The Bar Towel

Gotta tease you guys...we just received notice of a new LCBO General Listing...a U.S. micro Pilsener...consistently rated at the top of the heap on all major beer websites. We're excited but until we have all the labelling and packaging OK's we'll not reveal the product...(what a dick!) I have no doubt you'll all be thrilled by the selection when you hear about it so please be patient and we'll let you know once we have all the final approvals. We're looking at an early spring 2009 release and it will be in 6 packs. The LCBO is really getting behind U.S. micros and we hope to see even more available in the coming years so we can all save gas by not having to drive to Buffalo.
For me it means that when we're pouring beers at all of the shows we do, I will no longer have to say, with a rather superior looking frown "we don't pour lagers" when people ask me if I have anything like Coors Light. Many of you may not remember that 15 years or so ago we had Samuel Smith's Pure Brewed Lager on the General List. The beer was very good and when we launched at the Cooper St. store, many Ontario micro people were there and all were very impressed. Unfortunately, we've tried pitching it many times since then with no success...but I digress. We've spent almost 20 years pitching U.S. micros to the LCBO with rather limited success back before other agents starting jumping on the bandwagon. Rogue is the only consistently purchased line but, as you know, we do Dogfish Head and have in the past offerred Ommegang, Smuttynose and Victory with very limited success. We always tip our hats to the many good Ontario micros and we feel that competition from south of the border can only spur them to take more risks. We don't really work with Canadian micros because Sleemans always seems to buy everyone we have represented in the past.
Man, this is a long post and I've got to work on my preparations for the Ottawa Wine & Food Show this weekend. Any of you in that neck of the woods can see us pouring:

Duvel
Chimay Premiere
Chimay White
Mort Subite Kriek
Mort Subite Framboise
Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Dogfish Head 60 MInute IPA
St. Peter's English Ale
Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale
Historic Ales from Scotland

Congratulations on another listing!

Here's my guess....
Victory Prima Pils

Bobsy wrote:Congratulations on another listing!

Here's my guess....
Victory Prima Pils

Ya beat me to it Bobsy

Or maybe Rogue Über Pils ??

im saying prima pils, which is exciting but i love me some pilsner urquel in those 500ml cans. i dont drink a lot of high end lagers and when i do get a craving i stick to the PU. the prima would be a nice 6er to pick of for BBQs in the summer though. whatever it is the more US micro's or micros from anywhere that get into the LCBO the better it is for all of us.

you're such a beer tease! Eons ago I had a gf that told me she got me the best Christmas present ever, I was expecting a playstation, mountain bike, or rollerblades. It turned out to be a green dress shirt. Suffice it to say that relationship didn't last long. Don't get my hopes up and stuff me with a green dress shirt.

Be great if we saw Storm King Imperial Stout return as a Seasonal Release after the brewery initially gave up on our silly & arbitrary liquor system.

Bobsy wrote:Congratulations on another listing!

Here's my guess....
Victory Prima Pils

It'd be great if it was. We need more German style pilsners.

(Steamwhistle is decent when it's fresh).

Funny how a tease about a pilsner has made me crave Storm King. Good thing I'm off to Pittsburgh this weekend and can pick some up.

I don't know about website ratings, but one of the best I've ever had was the Buzzards Bay Pilsner

I am such a whore...and I suspected that the first person posting would guess right...it is Victory Prima Pils so there goes the mystery. Frankly, I don't care. It's a great product and a great addition to the General List and I want everyone's mouth watering over this product. We'll now be more aggressive about pitching other Victory beers as seasonals especially Storm King and Hop Devil both of which were purchased by the LCBO many years ago before Victory became disenchanted with the bureaucracy.

P.S. Congratulations Bobsy and a close second to Pootz...not that it was that hard to figure out but we're happy to hear the positive response so far. I always have to pretend I'm not a big lager fan because all of my General Lists are ales...nice to now be able to tell people we have one of the best U.S. lagers available. It'll probably not show up at any show before Toronto's Festival of Beer but we hope that BT'ers will step up to the plate and support this product along with all the other great Canadian and U.S. micros. You can't have too much good beer and I know you all agree. I'm just tickled pink about the selection as we also pitched Hop Devil but the LCBO can only support so many U.S. IPA's. Hopefully in the next year or so we can look at some good imported Porters be they from the UK or the USA.

esprit wrote:P.S. Congratulations Bobsy and a close second to Pootz...not that it was that hard to figure out but we're happy to hear the positive response so far.

Do I get a prize? Seriously though, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we really appreciate your efforts to bring great quality beer to Ontario. From a personal aspect, many of the top beers I've tried (Rochefort, St Bernardus, Rogue) have come from your portfolio, and I'm really thankful for that! I always look forward to your new offerings and I'm pumped about the Rogue private order.

Nice work esprit! Keep those US micros coming.. looking forward to trying this one when it comes out.

I've been lucky to drink many of Victory's brews and I am VERY excited about this. Esprit, YOU, you are my beer hero here in Ontario. Now if we could only get a few of Stone brewery's beers. I would love to get me some Arrogant Bastard close to home. However, I'm truly excited about the beers that are now available at the LCBO and I only have the fabulous importers to blame
Congrats.

Victory Prima Pils! Please let it be Prima Pils!