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NB Liquor growler program

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S. St. Jeb
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NB Liquor growler program

Post by S. St. Jeb »


rejtable
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Post by rejtable »

“We [Petit Sault] are the third largest brewery in New Brunswick,” she said.
That can't be even close to being true unless she doesn't consider Moosehead to be a brewery in NB. Moosehead... Pump House and Picaroons would be bajillions of times bigger than them.

And their growler beef is probably somewhat legit, but surely NBers have to take the good (growlers of different beer in NBLC) with the bad (many of the taps taken over by macro).

From what I've seen probably the most legit beef folks have had is with the Fred store using a Picaroons tap and the Moncton/Dieppe store using a Pump House tap. That's just stupid.

It wasn't a perfect rollout by any means, but I think it's hard to look at it and not think that it's at least moved the goalposts a few inches towards "better".

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

rejtable wrote:
“We [Petit Sault] are the third largest brewery in New Brunswick,” she said.
That can't be even close to being true unless she doesn't consider Moosehead to be a brewery in NB. Moosehead... Pump House and Picaroons would be bajillions of times bigger than them.
I suspect that she meant - or said, and was misquoted - that they are the third largest craft/micro brewery in the province. Which I believe is accurate. From what I've read, Petit Sault opened with a fairly large operation, which would likely place them at #3 behind Pump House and Picaroons.
rejtable wrote:And their growler beef is probably somewhat legit, but surely NBers have to take the good (growlers of different beer in NBLC) with the bad (many of the taps taken over by macro).
Why should they have to take the bad?

This is a program with only 12 taps split between only 4 locations in the whole province, and it was originally pitched by ANBL as being intended to support local breweries.

Giving even one of those taps to ANY non-NB brewery is patently unfair to the small breweries in the province. Giving taps to AB-InBev and/or Molson is more than just unfair, it's a massive insult to both the small local breweries and NB beer drinkers.

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

I just checked the ANBL website and found the list of what was being poured on the growler taps last week:

---

Dieppe - Moncton
Picaroons Winter Warmer
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Creemore Springs Premium Lager

Fredericton
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Pump House Muddy River Stout
Rogue American Amber Ale

KV – Saint John
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Samuel Adams Seasonal Winter Lager
Hop City Barking Squirrel

Sackville
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Rogue American Amber Ale
Pump House IPA

---

So we have 4 of the 12 available taps given over to the same beer from a Maine brewery, 2 with the same Rogue brand, 1 with a Molson-owned brand, and 2 with Moosehead-owned/distributed brands.

That leaves 3 taps for true local craft beers, and those 3 are given to Picaroons and Pump House, the 2 largest craft brewers in NB.

So much for supporting the province's small breweries, eh? :roll:

rejtable
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Post by rejtable »

GregClow wrote:
Why should they have to take the bad?
Well, of course they don't "have" to. Was just an expression. I mean, they can not drink. Or not drink from growlers. They do have choices, you're right.


GregClow wrote:This is a program with only 12 taps split between only 4 locations in the whole province, and it was originally pitched by ANBL as being intended to support local breweries.
I don't think this underlined stuff is true at all. No quotes I can find from ANBL link this exclusively or even mainly as some small brewery aid program. It was clear from the get-go that this would involve imports.

This initiative came about after the extremely dumb/clumsy/evil "policy" decision that was going to shut out folks like Petit Sault from selling growlers at all. Whatever ANBL said or didn't say before or after the roll out was just another in a long line of foolishness.
GregClow wrote:Giving even one of those taps to ANY non-NB brewery is patently unfair to the small breweries in the province. Giving taps to AB-InBev and/or Molson is more than just unfair, it's a massive insult to both the small local breweries and NB beer drinkers.
Massive insult? People in NB can now buy beer in growlers in a few liquor stores and they couldn't before. Some of that beer is interesting, and some of it is stuff they couldn't buy before. Sure, some (al lot?) of the beer being sold is garbage, but that's no less insulting than the other 95% of the beer they sell now that is garbage.

The growler program is just another beer sales avenue. It has good beer and bad beer. It's been rolled out kind of clumsily (is that a word?). It's not ideal, but it's certainly no worse than the rest of the way beer is sold in NB.

I agree that the growler program there is less ideal than it could be. But an "insult"?

Would it have better had it been rolled out with only taps flowing with great craft beer? Of course. [/quote]

rejtable
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Post by rejtable »

GregClow wrote:I just checked the ANBL website and found the list of what was being poured on the growler taps last week:

---

Dieppe - Moncton
Picaroons Winter Warmer
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Creemore Springs Premium Lager

Fredericton
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Pump House Muddy River Stout
Rogue American Amber Ale

KV – Saint John
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Samuel Adams Seasonal Winter Lager
Hop City Barking Squirrel

Sackville
Shipyard Gingerbread Head Ale
Rogue American Amber Ale
Pump House IPA

---

So we have 4 of the 12 available taps given over to the same beer from a Maine brewery, 2 with the same Rogue brand, 1 with a Molson-owned brand, and 2 with Moosehead-owned/distributed brands.

That leaves 3 taps for true local craft beers, and those 3 are given to Picaroons and Pump House, the 2 largest craft brewers in NB.

So much for supporting the province's small breweries, eh? :roll:
Greg, where is this "NB-only" promise you seem to have in your head? I don't see it.

And I don't see how you can look at that tap list and not like what you see overall. Could it be better? Of course, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Those are a bunch of reasonably interesting beer choices that weren't available to NBers 8 months ago.

midlife crisis
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Post by midlife crisis »

Now here is something the LCBO could do to improve our lives immediately. Give us growlers! To hell with splitting hairs with TBS over who can sell 12 packs. Think outside the 6-12-24 box. Apparently even the macros will participate, if pushed. Not that I want them, but just sayin'.

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Belgian
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Post by Belgian »

GregClow wrote:I suspect that she meant - or said, and was misquoted - that they are the third largest craft/micro brewery...
I wonder who is the fifth-largest nano brewery over there? :-?
In Beerum Veritas

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