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Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 11:41 am
by JeffPorter
S. St. Jeb wrote:Troy Burtch of Great Lakes speaks to the issue.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as ... -1.4776223
Does Ontario MPP Randy Hillier really think that Great Lakes are "pretentious snobs" for not participating?
I guess BMW would be the same for not selling a $15,000 entry level car.
Yeah - I realized last night there actually seems to be quiet a lot of anger building with people who support this initiative. I think they’re realizing it’s not going to go anywhere.
A lot of what I saw on Twitter was “I don’t drink beer, but I think this is a great idea.” And I’m all, sweetheart, the only way this thing works if either a) the people who are already consuming budget brands consume a lot more and/or b) budget brands attract new customers.
Jordan said it best obviously, but I feel like I’m in The twilight zone, being this left-of-centre guy explaining capitalism to FordNation.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 11:44 am
by JeffPorter
JeffPorter wrote:S. St. Jeb wrote:Troy Burtch of Great Lakes speaks to the issue.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as ... -1.4776223
Does Ontario MPP Randy Hillier really think that Great Lakes are "pretentious snobs" for not participating?
I guess BMW would be the same for not selling a $15,000 entry level car.
Yeah - I realized last night there actually seems to be quiet a lot of anger building with people who support this initiative. I think they’re realizing it’s not going to go anywhere.
A lot of what I saw on Twitter was “I don’t drink beer, but I think this is a great idea.” And I’m all, sweetheart, the only way this thing works if either a) the people who are already consuming budget brands consume a lot more and/or b) budget brands attract new customers.
Jordan said it best obviously, but I feel like I’m in The twilight zone, being this left-of-centre Special Education teacher explaining rudimentary capitalism to FordNation.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 11:45 am
by JeffPorter
Oops...I quoted myself...see what I mean? Twilight Zone!
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 2:11 pm
by Blasphomet
I whole lot of nonsense, this.
I will happily drink buck-a-beer swill while gladly supporting my favourite crafts, whom I never for one moment expected to lower their quality or price. Did anyone? Did the crafties think we thought they would? Because we didn't. They need to stop getting their knickers in a know and calling it a bad thing for beer, because it isn't. We pay far too much for shit beer. I want my shit Busch for cheepy cheep k pls and tks.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:12 pm
by S. St. Jeb
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 5:28 pm
by darmokandjalad
Blasphomet wrote: We pay far too much for shit beer. I want my shit Busch for cheepy cheep k pls and tks.
Why would AB-InBev want to voluntarily reduce their profit margins? Busch is already one of the top ten selling beers in the province. They're not going to turn a successful brand into a loss leader just because Doug wants to look good in front of Ford Nation.
Even if Ford reduces the price floor, there's no reason to believe that InBev won't simply scoop up the difference. They already know that they can sell Busch at $2 a can, so why change it?
And no, no one was really expecting craft breweries to hop onto the buck a beer bandwagon. If the macros couldn't leverage their economy of scale to make that strategy profitable, there's no reason to believe that a smaller craft brewery would do any better at it.
I wish Barley Days the best of luck, but to be honest I think this has more to do with BD wanting to get their name out there, moreso than them believing that buck-a-beer will improve their income. Like JeffPorter, I too had no idea that Barley Days was still in operation, so something tells me they'll take any attention they can get.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 8:05 pm
by JeffPorter
That’s just it - we all assumed it would be the big guys to play this game.
Prime real estate in LC stores and advertising? That sounds totally aimed at small brewers, why would companies who literally own their own points of purchase be tempted by that? I would be surprised if this Loon Lager wasn’t the only buck a beer.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:58 pm
by Blasphomet
darmokandjalad wrote:Blasphomet wrote: We pay far too much for shit beer. I want my shit Busch for cheepy cheep k pls and tks.
Why would AB-InBev want to voluntarily reduce their profit margins? Busch is already one of the top ten selling beers in the province. They're not going to turn a successful brand into a loss leader just because Doug wants to look good in front of Ford Nation.
I know, and I don't actually expect them to. And I don't care. I just think it's lol how up in arms everyone is getting over this like it matters. Only the ignorant actually expect their craft and fave macros to be lowered to a dollar. So who cares.
To me it's mostly a non topic that craft brewers shouldn't even be responding to. Or having to defend themselves against. But I get it, they do have to get out in front of it because there are people that don't get it. I did speak with someone though who mentioned that at a recent festival, craft beer heads actualy were expecting their beer to be cheaper. So dumb.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:26 pm
by beerstodiscover
While I'm sure every craft brewery would love less regulation, the whole concept of 'buck a beer' is antithetical to craft beer, and possibly even a threat to the growth of craft.
In this case, actual $1 beers may never surface again in Ontario, but Ford is propping up the notion of cheap suds, where the price matters more than the beer.
So, I can see how craft brewers would not support such an initiative. As others have mentioned, Great Lakes and Dominion City have made statements to this effect, and it makes perfect sense. Not too sure why Barley Days would support such a notion.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 6:51 pm
by seangm
beerstodiscover wrote:While I'm sure every craft brewery would love less regulation, the whole concept of 'buck a beer' is antithetical to craft beer, and possibly even a threat to the growth of craft.
In this case, actual $1 beers may never surface again in Ontario, but Ford is propping up the notion of cheap suds, where the price matters more than the beer.
So, I can see how craft brewers would not support such an initiative. As others have mentioned, Great Lakes and Dominion City have made statements to this effect, and it makes perfect sense. Not too sure why Barley Days would support such a notion.
Free advertising is no doubt why Barley Days supports the initiative, like others here have mentioned they've no doubt fallen off the radar for many. Based on the press release I read their buck-a-beer Loon Lager is described as "while supplies last". This isn't a true return of buck-a-beer, rather it'll be a marketing gimmick produced at a loss that might gain them some brand recognition. Based on the amount of taxes and cost to produce beer I highly doubt they can actually turn a profit or even break even at that price point, especially since it'll be canned too (increased aluminum tarriffs). I have a feeling once the dust settles it'll be the first and last buck-a-beer produced in Ontario.
The amount of new customers they might gain with this will probably be balanced out by the people turned off by this stunt, and then when they inevitably have to stop producing Loon Lager I have a sneaking suspicion the dollar beer customers they attracted won't be interested in purchasing Barley Days beers at their actual prices (i.e. a lot more than a buck-a-beer).
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:01 am
by BigBob
I didn’t drink buck-a-beer back then and I’m unlikely to start now but I don’t feel the need to express my feelings about an election result by denying buck-a-beer to someone else. We are the exceptions here. Yes, it is a stereotype but beer largely remains the working man’s drink. Let him save a few dollars if he wants.
Having said that, I have been to Barley Days and I found their products harmless and I did like the Scrimshaw so I might give it a go, at the risk of my street cred.
It should be noted that elsewhere on this site I seem to recall reading a BTer breaking down the cost per ml of different IPAs so it is not just the macro-swillers who are counting their nickels.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:44 pm
by darmokandjalad
BigBob wrote:... denying buck-a-beer to someone else.
Has anyone actually suggested that? Expressing justifiable doubt that many producers will be interested in making buck a beer is not the same as saying "we shouldn't have buck a beer".
BTers are just being realistic. The financial incentives for buck a beer are simply not there, and short of bribing brewers to participate there is not much Ford can do to change that. A few brewers (like BD) may hop on anyway, hoping to exchange a short-term loss for long-term name recognition. Dominion's response is the best by far.
Being able to discern when someone is peddling bullshit right to your face is a valuable life skill. This is true regardless of who you voted for. This was never anything more than red meat for Ford Nation, an obvious popularity stunt... one that probably isn't going to get off the ground anyway because of (hilariously enough) how capitalism works.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:00 pm
by seangm
BigBob wrote:I didn’t drink buck-a-beer back then and I’m unlikely to start now but I don’t feel the need to express my feelings about an election result by denying buck-a-beer to someone else. We are the exceptions here. Yes, it is a stereotype but beer largely remains the working man’s drink. Let him save a few dollars if he wants.
Having said that, I have been to Barley Days and I found their products harmless and I did like the Scrimshaw so I might give it a go, at the risk of my street cred.
It should be noted that elsewhere on this site I seem to recall reading a BTer breaking down the cost per ml of different IPAs so it is not just the macro-swillers who are counting their nickels.
Raising the price floor won't do anything to reduce brewers' costs to produce a beer though. $1.00, $1.25, the beer still costs the exact same as it did before this announcement (in fact, no one is even selling at the current price floor of $1.25 right now). Best case scenario is breweries, like Barley Days, come out with new beers designed to hit a buck. However based on the taxes alone it sounds like they'll be producing it at a loss, and will be totally unsustainable in the long term. If beers like Lucky Lager and Lakeport cost $1.48 today I am extremely skeptical that a small brewer like Barley Days can actually break even or turn a profit at a buck- especially since it'll be canned, prices of which are going up due to the tariffs.
This isn't about denying a group of drinkers buck-a-beer, it's about the completely facetious and misleading information behind this "challenge".
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:02 pm
by S. St. Jeb
^ The last two posts....well said.
BigBob wrote:It should be noted that elsewhere on this site I seem to recall reading a BTer breaking down the cost per ml of different IPAs so it is not just the macro-swillers who are counting their nickels.
I don't want to pay any more for beer than I have too. I'm sure everyone feels that way. But I'd like to think I'm realistic about what is costs to make the beer I like. Yes, if I evaluated two beers as being equal in every way, then a price difference may ultimately be a deciding factor in which one I purchased.
Re: Doug Ford
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:38 pm
by S. St. Jeb
There are new LCBO listings for Barley Days Harvest Gold, and Loyalist Lager. Coincidence, or planned and they're using this 'buck a beer' thing just to get some (needed) publicity?