LCBO Stores - pet peeves

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:17 pm

Maybe in the case of not having any wine on an evening when it's "needed", you could offer some BEER! Because as beer geeks we should always have some around right? I usually don't pass up the opportunity to share some good beer with people who either do or don't have any knowledge or appreciation of it. Just a thought.

My only major pet peeve with the LCBO is the lack of certain styles having limited to no representation (Imperial Stouts, Sweet Stouts, REAL IPA's, double IPA's, American style Amber Ales, Biere de Garde, Oktoberfest/Marzen, REAL Dortmunder/Helles, Lambic, Saison, Quads, more Belgian's in general etc. etc.) and the over-abundance of others (bitters/ESB's, premium lagers, etc.)

I think Trafalgar also has absolutely no place on the shelves when other astronomically better Ontario beers can't make it (although I'm always appalled to see that the crap actually sells, eventually) . Which brings up another point. There seems to be this attitude like throwing anything made in Ontario at us will satisfy our desire for more local micro beer, regardless of what it is. I'm sick and tired of seeing something new from a distance, only to discover it's just the latest piece of crap from Trafalgar, or more boring generic lagers (and I consider myself a lager-lover). Red Leaf, Taps (plastic) Premium, Mill St. Organic, Black Jack, Niagra's Best, Walkerville, the list goes on and on.

Ok I'll stop here, I didn't intend to ramble on so long about nothing new.

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:35 am

My peeve is that a visit to the LCBO makes you wonder if Canada consists of of only one province. I'd also like to see more active support for local breweries with the LCBO playing an advocacy role for local Ontario businesses.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:49 am

Bobsy wrote:My peeve is that a visit to the LCBO makes you wonder if Canada consists of of only one province. I'd also like to see more active support for local breweries with the LCBO playing an advocacy role for local Ontario businesses.

Is it just me, or do these two sentences seem to contradict each other? The first seems to suggest that the selection is too Ontario-centric, and the second suggests that they don't do enough to support Ontario producers.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:15 pm

True Greg - but in the spirit of national self-reliance it would be great to see the LCBO aggressively support ALL well-regarded Canadian brewing products.

No reason we could not see various DDC and Propeller here on a regular basis, as well as better support for local heroes.

Instead - small brewers are either shut out or else given an extremely hard grind to place any product. All in the name of 'streamlining' the purchasing process.

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:17 pm

GregClow wrote:
Bobsy wrote:My peeve is that a visit to the LCBO makes you wonder if Canada consists of of only one province. I'd also like to see more active support for local breweries with the LCBO playing an advocacy role for local Ontario businesses.
Is it just me, or do these two sentences seem to contradict each other? The first seems to suggest that the selection is too Ontario-centric, and the second suggests that they don't do enough to support Ontario producers.

Au contraire, dear sir. I am not claiming the selection is Ontario-centric. If anything, I would think that I had been airlifted into eastern europe. We live in Ontario, and I'd love to see more Ontario beers. However, we also live in Canada, and we sure as hell don't see a lot of beers from the rest of the country here, which is a shame. In an ideal world I would like the LCBO to take up more Ontario and Canadian beers, and also help the local guys out by better advertising and placing of Ontario products in stores.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:26 pm

Bobsy wrote:In an ideal world I would like the LCBO to take up more Ontario and Canadian beers, and also help the local guys out by better advertising and placing of Ontario products in stores.

An ideal world? I'd take Boutique stores, including some Ontario Craft Brewers outlets.

I don't need to see crap beer at every gas station, but they could certainly open the market up a little....

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:41 pm

Bobsy wrote:My peeve is that a visit to the LCBO makes you wonder if Canada consists of of only one province. I'd also like to see more active support for local breweries with the LCBO playing an advocacy role for local Ontario businesses.

Oddly, it always surprises me to find better prices on BC wines at the LCBO than in BC!
Even worse, when I was last in Vancouver about a year ago, I went to one of the oultets that I was told had a great selection. They had three (three!) local BC wines. After that I stopped complaining about how much the LCBO sucks up to Australian importers.
Arguably, the BC wine industry deserves as much, if not more attention than Ontario's. They may not have the volume, but there is so much great quality product that sadly you can only buy winery direct if you live out there or occasionally through vintages here in Ontario.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:33 pm

Tapsucker wrote: Arguably, the BC wine industry deserves as much, if not more attention than Ontario's. They may not have the volume, but there is so much great quality product that sadly you can only buy winery direct if you live out there or occasionally through vintages here in Ontario.

There is a lot of Quality Ontario wines you can only get from Wineries in Ontario as well. My Favourite wine is one such, a Meritage from Vignoble Rancourt, a 3 minute drive from Taps in Virgil

My gripe with the LCBO is the dominant shelf positioning of Euro Lager and MolBatt product.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:19 pm

Tapsucker wrote:After that I stopped complaining about how much the LCBO sucks up to Australian importers.

Grape juice from Deaoun Undah...

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:25 am

Derek wrote:
Bobsy wrote:In an ideal world I would like the LCBO to take up more Ontario and Canadian beers, and also help the local guys out by better advertising and placing of Ontario products in stores.
An ideal world? I'd take Boutique stores, including some Ontario Craft Brewers outlets.

I don't need to see crap beer at every gas station, but they could certainly open the market up a little....

Ditto! I'd be happy with one store that sold more great beer within an hour of every city with more than 500k people.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:49 am

Doesn't that exclude anywhere that isn't Toronto or Ottawa? And maaaybe London (on a good day during the school year)(oh yeah and Hamilton). That hardly seems fair

Wait, why am I getting upset, it'll never happen anyways......... *sigh*

detritus · Post by **detritus** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:54 am

JesseM wrote:Doesn't that exclude anywhere that isn't Toronto or Ottawa? And maaaybe London (on a good day during the school year)(oh yeah and Hamilton). That hardly seems fair

Wait, why am I getting upset, it'll never happen anyways......... *sigh*

According to wikipedia, it'd include Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga and Hamilton, with Brampton just barely missing the cut.

-Josh

winepro23 · Post by **winepro23** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:54 am

"Quote from above" but there is so much great quality product that sadly you can only buy winery direct if you live out there or occasionally through vintages here in Ontario.

In addition to buying direct in BC from the winery, BC has 20 private VQA wine stores that sell only BC wines in stores located throughout the Province.
We could do this in Ontario is the public would lobby their MPP and the Gov't. It has been proposed to Mcguinty that these stores in Ontario would sell only Ontario VQA wines and Ontario micro-brewed beer. However the gov't does not want to rock the status quo. Too sad.

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:10 pm

Even worse, when I was last in Vancouver about a year ago, I went to one of the oultets that I was told had a great selection. They had three (three!) local BC wines. After that I stopped complaining about how much the LCBO sucks up to Australian importers.

Wow, I was starting to think I was the only one on the planet who hadn't fallen head over heels in love with burnt Aussie shiraz's.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:25 pm

detritus wrote:
JesseM wrote:Doesn't that exclude anywhere that isn't Toronto or Ottawa? And maaaybe London (on a good day during the school year)(oh yeah and Hamilton). That hardly seems fair

Wait, why am I getting upset, it'll never happen anyways......... *sigh*
According to wikipedia, it'd include Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga and Hamilton, with Brampton just barely missing the cut.

-Josh

Exactly, so anyone living no where near those 3 area's (GTA, GOA, GHA) gets the shaft. People could drive, but I have yet to go to Toronto just for beer (although I plan on it at some point in the indistinct future). I guess for people near the USA border the shops wouldn't be all that important anyway.