The Bar Towel

I wonder how much of their 'operating' budget is spent on PR firms to come up with this?

Here's my thoughts on it:
http://www.torontobeerblog.com/beer-new ... -critique/
tl;dr it's pure bullshit.

Great response from TBS, following a government audit and a series of scathing media reports on its operating structure....great move that is, only in terms of public relations spin. The ownership additions are merely a token symbol, while the lower listing fees are only applicable to those stores close to the brewery, as far as I understand. Therefore, again TBS erects unnecessary obstructions for craft's access to the larger Ontario market, while patting itself on the back in the media, as the consumers' champion of beer.

^^^
Well put.

Nice to see craft brewers & consumers/media speaking out about this. In the past we've always just "taken what we can get", regardless of significance of the change.

Here's hoping that we're turning the corner on accepting the "just enough" strategies employed by TBS and the government in Ontario to demand more.

More top-notch stuff from Cohn:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/ ... _cohn.html

So anyone get in on the conference call and care to spill?

The call was super boring. Lots of TBS type talk. It was clear Ted was muting the phone periodically to ask questions of suits in the room. They don't know if Contract Brewers can buy shares. They didn't consult with anybody because Ted talks to small breweries "all the time" so it was "a consultative process". Despite there being three references in the original statement about this making TBS more transparent, inlcuding a quote from Ted himself, he claimed TBS was already hugely transparent, and gave no indication of how things would change. He's sure many breweries will pull the trigger immediately; has meetings/calls lined up today and beyond. Questions had to be asked via online submission and there was no way for follow-up/clarification. Many many questions went unanswered in the name of expediency that seemed to only matter to TBS and none of the people on the call. Oh, and I think he said there was about 60 people on the call at one point, though there was at least 4 non-brewers

Given the surprised reactions yesterday, maybe by small brewers Ted's been talking to the likes of Creemore, Rickard's, Shock Top, Granville, Goose Island...

lister wrote:Given the surprised reactions yesterday, maybe by small brewers Ted's been talking to the likes of Creemore, Rickard's, Shock Top, Granville, Goose Island...

I think he more so means some short guy that works on the bottling line at Molson.

[quote="chris_schryer"]They don't know if Contract Brewers can buy shares./quote]

Regardless of the buying shares part, if contract brewers get 5 stores we're going to see an explosion of new contract brewers.

MatttthewGeorge wrote:

chris_schryer wrote:They don't know if Contract Brewers can buy shares.

Regardless of the buying shares part, if contract brewers get 5 stores we're going to see an explosion of new contract brewers.

Imagine the beer selection in the 5 closest TBS to Cool!

Craig wrote:Imagine the beer selection in the 5 closest TBS to Cool!

I was thinking this very thing yesterday! The 5 stores around Cool will be the best selection in the province!

Cass wrote:

Craig wrote:Imagine the beer selection in the 5 closest TBS to Cool!

I was thinking this very thing yesterday! The 5 stores around Cool will be the best selection in the province!

For Cool, I would hope that 'local' would basically include the entire GTA. Otherwise, why not just buy from the brewery (unless it is outside their hours).

Derek wrote:

Cass wrote:

Craig wrote:Imagine the beer selection in the 5 closest TBS to Cool!

I was thinking this very thing yesterday! The 5 stores around Cool will be the best selection in the province!

For Cool, I would hope that 'local' would basically include the entire GTA. Otherwise, why not just buy from the brewery (unless it is outside their hours).

Well, exactly, that is the fallacy in TBS's proposal. They are only offering the five closest stores to the brewery, not all "local" stores. So why not just drive the extra five minutes to the brewery then? Though two caveats I guess: for a rural brewer, say Whitewater, the five closest stores will have a considerable geographic spread. Secondly, brewery outlets are not currently allowed to sell beers contract-brewed at their location, if I understand things correctly. So if contract brewers are included in TBS's proposal, it might actually have some slight benefit.