The Bar Towel

My obsessive monitoring of the Crossroads LCBO clearance section has finally yielded a little payoff today.

Spotted:
-Several cases of Malheur 10. 330 ml bottles @ $2.45 each. BB "05/07/15". I'm hoping the final two digits are the year. Does anyone know for sure?

-About a case of TDD Shawinigan Handshake. 375 ml bottles @ $2.75 each. Date code says "14/06/13", which I'm pretty sure means they were bottled in June 14, 2013.

-As someone else mentioned in another post, there are also mountains of La Castel Beer and "33" Export for $1.35 apiece, which have been on the floor for months.

-I also picked up two single 330 ml bottles of Maredsous Triple and Blonde. They are a few months past the best before dates (04/14 and 05/14) but decided to buy them anyways at $3.75 apiece. Hopefully they held up OK. Those were the only two bottles of Maredsous I saw.

I'll update this post whenever I see anything else pop up.

Why would the lcbo have malheur? Private order?

spinrsx wrote:Why would the lcbo have malheur? Private order?

Weston gets the private orders that go unclaimed. They just didn't have anything good that came their way for a long time. But whenever they get something, the prices are usually outstanding.

I picked up a bottle of The Three Brewers Triple from Crossroads clearance this week. Since I only saw the one bottle I didn't bother to post about it. I also got a bottle of Tequila from the clearance section.

Usually there is nothing there beer wise but sometimes you get a treat.

I had no idea Three Brewers even bottled beer or sold anything outside their brewpubs.

Picked up Malheur just now. Thanks for the tip OP. As the CSR was ready to scan, I told him this won't be possible with a clearance item. He thanked me for saving him time, put some code in and it came up to $1.35/bottle! I guess the general incompetence and lack of BO employee training are , occasionally, a good thing after all.

Lukie wrote:

spinrsx wrote:Why would the lcbo have malheur? Private order?

Weston gets the private orders that go unclaimed. They just didn't have anything good that came their way for a long time. But whenever they get something, the prices are usually outstanding.

This is indeed great. In my experience all private orders are partially prepaid, so the defaulted orders are not refunded, and those savings are passed on to the final purchaser. If they in fact charge it, that is...

Lukie wrote:

spinrsx wrote:Why would the lcbo have malheur? Private order?

Weston gets the private orders that go unclaimed. They just didn't have anything good that came their way for a long time. But whenever they get something, the prices are usually outstanding.

The prices are usually good but the beer is almost always old. For some styles it is not an issue but I remember buying Amnesiac ( pun fully intended ) several years back. I was new to IPA at the time and had no idea what a difference freshness made. They were a pale shadow of what they should have been. The La Triple I bought this week was well past its BB date. Having not tried it fresh I can't comment on how it affected the taste. The Malheur sounds like a little aging wouldn't be a problem, I think I will go get some since Crossroads is my go to store anyways. As an aside, I love that they are open until 11pm. It is always entertaining going in late on a Saturday night!

toweringpine wrote:

Lukie wrote:

spinrsx wrote:Why would the lcbo have malheur? Private order?

Weston gets the private orders that go unclaimed. They just didn't have anything good that came their way for a long time. But whenever they get something, the prices are usually outstanding.

The prices are usually good but the beer is almost always old. For some styles it is not an issue but I remember buying Amnesiac ( pun fully intended ) several years back. I was new to IPA at the time and had no idea what a difference freshness made. They were a pale shadow of what they should have been. The La Triple I bought this week was well past its BB date. Having not tried it fresh I can't comment on how it affected the taste. The Malheur sounds like a little aging wouldn't be a problem, I think I will go get some since Crossroads is my go to store anyways. As an aside, I love that they are open until 11pm. It is always entertaining going in late on a Saturday night!

Yeah that store is lively. I've seen bottles being broken over people's heads, gang retaliations, lots of theft, lots of police, hookers/lawyers soliciting in the parking lot and of course Rob Ford who used to be quite a regular fixture there. Anyways, the Malheur is tasting superb, but I'm a sucker for tripels.

Agreed, the Malheur is tasting alright. Mine cost $2.35 and required a picture from my phone to prove I didn't open a six pack and a visit to the manager's office before I could buy it.

It looks like I unfortunately got the only competent cashier at Crossroads. I even asked to get a discount on the expired Maredsous bottles but was denied.

I love this location for it's hours, decent selection and the cast of characters there offers a nice sideshow. It can be a bit chaotic getting in and out with the buskers/paralegals/salespeople/riffraff outside but I usually avoid it all by parking to the left of the entrance, close to Home Outfitters.

I was there today and they still had 4 - 5 cases. Ended up being $1.35 per bottle. What a steal!! I work in that parking lot, and there's always fun stuff going down. =D

You will get a different price on this beer (either $1.35 or $2.45) depending on the cashier. If they simply punch in their private order code it will be the lower price, unless they over ride it to $2.45. My feeling is that the latter price is correct, since the bottles that came from the first few cases, had that price affixed on them, unless they changed it and only decided to tell a few of the employees. The moment of helplessness and baffled faces when encountering a bottle they cannot scan, is alone worth buying this beer for.

Lukie wrote:The moment of helplessness and baffled faces when encountering a bottle they cannot scan, is alone worth buying this beer for.

The confused faces can be entertaining but the accusations of breaking open a case or other subterfuge and dirty looks by the rest of the people in line while you take ten minutes to buy the beer is rather infuriating. If they are going to sell the product then the staff really should know how to ring it in.

Spotted about 5 cases of Cuvee Van De Keizer (750 ml) last night priced at $7.50 each. I'm pretty sure this is leftover stock from the winter release, which sold for 30¢ more.

Update as of Sept 30 there's about 12 bottles left and they've been marked down to $6.50 apiece.

Just spotted: De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis (Hell & Damnation).

Priced $3.50 per 330 ml bottle. Bottled Nov 2012. "Enjoy within 25 years." Two full cases on the shelf, minus the two bottles I picked up. Get 'em quick!