunk** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:23 am

I want to love Beaus, i really do, but the only thing they seem to do consistantly is dissapoint me. I love the idea and the passion they seem to have, but their product(s) just don't do it for me. I love the fact that they are always trying something different, and i understand that you can't hit a home run every time. At $10 per 600ml, you better be delivering something special, and for me, Beaus beers at that price are unbelievable. At that price per ml, I can think of hundreds of beers off the top of my head that blow Beaus out of the water. That being said, i've had my fair share of their beer, most bought through lcbo, but a couple only available at the brewery that were obtained by friends. Not a fan of their only regular offering(although there's nothing wrong with it) and i've only had maybe 2 others that i felt justified in spending the $4.95-$6.95(whatever it may have been) on the beer. I forget the name, but i really enjoyed a coffee amber ale that they did and Dark Helmut, which i think was a shwarzbier? which was really nice. I highly doubt I'll even consider buying any of this release.

Until they change their format or lower the prices or improve the quality I think I'll just give them a miss. I can't justify being burned by a mediocre, or usually worse beer when for the same price i could have bought something far superior and had change left over.

I think I'd be more inclined to take a chance on a 6-pack format for around $13-14 than one bottle for $4.95-$10. It doesn't seem like such a rip off to me, and if I don't care for it, at least i can share the rest of the pack.
I don't want to rip on them, and i wish them well.....just for me at this point in time I think I'm done with them.

ChrisK · Post by **ChrisK** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 2:36 pm

matt7215 wrote:
ChrisK wrote: I think the Saison stands the best chance for success as their Patio Saison was great
you are the first person ive heard say this, are you talking about the bottles that were in the best of beaus pack or did you get it somewhere else?

From the best of pack. I thought the Patio Saison was the best of the 4 and probably would have bought more had it been available on its own.

spinrsx · Post by **spinrsx** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:28 pm

beau's reminds me of Saranac/Matt brewing a little bit. Countless varieties of beer, and all of them just average

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 10:52 pm

spinrsx wrote:beau's reminds me of Saranac/Matt brewing a little bit. Countless varieties of beer, and all of them just average

I arrive at the point where I want to let other people be a brewery's guinea pig & stay willing to try what people say is good.

I think Beau's made a few one-off saisons and one was very dry and tasty, something I'd re-buy no question. I can always use those but brewers tend to make them too sweet.

Ale's What Cures Ya · Tue Feb 18, 2014 11:34 pm

How do we go from Founders to Beau's?

Beau's is bland and boring. The go-to for college kids "in the know" that have just made a half step up from Heineken and talk about how much they love craft beer like Rickard's White.

Waste of a release.

Blasphomet · Post by **Blasphomet** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:03 pm

Beau's brews beers for unknowing first-timers and rips them off in the process.

Did i meantion Beau's can go fuck themselves and I hope they are reading this?

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:27 pm

I am sure that the LCBO must have some sort of annual Can-Con percentage for these brewery features, but I can't blame Beau's for jumping on it. They market extremely well even if they don't make mind blowing beers, and that's what concern's the LC the most

codfishh · Post by **codfishh** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 12:55 pm

I understand the lack of excitement for a local ontario brewery feature. I'd feel the same if the brewery were Great Lakes or Amsterdam. It's stuff we can get regularly and not necessarily mind blowing.

IMHO they make decent beer they have hits and misses, whether you like the beer or not is not a mark on the quality as there beers are generally pretty clean in my experience. Being from Ottawa I've had the opportunity to try quite a few of them. The regular offerings I feel are pretty reasonable at $4.35 for a 600ml, I quite enjoy the festivale and the night marzen.

Comparing this to the founders release I don't feel is exactly fair, all the founders beers are regular list beers for founders. The fact that we don't get them in Ontario is what causes the excitement, they are probably still priced higher than they are in the states, which is the case for a lot of things, and of course they are pretty great beers as well.

The beau's beers for this release are all special one offs and thus they tie up brewery space, require additional ingredient purchases of the organic variety, and for the most part just cost the brewery more to brew. $10 a bottle in my mind is still a bit of a stretch, although this is something that I feel Muskoka had a strong hand in with the pricing of their seasonal releases, and they proved the market could bare it. A brewery is afterall a business.

Blasphomet, I'd love to read your email to Beau's and their response to it. I've read a number critiques of the Beau's beers and the response if there was one has always been very courteous and professional. For a brewery with such a successful public relations I find it surprising that you received a response that was anything but professional. Not saying you didn't, just that it would seem very out of character.

This is probably the first LCBO release where a brewery has tried to brew all one offs for the release. You gotta give them points for trying at least.

napoleon · Post by **napoleon** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:23 am

squeaky wrote:I don't think I've ever had a strong beer from Beau's, I wonder how they'll stack up?

If by "strong" beer you mean strong as in well-brewed/successful then I'm totally on your side. Beau's has been one of the most consistently disappointing breweries for me since moving to Canada. Their bog water (yes I know it's a gruit) is an apt name for that beer and most of their line. I'll be passing at $10 a bottle as well.