The Bar Towel

You know those bottles you get at the Liquor Store like Aventinus, Chimay, Morrocan Ale and several of the special releases? All of them are not returnable to either the Liquor Store or Beer Store. However, the label on them says Québec 5¢ or 20¢ (for bottles 500ML or larger).

Has anyone brought in any of these returnable bottles to Québec? Can you just pop in to your local gas station for your refund or should you go to an SAQ?

I prefer bringing them to Québec for "Re-use" rather than to throw it in my bin for "Recycling".


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DAN-D-MAN on 2004-03-14 14:42 ]</font>

You, Kramer and Newman should get together....

I bet that doesn't stop them from charging a deposit on those bottles, does it? Most recycling places here in NS don't even check to see where the bottle was purchased. The first time I dropped off some outsiders, I noticed that the staff person at the recycling place was really looking over a few of the bottles. I thought they were looking to see if it was bought in NS, so I said something. But apparently they just hadn't seen the bottle before and were fascinated by it.

As long as it is an ISB (Industry standard bottle) you can get your deposit back here in Ontario.

Most of the time, the SAQ will give you a hard time when you are returning imports, especially if they are not on sale in their store...even if you bought it in another SAQ (during the good old days there was an excellent selection).

An interesting note, if you have bombers (660 mL) and you rip off labels, the depanneur which sell in this format (Belle Gueule which is common) will give you 20 cents and 30 cents for the Unibroue 750 mL.

Not so Jeremy!

I was bringing back a bunch of empties to a Beer Store in Markham and when he saw the Black Oak Nut Brown label (on the Industry Standard Bottle as you say), he would not take them. He had never heard of a "Black Oak Brewery". Yet, the Black Oak bottles that had Nutcraker Porter in them without any labels were accepted no problem.

When I explained that the brewery was from Oakville, he looked it up on his list of acceptable breweries (not bottle types) and finally found Black Oak. He then gladly accepted the bottles.

While going through the bottles I have at home for my Québec run, I noticed that about a dozen of them are ISB, such as McAuslan Pumpkin, McAuslan Scotch Ale, some Black Horse and so on. I have them all soaking in my laundry tub until the labels fall off! It's madness I tell ya!

As for the other Québec bottles I have, they ARE non-standard bottle sizes, however the labels say Québec refund 20 cents. And that is my question... If the label says I can get a refund in Québec, can I get a refund and if so where?

I can't be the first person here that's brought back empties to Québec!

Whenever we have a supplier who is prepared to design a Canadian label, we put the Quebec deposit declaration on them even though the chances of selling that beer in Quebec are slim to none and, to date, we have not sold a single one of any such beers in Quebec so the Quebec deposit declaration does not necessarily mean that it is sold in Quebec or is refundable.

On 2004-03-15 09:52, DAN-D-MAN wrote:
Not so Jeremy! I was bringing back a bunch of empties to a Beer Store in Markham and when he saw the Black Oak Nut Brown label (on the Industry Standard Bottle as you say), he would not take them.

I have returned a range of ISBs (Garrison, Quebec Micros, BC micros etc.) without a problem. It might depend on the person you are dealing with, but there is no reasonable grounds to turn them away. Especially, since as you say, if the labels were off you wouldn't have a problem.

That said, I once saw a Beer Store employee reject a guys empty Moosehead bottle because the top was chipped slightly.

On 2004-03-15 09:36, Lubiere wrote:
An interesting note, if you have bombers (660 mL) and you rip off labels, the depanneur which sell in this format (Belle Gueule which is common) will give you 20 cents and 30 cents for the Unibroue 750 mL.

I could be wrong, but I think the local bomber users (Trafalgar, Robinsons) charge 25 cents so it would be easier to return them there.