Northern Brewing Woes

[pootz]

I have been following the progress ( or lack of it) of Bill Sharpe in his bid to make-over Northern Breweries in Lakeport's image....a dismal failure of a business plan from the outset... which I predicted would tank in 18 months. I take no pleasure in seeing this happen to an independent Canadian brewer but it seemed inevitable when Sharpe decided his Lakeport business plan would work in the brand-loyal north country.....replacing 8 all malt traditional regional brands with 5 new sterile, yellow , fizzy buck-a-beer styled "beverages" did not fly with northen beer drinkers who had drank generations of Doran's Northern ale on their patios and taverns.

Regional brand loyalty is a strong force to break...imagine a Toronto firm buying Keiths and Oland's and replacing their regional brands with Labatt wildcat clones...think it would fly in the Atlantic region??

The troubles from lack of cash flow due to slumped sales became apparent when Agassiz canceled the brewing contract for Catfish cream ale then the equipment suppliers came in for the kill, then the union....with all the vultures circling the northern breweries carcass, who shows up for a chat with Bill Sharpe???...Frank D'angelo! Is there no end to this guy's obnoxious ego ?

I suppose he felt he scored a major incursion into "Northern territory" when he got some local SaultSM sports team to sell his sludge in their venue......seems he has designs on Northern Breweries.


I hope some mid sized independent ( or possibly the union/employees) buy Northern back and see the potential for well made, all malt regional brands in the northen Ontario market....Like Northern made in the 50s

http://www.northernlife.ca/News/LocalNe ... eweriesTOP

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/ ... weries.asp

http://www.northernlife.on.ca/News/Loca ... rpecouncil

[GregClow]

with all the vultures circling the northern breweries carcass, who shows up for a chat with Bill Sharpe???...Frank D'angelo! Is there no end to this guy's obnoxious ego ?

I think you're misrepresenting things a bit here, pootz. According to one of the articles you linked to, D'Angelo & Sharpe had an informal 10 minute chat last winter, but nothing came of it, and D'Angelo is surprisingly subdued about the idea of taking over Northern:

“We’ve made a big financial committee to Sault Ste. Marie in the (arena) naming rights and I’m quite proud of that and we’d love to be part of Sudbury, but I think it’s a little premature for us to talk about any expansion right now.

“Would we want to be a part of Northern Ontario in a more decisive way rather than trucking our product in from Tiverton? Absolutely, but it has to make sense.”

Anyway - D'Angelo being involved or not, this is a sad state of affairs. I only had a chance to try a couple of the pre-Sharpe Northern beers, and while they didn't blow me away, they were definately well made mainstream-style beers. I've avoided their beers since the relaunch, and it sounds as if a lot of other people have as well...

[Belgian]

while they didn't blow me away, they were definately well made mainstream-style beers.

DefinAtely an oxymoron.

If it's Bleh Beer, my Dad gets it to finish off. No exceptions.

[Tapsucker]

I was recently in Thunder Bay.

I visited a local Beer Store, and asked the clerk if there were any local or regional beers I should try. He laughed and said they were planning on changing the sign on the Beer Store to the Coors Light Store so out of towners would stop asking stupid questions.

I also asked him if anybody drank Northern, since it might have local loyalty and he said they all stopped washing their cars with it when the prices went up.

I have to say he was the funniest employee I have come accross in those stores, but it is also a sad reflection on beer culture and availability in the Northwest. Maybe they just don't care up there or maybe nobody cares about them.

As a footnote, the only micro I saw in the LCBO was Tankhouse. The clerk had actually tried it, liked it and said it was selling well, but she thought it was only their first shipment so it was too early to tell.

[dhurtubise]

I was recently in Thunder Bay.

I visited a local Beer Store, and asked the clerk if there were any local or regional beers I should try. He laughed and said they were planning on changing the sign on the Beer Store to the Coors Light Store so out of towners would stop asking stupid questions.

I also asked him if anybody drank Northern, since it might have local loyalty and he said they all stopped washing their cars with it when the prices went up.

I have to say he was the funniest employee I have come accross in those stores, but it is also a sad reflection on beer culture and availability in the Northwest. Maybe they just don't care up there or maybe nobody cares about them.

As a footnote, the only micro I saw in the LCBO was Tankhouse. The clerk had actually tried it, liked it and said it was selling well, but she thought it was only their first shipment so it was too early to tell.

I spent 7 weeks in TBay this summer and was never wanting for good beer. They had some of the seasonals we've had down south. I bought tons of Schlenkerla Rauchbier, the usual german pilsners, sinha stout, millstreet coffee porters and tankhouse ale. And the cool thing was that at least at the LCBO where I bought stuff, many were buying similarly, leaving the amarican pale lagers for the tourists. I would be afraid to try and pain TB as a place where people know beer.... because they usually don't, but there are enough who do and the availability of good imports is as good there if not better than in Sudbury and close to that of Hamilton.

I've met quite a few people who drank the american micros on their forays to Duluth. The US side of Lake Superior is actually an excellent micro beer haunt. For one example, one of Duluth's 4 brewpubs (90,000 people) Fitgers Brewpub in Duluth is second best I've been in after Dieu du Ciel. They had 10 beers on tap with strange concoctions such as Orange Blossom ale, a 10.5% barleywine, an ABT, a few pale ales.... A hoppy IPA infused with enough hops to satisfy the most demanding hophead for a week with just one pint. It was a great night at 2.50$ a pint.... .

[Tapsucker]

Well you have restored my faith in the people of the Lakehead.
Here I was glad to have a stay of only a few days because I couldn't find a good beer. I guess I should have stayed longer!

[djskip]

back on the Northern Track, one of the articles says:

don’t blame William Sharpe for Northern’s demise. They say northerners weren’t loyal to the brand.

i'd say otherwise.
since, if you stop marketing it, ppl will slowly stop drinking it until it gets to this type of situation.

for example:

mid 80's - late 90's: Northern was everywhere north of the French River. every bar, club and fridge had some Northern Product in it. it was on tap everywhere. the advertising and sponsorships were everywhere.

fast fwd to 2005-06: no website. no promotion anywhere. not even able to get the beer at the restaurant/bar/club across the street from the actual brewery in SSM. bar staff said the brewery coudn't afford to bring a tap in. mismanagement in the purest form! truly a sad state of affairs for a brew with a good history that deserves better. if Sharpe was really interested in the company, it wouldn't be in the state it is.

[sprague11]

Only giving this one a bump as we found a couple bottles of Red Maple in mom's cellar in the Soo while we were moving stuff from the old place to the new place.

[icemachine]

Only giving this one a bump as we found a couple bottles of Red Maple in mom's cellar in the Soo while we were moving stuff from the old place to the new place.

Well...

How are they with a few years of aging?

[sprague11]

It's Mom's! I can't imagine what Red Maple made somewhere between 2000 and 2004 would taste like.

All I remember is when I was in living in the Soo back in 2000 this stuff was a hit with the relatives that would visit from out of town, and was cheap enough to grab pitcher after pitcher at the pubs and still have money leftover for a pizza and a taxi ride home. Within a few years the stuff was virtually nowhere save for Doran's old store. After Northern went under Frank D'Angelo of all people threatened to restore the brand around the time Phil Esposito unleashed him on the Soo.

Ironically, I *think* Northern's last brewer is working at Steelback

[sprague11]

Sorry to bump an older thread but looks like the old brewery will be gone before long.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDi ... ?e=2485365