The Bar Towel

It's probably illegal. It's probably a stupid law, so I'm fine with people flaunting it.

Craig wrote:It's probably illegal. It's probably a stupid law, so I'm fine with people flaunting it.

I suspect Mr. Hill would not approve of some rando brewery linking themselves to Hill Farmstead in this manner.

portwood wrote:

Gavin wrote:Yeah, I assumed the latter as well...and it doesn't bother me at all.

Not too familiar with the finer points of Ontario booze laws but someone pointed out earlier today on twiter that the latter practice is illegal - i.e. they cannot sell bottles they "brought back" from a trip to another brewery

I know of a bar that lost their liquor license because of this.

Hopefully the good stuff is enjoyed before the liquor inspectors kick down the door.

portwood wrote:

Gavin wrote:Yeah, I assumed the latter as well...and it doesn't bother me at all.

Not too familiar with the finer points of Ontario booze laws but someone pointed out earlier today on twiter that the latter practice is illegal - i.e. they cannot sell bottles they "brought back" from a trip to another brewery

Oh yeah, I assumed that it was illegal. I don't care about that either.

Have it from a good source that the event is on the up and up.

sprague11 wrote:Have it from a good source that the event is on the up and up.

HF might be 'ok' with RR serving their beer, but in order for it to be truly legit the beer would have to go through the LCBO. All beer entering the province and made available at a licensed establishment does.

No one can bring back alcohol on their own and have it at a licensed establishment - only private consumption.

Unless there's some loophole they've found or I'm mistaken. But I have asked if I can go and get booze from Buffalo (with brewery approval) for a licensee and I got a big no.

I suppose it's possible the beer did go through the LCBO. I think someone asked them on twitter what the deal was and I didn't see a response as of a couple of days ago.

I think I figured it out. They're trying to provoke an overreaction from the authorities to be used as a publicity stunt to raise awareness for their bar and the oppressive alcohol regulations in the province.

beerstodiscover wrote:I think I figured it out. They're trying to provoke an overreaction from the authorities to be used as a publicity stunt to raise awareness for their bar and the oppressive alcohol regulations in the province.

I hope this is the case! I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations with bar owners/brewers/etc. about how crazy the rules are, but nobody dares to actually break them.

I'm reminded of the story about Sam Calagione which was that when he started Dogfish brewing was illegal in Delaware. He did it anyway and the rules got changed. I don't see that kind of thing happening much in rule-abiding Ontario!

I asked, the tasting is being done legally. Apparently you can get around it by making it a ticketed tasting event, which is what they've done. They say they have plans to do similar events with other drivable US breweries, eventually.

Craig wrote:I asked, the tasting is being done legally. Apparently you can get around it by making it a ticketed tasting event, which is what they've done. They say they have plans to do similar events with other drivable US breweries, eventually.

I hope so