The Bar Towel

Jesse - I believe that in the UK, it's common to informally refer to cask ale as "ale" and bottled ale as "beer".

In fact, if you Google St. Peter's Brewery, the summary for the site says "Producing a range of award winning bottled beers and cask ales."

Heheh, yeah. The first time I went to the UK I went to Scotland. I was excited to taste cask ale for the first time and went to a good pub in Edinburgh to try and find some. So I walked in and there were some really interesting things on the chalk board and I was pretty excited. We sat down (we were having dinner too) and when the waitress came by I asked what beer they had on tap. She said "Stella, Heineken and Budweiser." I was crushed.

EDIT: Also, I absolutely hate it when pubs have signs that say "Fine ale and spirits" when they have no such thing. It's gotten better recently, alot of chain pubs in Ottawa are bringing in decent sessionables, but don't tell me you have ale when you don't.

Ah I see. I've had to answer the question too many times to people, "what's the difference between beer and ale?". But thanks for the info. I' doubt the casual lcbo customer would know that though, and would walk away thinking the two are different. But on a related note, I've noticed that this particular product has been selling really well in my area. Anyone else notice this? I guess enough people tried it and loved one or both and wanted more. Maybe someone will take that as a hint as to what might be good ideas for future seasonal releases?

the ruby red is truly special, i wish we could buy it is singles!!

We'll keep pitching Ruby Red but we have struck out so far. Next opportunity perhaps we can get a petition going which I can submit to the LCBO with your comments. We've pitched it as a General List item and as a seasonal with no success.

esprit wrote:We'll keep pitching Ruby Red but we have struck out so far. Next opportunity perhaps we can get a petition going which I can submit to the LCBO with your comments. We've pitched it as a General List item and as a seasonal with no success.

some questions for esprit, how much does the LCBO care about people opinions? will all of us raving about this beer on bar towel and most people commenting on how they would love to see it as a regular list item have any effect? what does the LCBO look for when adding a beer as a regular list or seasonal? a better general understanding of LCBO thinking might help temper our frustrations.

matt7215 wrote: some questions for esprit, how much does the LCBO care about people opinions? will all of us raving about this beer on bar towel and most people commenting on how they would love to see it as a regular list item have any effect? what does the LCBO look for when adding a beer as a regular list or seasonal? a better general understanding of LCBO thinking might help temper our frustrations.

I'll defer to Peter to give you a more specific response but IMHO the LCBO isn't really bothered by the general opinion of the posters here. They are driven by the opinion of the consumer...in other words they want product that sells really well and makes money. It's no doubt a big part of how they select beers for seasonal and general releases.

If you read this thread:

http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3708

You can see generally what the LCBO is looking for in their seasonal releases in 2009.

I do not believe that the LCBO releases which beers were submitted for consideration and rejected, which is unfortunate. They decide for us, just like any good government should

Jon Walker wrote:..in other words they want product that sells really well and makes money. It's no doubt a big part of how they select beers for seasonal and general releases.

No doubt true. Ill add what has been mentioned, that the LC do also have a political obligation, as a monopoly, to at least appear to be interested in what the consumer wants rather then just what makes the LC the quickest pile of cash.

Vintages wine releases (some in a very limited number of cases) are an attempt to appear sympathetic to the highly-literate Niche consumer... as would also, say a beer like Rochefort, all things being equal! It's Noblesse Oblige for them to show a little consumer sympathy, considering the stack of profit they are already making all the time selling high-volume products to a captive market.

The LCBO's policies towards buying craft beers is very much politically motivated...thank God for that. They are a virtual monopoly and do feel the need to carry products which might not otherwise be carried...good for all of us! As much as I am frustrated by them, IMHO they continue to improve selection both on a seasonal basis as well as permanent listings even though it's probably not good for the bottom line. Another size and format of Heineken would probably generate more revenue than another Rogue, Dogfish or Southern Tier. There is little other than political mileage to be gained by selecting great craft beers as I am sure the Cateogry Management people are judged upon sales and profit increases and adding a few great craft beers does not do that for them. I'm happy they have the guts to expand the portfolio to include some of the great brands we are now offerring. At the end of the day, the consumer will decide what sticks to the wall and what doesn't. Just look at the U.S. micro category and where it was a couple of years ago and where it is now...or will be soon...I would never have guessed that so many new products would be hitting the shelves in such a short period of time. The test will be whether the consumer will support these...if they don't, we can kiss them goodbye.

Too bad its at a time when Ontario is a recession. I know one of the reasons I started drinking craft beer was an increase in disposable income. It looks like we are in for a period of belt tightening in general, and I can't see this helping craft beer which is twice the price of cheap suds.

The Mill Street Barley Wine has now been released, and it does look pretty in that bottle. Nice to see they've gone th Rogue route of putting it in a nice ceramic vessel and jacking up the price. I'll probably only get one this year, but I guess its good value if compared to wines.

Just bought one of the Westmalle packs. Damn, that's a nice glass.

it looks like the trafalger pack has been dropped, its status has changed to delisted and there is no inventory in any store. can anyone confirm this?

matt7215 wrote:it looks like the trafalger pack has been dropped, its status has changed to delisted and there is no inventory in any store. can anyone confirm this?

I spoke with the driver from the brewery who was at my store last week, and he said that it wasn't coming out at all now.