Southern Tier IPA / Dog Fish Head - where art thou?

[Illuminatus]

Hmmm... must be the 'horseblanket'.

[Ale's What Cures Ya]

Do you realize that there are thousands of products in our stores? Do you also realize that craft beer, in most cases, is a very small category, that most people know nothing about? Staff aren't going to know when every product is going to hit the stores, especially when head office doesn't even know when it will hit the shelves.

It is moronic attitudes such as yours that make customer service so difficult.


May I ask where you work? I'll be in your region next week and I'd love to come to your place of business and make your life miserable.

I realize there are thousands of products at the LCBO, too bad 95% of them are undrinkable.

I also understand you have to toe the line of the lumbering dinosaur that signs your cheques, but I could really care less if you think "ignorance" equates to expecting the guy I was informed ran the beer section would have some actual knowledge or insight about his section.

And I work in the radio industry, so good luck, lol.

[bujubanton]

That is right Jon Walker/Andy Brandt....it is an issue originating with the brewery.
The state owned monopoly did its best to get the product to its consumers as soon as possible..but the small New York state business said..no way...we want some obstacles. No way is our product going to arrive on time.

And my beef with the LCBO employees...is that...with a few notable exceptions...if you ask them about a beer product,,,they just give you a glazed over look.
they don't care at all (although..better than the Beer store guys..who are out and out hostile)

[JerCraigs]

The bar code mistake did happen and it was rectified, but it took some time. Because of the nature of the business relationship between the brewery, the LCBO and our agency, we can not provide all of the details, but we can tell you that it was a honest mistake that happened most likely because the brewery was rushing the shipment to be here in time. Another issue packaging related issue did come up and was dealt with.

That is right Jon Walker/Andy Brandt....it is an issue originating with the brewery.
The state owned monopoly did its best to get the product to its consumers as soon as possible..but the small New York state business said..no way...we want some obstacles. No way is our product going to arrive on time.

Dude, WTF! I'm as eager to get the beers as anybody but at least read the thread before posting such... stuff.

[bujubanton]

it's not like I am criticizing someone's family member..I am talking about a large state-owned monopoly that has had to be dragged into providing some decent service, by its customers, because it is afraid of being privatized. And contrary to the view that it's a dead horse we're flogging..if we didn't complain, we'd have nothing.

And I did read the thread. So if a distributor provides an "explanation" that says...can't tell us the details...but rest assured...it was the brewery's fault, not the LCBO...not the distributor.....well, that seems a little weak to me.
I am just defending the small business owner...the brewery, in terms of why the product is late.
And come on...it's just beer. Why is it so hard to get on the shelves..

[Gedge]

I sense an excellent PR opportunity for the LCBO here. They should announce that only 12 cases of ST IPA will be available in all of Ontario and that those 12 cases will only go on sale at one location at a certain time on a certain date, then invite the press to film the ensuing chaos as Bar Towellers from across the province trample, maim and claw at one another in an effort to get their hands on a six-pack.

I can see the headline: "Southern Tier the Tickle Me Elmo of Beers".

[Jon Walker]

That is right Jon Walker/Andy Brandt....it is an issue originating with the brewery.
The state owned monopoly did its best to get the product to its consumers as soon as possible..but the small New York state business said..no way...we want some obstacles. No way is our product going to arrive on time.

I'm going to say this once and only once so perhaps you can pay really close attention. If it wasn't for guys like me fighting the good fight against the LCBO's mindset for nearly a decade you likely wouldn't have ANY of the recently added decent imported beers in this province. While you were still transitioning from Coors Light to Stella I was here as one of the first handful of people supporting this brand new website and forum and organizing our collective voices to lobby the LCBO to make changes to their policies and offerings. Here's a post from all the way back to 2001 when this website was just being started where I outlined my efforts to shift the IPA landscape in this province.
http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic ... highlight=

As Cass can attest I've been really dissappointed with the selection of IPA available in Ontario since moving here from Vancouver last fall. What's especially frustrating is the number of beers that call themselves IPA but clearly aren't. Magnotta, Keith's and Dave's all fall into this category. As far as I'm concerned if the beer doesn't have a decidedly hoppy nose, aftertaste, alcohol content over 6% and an IBU of well over 40 it just ain't an IPA. While purests of the British IPA's may disagree when considering offerings like Trafalgar and Wells I would remind them that true IPA, as made in the 1800's, had qualities more like the varieties so common now on the West coast of the U.S. and Canada (and some brewers further east in the U.S.). Listing Liberty Ale at the LCBO is certainly a step in the right direction but oh how I wish Pike, Bridgeport, Pyramid, Tree, Nelson, Fish, or even Elysian IPA's were available here...for those that have never had them, any of the bunch would blow your mind. Still, I would love to see a local brewer start making a true IPA for this market. I've had discussions with F&M, Black Oak, McAuslan and Taylor and Bate about taking this step but everyone who was kind enough to reply to me stated they thought there wasn't enough of a market here for a an IPA over 40 IBU's. All I can say to those of you reading this post is that many voices speak louder than one. Write e-mails to the brewers themselves (most have websites) and express your interest and desire to see them make and commercially distribute IPA. While you are at it, contact the LCBO and bug them to import more IPA from North America in the meantime. Until they feel there's a market not much is going to change.

P.S. I never heard back from you Cass after I gave you that precious bottle of Pike IPA from Seattle. Didn't you like it?

To suggest I'm some LCBO corporate flunky simply because I can stand back and give latitude when and if it's due based upon my LONG track record on this subject is ignorant and arrogant.

Guys like you who pop up on a website like this and immediately start taking pot shots at the very people who've actually DONE SOMETHING to make the beer situation here better need a wake up call. You sully and degrade the collective efforts we have made and continue to make for neophyte sucklings like yourself.

So from now on all I expect to hear from you is a big fat THANK-YOU.

[esprit]

FYI, Rogue Dead Guy is in the warehouse and going through lab.

[Ale's What Cures Ya]

FYI, Rogue Dead Guy is in the warehouse and going through lab.

Hasn't Rogue Dead Guy already been through the lab the first few times it was brought in by the LCBO?

[j0eb0nd7]

You guys sure have given me a lot to read! I was hoping that my thread would stay active with posts like "Hey I finally saw that they have the ST IPA at the Queen's Quay LCBO!" - so that I could scoot down and buy some.



Once upon a time we didn't have the open forum of the Internet and I wouldn't even have known that Southern Tier was even on the way here until I gladly stumbled up it by chance or through word of mouth. Maybe that would be better than all this bickering!!!

[GregClow]

FYI, Rogue Dead Guy is in the warehouse and going through lab.

Hasn't Rogue Dead Guy already been through the lab the first few times it was brought in by the LCBO?

It's been at least a couple of years since it was last here, hasn't it? I believe there is a time limit after which beers need to be retested.

[Belgian]

DOB I am guessing all USA Micros are famous for alcohol variances hence lab testing Rogue would be justified to the LC. They must do it for all products occasionally. Every CC of alcohol must be taxed after all.

Jon you are a Saint. I am finally convinced you are not some oppressive high-level megalomaniac posing as an adamant craft beer advocate on BarTowel for the past several years JUST to mercilessly trick us all. And now I think about it, WHY would (eg.) the real Andy Brandt give a pigeon's fart? So sorry I mistrusted you all this time & hope I can one day buy you a pint in recompense.

[shintriad]

Not to add fuel to the horse-beating fire or anything, but I came across this funny, well written rant about the LCBO recently:

http://www.thesharkbook.com/blog/2008/0 ... rd-of.html

It's by the authors of "The Man Who Scared a Shark to Death and Other True Tales of Drunken Debauchery."

[Bobsy]

Once upon a time we didn't have the open forum of the Internet and I wouldn't even have known that Southern Tier was even on the way here until I gladly stumbled up it by chance or through word of mouth. Maybe that would be better than all this bickering!!!

Joe, I agree with you. The internet has brought many good things, but also many bad, including (1) a tyranny of information, where our expectations are fueled, and our desires yearn to be satisfied, and (2) a poor quality of communication, which often devolves into arguments.

I'm looking forward to the arrival of the Southern Tier and the DFH so that I can appease my hopfix. Until they arrive may I suggest the Anchor Liberty, if you've not already tried it? Its not as bitter as the ST, but I find it to be very satisfying and characterful.

[boney]

Yes the LCBO is not prefect but this thread isn’t going to change the ideological standpoint of either side that is bitching at each other. Do monopolies suck? In some ways, sure, but here is what I do know…. privatization wouldn’t naturally solve all our problems. I was in Calgary when Alberta privatized. 15 years after privatization there are really only 2 stores in Calgary where you can get a good selection of microbrews, despite a liquor store being in every strip mall. Calgary is a big city and unless you are blessed to live close enough to these 2 stores, you are still either travelling 45 min or are stuck drinking Keith’s. Why? Because that’s all the market can support in terms of the demand for craft beers. Most beer drinkers are not beer geeks and don’t give a rats ass about Southern Tier. Personally, I like the fact that wherever I live in Ontario, I can go to a LCBO and pick up a Christoffel. I’ll take the monopoly thanks. And if I really, really want A Stone Ruination, I can always stock up in oh so close Buffalo (not much farther than 45 min for me). Not a bad spot to be in really.

Sorry if I've reiterated anything that has been said ad nauseum.

Right on for The Bar Towel and internet sources! Even with the all bitching I'll know exactly when my local has ST.