How can we get Dogfish Head...

Steady Eddy · Post by **Steady Eddy** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:35 pm

Hello, I am new to this forum, but I imagine similar discussions to this have occurred here in the past. I have over the past couple of years been introduced to the vast amount of beers from Belgium, Germany and especially the microbrews from the U.S.A., thanks to my beer connoisseur brother in law. (I'm sure there are many more excellent Canadian microbrews out there but I can't try them because the LCBO does not carry them.) Needless to say, I can no longer drink regular generic lagers that are available in the average Toronto bar. I have been to Cafe Volo, Sarah's, Cafe Brussel, etc., and while they do indeed carry many tasty brews, we all know how much we pay for it when the bill comes at the end of the night!
To overcome this financial dilemma, I now often prefer to buy a few nice beers from the Liquor Store and just have a quiet night of sipping (sometimes a lot of sipping) at home. The problem I have now with this is that the small selection of good beer is no longer satisfying my palette. How can we get more Belgians and U.S. microbrews such as Dogfish Head, Allagash, Rapscallion, etc. readily available on the shelves of the Beer or Liquor Store? Is this even possible, or are we as Ontarians forever doomed to the narrow-minded bureacracy of the LCBO, who thinks if it's not transparent and in a green bottle nobody will buy it?
I need hop healing!

Does anyone know of any local microwbrews that are comparable in creativity to those listed above that are not carried by the LCBO? I think I need to start ordering directly from the source!

Cheers Y'all!

old faithful · Post by **old faithful** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:29 pm

The Beer Store has a superb selection of microbrewed beers. Start with Sergeant Major IPA (also available at some LCBO's), Wellington County Ale or Imperial Stout, Creemore, Muskoka Cream Ale and other beers from that source, Cameron's Lager or Auburn Ale, and the list goes on and on. By virtue of being unpasteurised and regionally made these are better than most imports. This is real beer, we have it right here and it is as good as the world's best and often better.

Gary

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:11 am

Steady, our company, Esprit Agencies, brings in close to 40 different beers through the LCBO's Consignment program including many hard to get Belgians. We also regularly do special private orders (we're putting to bed the most recent which is for Rogue products). We are agents for Dogfish Head but, at the moment, they are not selling to Canada. In fact, most U.S. micros don't want to jump through the hoops necessary to do what amounts to insignificant business in Canada.
In any case, if you want to be in on our offers of Belgian, U.S., U.K. and Germany specialty beers, e-mail us at esprit@primus.ca and we'll add you to our growing mailing list of beer lovers.

Steady Eddy · Post by **Steady Eddy** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 12:39 pm

Old Faithful, thanks for the suggestions, it is true that we have some great beer here at home and I have tried many of those that you listed. Unfortunately, in my opinion most of those beers do not come anywhere close in terms of flavour complexity to some other beers I have tried in recent months. I have to admit however, I have not tried Sergeant Major or Wellington so I will definitely give those a try. It's not that I don't believe there are great Canadian brewers, I just don't think they're given a fair shot on the shelves of the LCBO or Beer Store, Church-Key for example.

Esprit, thanks for the heads up, I will now be on that list. That's too bad about Rogue, I really enjoyed their Yellow Snow Ale.

Thanks for the replies
Cheers

PRMason · Post by **PRMason** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 2:42 pm

Steady Eddy,
Just to clarify, if you're looking for the Sgt. Major's IPA, its only available at the LCBO right now. Toronto area locations: Queen's Quay, Yonge& Summerhill, Yonge&Davisville, Wilson& Dufferin, Bayview Village, Crossroads, Mavis&Dundas(mississauga). We hope to have more locations very soon.
Cheers and good hunting.
Perry

old faithful · Post by **old faithful** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 3:46 pm

Oh look I'm a big supporter of quality imports. I buy them every week. I'm just saying we also have great micros that are (in my opinion) as good but of course no two beers are alike and it is great to have the diversity. Thus, I enjoy, say, Fuller 1845 but Portside Amber made in Oakville is very similar in my view both stylistically and in quality. In German-style beers we have Dunkel (so far a draft product), Denison's Wheat Beer (ditto), Brick Bock, Eisbock and others. It is true Belgian beers don't really have an analogue here, that is the one style I'd say where that applies and even that is not really so if we factor in the Unibroue beers from Quebec.

In my view the more good beers there are the more they help each other.

Gary

Steady Eddy · Post by **Steady Eddy** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 4:08 pm

In my view the more good beers there are the more they help each other.

Exactly, we need more! more! more!

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:51 pm

Eddy, I don't understand your comment "that's too bad about Rogue". The LCBO is regularly buying Rogue products and we've got a private order in the works for many Bartowellers which includes a lot of never before seen Rogue products..there's nothing too bad about it and you must have mis-read something. What did you think I meant?

Peter

Steady Eddy · Post by **Steady Eddy** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 11:47 pm

we're putting to bed the most recent which is for Rogue products

I thought when you said "putting to bed", you meant you were not doing it anymore, that's all. Obviously this is not the case. I also have not seen Rogue products such as the Yellow Snow Ale or the Chocolate Stout at the LCBO the last few times I've been so I was thinking maybe they decided not to bring it in anymore.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 10:00 am

Steady Eddy wrote:I also have not seen Rogue products such as the Yellow Snow Ale or the Chocolate Stout at the LCBO the last few times I've been so I was thinking maybe they decided not to bring it in anymore.

Eddy, all of the Rogue products that the LCBO has carried in recent years have been part of their limited seasonal promotions. So they are only available at selected stores, and only for a limited time (although for some beers that don't sell as well, that "limited time" can extend beyond the official length of the promotion, which is usually 2-3 months). That's why the Rogue beers come and go.

Manul · Post by **Manul** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:10 pm

On the same note Peter, is there a chance we will see Stone Brewing products (e.g. Ruination IPA, Double Bastard, ...) in Ontario? I am tired of explaining myself at the customs everytime I return from states with a case of those.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:34 pm

Manul wrote:On the same note Peter, is there a chance we will see Stone Brewing products (e.g. Ruination IPA, Double Bastard, ...) in Ontario? I am tired of explaining myself at the customs everytime I return from states with a case of those.

I don't believe Stone are willing to ship to Ontario. Do a search of the forums for more details. I have not gotten any response to private orders through the LCBO from them either.

Manul · Post by **Manul** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:42 pm

Now I despise LCBO more than ever...

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:55 pm

Geoffrey and I spoke to the Stone people at the Great American Beer Festival in October of last year and they indicated that Canada was not even on the horizon for them as they were not yet nationally distributed in the U.S. and didn't yet have the production capacity to do that. So, jumping through hoops like Canadian labelling, etc....was of no interest to them.

JWalter · Post by **JWalter** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 11:20 pm

Just adding my cents - Steady - You might want to consider treks down to Premier Gourmet in Buffalo... http://www.bartowel.com/premier.phtml

Let us know what your favourite Styles / Brews are, and I'm sure we can recommend some decent Canadian alternatives... I would love to be able to get more US Brews more easily as well, but to be honest, I'm now enjoying Sgt. Majors, Mill St, Black Oak so much that I don't long for Sierra Nevada Pale like I used to