Dieu du Ciel Summer Solstice take-over day - Bar Volo Aug 23

[wilco]

My issue is that they're putting DDC beers on tap before the event, which is annoying after I've paid $20 to get into Volo for the event

[rfrf]

perhaps there's extra kegs of those particular ones?

[lister]

yep. because the LCBO and Kathleen Wynne care about opening up our liquor market.

Hey, feel free to accept the status quo. God knows there are lots of folks who do. I'd prefer not.

not arguing with you. it's just been a decade old battle of banging our heads against a brick wall and a majority government turning a blind eye to what (some) consumers want and what (some) financial forecasters state is pure stupidity.

Wynne showed that her stance was a non-issue during the election. voters didn't care. so, now what?

Why lump the two issues together? Separate out the keg import issue from the much larger reform of the LCBO, TBS and private sales. Easier to chip away at the individual issues. Who's going to complain about opening up importing kegs beyond the four existing companies that do it?

[Cass]

Totally agree. The keg issue is a big one that really nobody except those in the industry know about, but it affects all fans of craft beer.

I'm trying to get some info and hopefully cast a light on the issue in the next little while.

[ercousin]

yep. because the LCBO and Kathleen Wynne care about opening up our liquor market.

Hey, feel free to accept the status quo. God knows there are lots of folks who do. I'd prefer not.

not arguing with you. it's just been a decade old battle of banging our heads against a brick wall and a majority government turning a blind eye to what (some) consumers want and what (some) financial forecasters state is pure stupidity.

Wynne showed that her stance was a non-issue during the election. voters didn't care. so, now what?

LCBO reform was a non-issue in the election because no major party supported opening up the market. Hudak backed out when he released his platform, and on his own took beer off the table for election issues.

[JerCraigs]

Went to the 12-5 session yesterday and had a good time. Tickets included $8 worth of tokens so actual admission cost was $10.

So $10 bought me:
- guaranteed admission
- not having to line up an hour early to know that I would get in
- fewer people in the room and therefore shorter lines for beer and room to relax

At least one of the beers available was one I have been trying to get my hands on for over a year so that was pretty cool. I don't know what Session 2 was like but for me, paying $10 to not have to show up crazy early to *maybe* get into an event, and to have crowd levels be at a comfortable level was well worth $10.

Are there different ways to do it? Sure. Is there a way to run it that will please everyone? Nope.

[jrenihan]

I agree with JerCraigs. To me, it is well worth an admission fee for a comfortable environment where you can easily get a seat and beer lineups are short. It was a great lineup of DDC beers. Terrific stuff. Very excitd for Zwanze next month.
Ren

[atomeyes]

Volo's DdC event compared to their first tap takeover 4ish years ago? night and day.
having 100+ people inside Volo is so manageable. you can sit, walk around, wait a max 5 minutes for a beer.
totally worth the price of admission. so $15 plus 2 free drink tokens. cost of admission really isn't much. and then the bar's closed for 1 hr between sessions (i.e. lost revenue) to clean up.

the neat/funny thing about Volo events? you see the same faces most times.

i also had the smoked meat sandwich. fucking killer. seriously, better than any smoked meat sammy i've had. such a nice amount of smoke and good chunks of fat. please don't tell me that it was just a Schnieders' smoked meat re-heated.

[lister]

i also had the smoked meat sandwich. fucking killer. seriously, better than any smoked meat sammy i've had. such a nice amount of smoke and good chunks of fat. please don't tell me that it was just a Schnieders' smoked meat re-heated.

I've reached the point where I think I'm going to stop bothering with smoked meat here in Toronto. Caplanskys has been better since the opening of the restaurant however I've missed the Monarch version. Fed up with the lackluster options I dug up a smoked meat recipe on chowhound and rolled my own mixing Montreal smoked meat and Texas brisket together sort of like what Caplanskys Monarch version was. Due to time and whereabouts constraints, I just got a single point cut brisket, dry cured it for five days, dry rubbed it for unfortunately only two hours, gave it a good smoke for three hours, steamed it in the oven and then steamed it again the next day for eating. That was my first time cutting a brisket so it was a bit of a hack job in parts.





FANTASTIC! The rub had a really nice peppery zing to it. The fat was incredibly soft. Man that made some good eats! Though I'd smoke even longer next time.

[FEUO]

Ug, this is why 4 of DDC's taps at their brewpub were open.

On the pricing note, I have had DDC and other QC beers at other bars around the city and have never paid what they were charging per oz at Volo.

[Belgian]

On the pricing note, I have had DDC and other QC beers at other bars around the city and have never paid what they were charging per oz at Volo.

Wonder if they're cost-spreading the pricey exotic kegs with the more 'common' DDC beers you've see cheaper elsewhere (which were introduced here by Volo in the first place).

Sure you can try 100s of Quebec beers if you go to Montreal, and it's a great way to do it cheaply. But for Toronto these type of Bar Volo events are still a bit of a 'unicorn.'

[atomeyes]

Ug, this is why 4 of DDC's taps at their brewpub were open.

On the pricing note, I have had DDC and other QC beers at other bars around the city and have never paid what they were charging per oz at Volo.

the kegs weren't one-offs, but there were 2 BA kegs on tap. you can barely find the BA bottles in Ontario (or Quebec), never mind being on tap.

not gonna complain about the pricing. an event's an event and i'll continue to pay to go to some of Volo's events because, heck, they're worth it in my books

[atomeyes]

Fed up with the lackluster options I dug up a smoked meat recipe on chowhound and ...

that looks fucking killer. debating about getting a smoker so i can some some things once in a while. smoking a brisket would be a dream.

[lister]

Fed up with the lackluster options I dug up a smoked meat recipe on chowhound and ...

that looks fucking killer. debating about getting a smoker so i can some some things once in a while. smoking a brisket would be a dream.

I've done a brisket Texas-style one time before on a natural gas BBQ and got pretty good results for a first time. I got bark which was great but parts of the brisket were way too dry. So with trying Toronto Smoked Meat for the first time I kept my expectations on the low side but was absolutely ecstatic when I first cut into it and tried a piece.

I'm just using a stove top smoker too as I can't have a BBQ or anything out on our balcony. Aside from a lack of bark, I can do some pretty good smoked food on it easily surpassing many BBQ places here in the GTA. It helps of course that we can do exactly what we like. I have a family member that has a BBQ restaurant and I personally think I do better stuff but I keep that quietly to myself.

If I ever find myself owning some actual land I'm definitely going to look into getting a real smoker. I'd be happy as a pig in shit if I could devote most of my day to just doing BBQ and homebrewing.

[Roland + Russell]

Hey Guys,

I wanted to come on Bar Towel and clarify a few things regarding the price of imported draught beer on behalf of Bar Volo, Keep6 Imports and Dieu Du Ciel!. Its important for me to share this information so everyone can understand why the cost of imported draught beer you pay for at bars and restaurants is high in Ontario.

All imported draught beer (imported being anything produced outside of Ontario, Quebec included) must pass through one of five "keg distributors" that have been appointed by the LCBO. The five distributors include: The Beer Store, Diageo, Premier Brands, Premium Beer Company and believe the last one is Sleeman but could be wrong about that.

These five distributors are in an exclusive contract with the LCBO and all kegs that are imported into Ontario must be received, warehoused, delivered and invoiced by one of these companies. For the record, these companies also operate as agencies themselves and choose what to mark up on every keg for third party agencies (Im not going to share exact numbers, but this is what makes the keg price quite high). That being said, its important to understand that all imported beer you purchase on tap in Ontario passes five levels of mark ups. The brewery, agent/importer, LCBO, keg distributor and the bar/restaurant.

What does this all mean? By the time one imported keg is sold to Volo or any licensee, the cost is just over double what the brewery has charged the LCBO. On average, this makes all imported kegs double what local breweries are charging. For example, an average price for a 30L of beer from a local Ontario brewer is $140 and a keg of DDC would be approx. $240. There is also the cost of transporting full kegs from the brewery to the keg distributors warehouse and the return of all empty kegs. All of which is factored into the landed price. The LCBO also only ships keg beer by the full container load. For many small breweries who are exporting small quantities will have no choice to pay for full container loads even though an order might take up 1/4 the container. LCBO will not consolidate keg orders with cases of beer or any other products.

For us to make these events happen and sell any imported draught beer, we have to cost the pricing accordingly. Despite the criticism we receive about the pricing of beer at our events, understand that we are genuinely passionate about growing the beer scene in Ontario and are not in the business to rip anyone off. When we calculate our pricing, we try to be as fair and as competitive as possible. Over the last 10 years we have tirelessly been battling the system (along with many other importers) to make all these events happen. This is also the case for all the imported beers at Cask Days. Unfortunately, until our alcohol laws change, if you want to drink imported beer, its going to cost. Generally, imported beer is expensive in almost every major city i've been to in North America.

I hope this sheds some light on the pricing and if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me directly. tom@barvolo.com

Cheers,

Thank you Tom for an equally insightful and courageous post on this troubling situation. We too have been affected by this indefensible situation. The status quo is simply unacceptable for agencies such as yours and ours as well as for the foreign producers and the consumers in Ontario.

We would argue that even those who are not into beer would deem this unfair from a standpoint of transparency and due diligence on the part of a government entity. As far as we know there have never been any tenders for this. We have been approached to speak on the record by media and have declined hoping that a fair and open solution can be designed and implemented from within the industry. Let's hope that we will make some progress in this area soon.

Cheers to you all.