LCBO Private Ordering Successes & Failures

[El Pinguino]

Quick question here....

I work for a travel company and we will launch some new destinations later this year.

Is it even possible (and if possible, is it practical?) to arrange an order for such uncommon beers as "Three Horses" from Madagascar? (which I have had...and it's by no means terrible...and more than good enough for a corporate event where most people are used to swigging molbatt product anyways)

Cheers....

[inertiaboy]

I tried to get a quote for Bell's Expedition Stout, Kalamazoo Stout, and Two Hearted Ale from Kalamazoo Brewing Company and the supplier indicated that the products are not available for private orders.

I'm bound to get lucky one of these days...

[Kiki]

I just got back from Alberta and the staff at the liquor stores were quick to warn us about possible issues taking more than 1.5 litres of alcohol back to Ontario. It seems there was some concern about taking beer between provinces because of the provincial tax differences. However when we landed in Toronto, no even asked about the contents of our luggage or any purchases we made in Alberta. Perhaps it's different when you have to ship it.
Willow Park Liquor Store, in Calgary, said that a large order (approximately $1800) of beer that was ordered by someone for private consumption was inpounded by the BC government. The purchaser lost the order and the clerk said he was likely even fined trying to get an order of that size over the border....seems strange to me. Wouldn't one just have to pay the provincial "duty" on the shipment?

[Belgian]

Yes, our big country is a major pain about tax, so a large order would be tantamount to tax evasion for these border dorks. Why can't they just let it go and pretend it's all the same country, not like the guy was out to wreck the national economy buying all that beer. Quite the opposite effect really.

Speaking of dorks, the reason you can't get those Bells/Kalamazoo beers in Ontario is because the small brewers are given way too much hassle by Ontario over small-order distribution... so the labelling isn't bilingual, who give's a pig snot over a small order. Get a life, Ontario, and get off our backs so we can live our lives just like the EU nations in Europe do. I'm tired of paying taxes for useless inter-province regulatory BS. Talk about an archaic waste of time.

[Gunny]

the reason you can't get those Bells/Kalamazoo beers in Ontario is because the small brewers are given way too much hassle by Ontario over small-order distribution... so the labelling isn't bilingual, who give's a pig snot over a small order

No metric volumes indicated, no ABV indicated.... that's playing "Russian Roulette" and inherently dangerous!

[Belgian]

the reason you can't get those Bells/Kalamazoo beers in Ontario is because the small brewers are given way too much hassle by Ontario over small-order distribution... so the labelling isn't bilingual, who give's a pig snot over a small order

No metric volumes indicated, no ABV indicated.... that's playing "Russian Roulette" and inherently dangerous!

Ontario insults our intelligence every chance it gets. Get off it already guys, you're not saving an imperiled nation from certain doom.

[esprit]

There is no way anyone is going to be stopped from bringing alcohol from another province into Ontario if one is bringing it in personally. Last time I looked, there are no customs stations between provinces and when you fly the only people who check your bags are the security people at the departing airport...these are not customs or taxation officials so they don't care what it is you've got as long as it does not constitute a security risk. As people fly with booze (duty-free) all the time, no one will get excited about bottles of beer or wine or spirits. Now, shipping across provincial borders is another thing and any carrier (including the post office) cannot knowingly ship alcohol, however, they can ship glass vases and sculptures or anything else that might weigh the same as alcohol and, generally, they will not inspect the cartons.