The Bar Towel

ok someone out of the loop here re: LCBO and their apparent chosen 24 beer mecca stores..just answer me this..is one of these stores in Ajax or Pickering..I love the Grand River stuff but always have to make a trek to find it...

Cale wrote:

matt7215 wrote:Yesterday, monday the 8th of August I called all 24 stores participating in the release.

Not one of the stores had any idea what i was talking about.

In general most stores were very positive and placed sizable orders for our Pugnacious Pale Ale, some were causious and ordered in smaller quantities, some flat out refused to order the product despite being on the list of only 24 stores that we can sell this product too.

The products in this release are not live in the internal LCBO system and nothing has been forwarded by the LCBO head office to the stores that are supposed to be recieving these products AFAIK as of yesterday.

We have our product bottled and ready to ship but we cant because the stores cant recieve the product until the SKU's are live.

Are you guys selling this at the brewery?

not at this time, we have a commitment that has to be filled to the lcbo before it can be sold anywhere else

mgmoney wrote:ok someone out of the loop here re: LCBO and their apparent chosen 24 beer mecca stores..just answer me this..is one of these stores in Ajax or Pickering..I love the Grand River stuff but always have to make a trek to find it...

I believe it is the same stores that received the other features (Rogue, Norrebro, DDC, etc.).

here are the stores:

Store Location
5 Toronto-Central Queen & Coxwell (The Beach)
10 Toronto-Central Yonge & Summerhill
15 Toronto-Central Dupont & Spadina
31 Collingwood First & Pine
40 Kingston Barrack & King
164 Toronto-Central Laird & Eglinton (Leaside)
187 Barrie Bayfield & Hanmer
217 Toronto-Central Queens Quay & Yonge
334 Mississauga Winston Churchill & Derry (Meadowvale)
445 Oakville Dundas & Trafalgar (Oak Park)
457 Toronto-Central Yonge & Eglinton (Yonge Eglinton Ctr)
511 Toronto-Central King & Spadina
568 Toronto-Central Yonge & Dundas (Atrium On Bay)
623 Richmond Hill Yonge & Hwy 7
630 Aurora Bayview & St John
115 Waterloo King S. & William (Waterloo Town Sq)
393 London Richmond & Fanshawe Pk (Masonville)
417 Waterloo King North & Northfield
495 Guelph Scottsdale & Stone Road West
38 Ottawa Rideau & King Edward
212 Ottawa Richmond & Kirkwood
243 Ottawa Bank & Walkley
499 Ottawa-Nepean Strandherd & Greenbank (Barrhaven)
624 Ottawa-Orleans Innes & Tenth Line

matt7215 wrote:here are the stores:

Store Location
5 Toronto-Central Queen & Coxwell (The Beach)
10 Toronto-Central Yonge & Summerhill
15 Toronto-Central Dupont & Spadina
31 Collingwood First & Pine
40 Kingston Barrack & King
164 Toronto-Central Laird & Eglinton (Leaside)
187 Barrie Bayfield & Hanmer
217 Toronto-Central Queens Quay & Yonge
334 Mississauga Winston Churchill & Derry (Meadowvale)
445 Oakville Dundas & Trafalgar (Oak Park)
457 Toronto-Central Yonge & Eglinton (Yonge Eglinton Ctr)
511 Toronto-Central King & Spadina
568 Toronto-Central Yonge & Dundas (Atrium On Bay)
623 Richmond Hill Yonge & Hwy 7
630 Aurora Bayview & St John
115 Waterloo King S. & William (Waterloo Town Sq)
393 London Richmond & Fanshawe Pk (Masonville)
417 Waterloo King North & Northfield
495 Guelph Scottsdale & Stone Road West
38 Ottawa Rideau & King Edward
212 Ottawa Richmond & Kirkwood
243 Ottawa Bank & Walkley
499 Ottawa-Nepean Strandherd & Greenbank (Barrhaven)
624 Ottawa-Orleans Innes & Tenth Line

That is definitely a familiar list. The strange thing is that this was the same list for the previous releases yet the LCBO in Mississauga at Dundas & Mavis has has everey release on their shelves despite their exclusoin from the official list.

matt7215 wrote:Yesterday, monday the 8th of August I called all 24 stores participating in the release.

Not one of the stores had any idea what i was talking about.

In general most stores were very positive and placed sizable orders for our Pugnacious Pale Ale, some were causious and ordered in smaller quantities, some flat out refused to order the product despite being on the list of only 24 stores that we can sell this product too.

The products in this release are not live in the internal LCBO system and nothing has been forwarded by the LCBO head office to the stores that are supposed to be recieving these products AFAIK as of yesterday.

We have our product bottled and ready to ship but we cant because the stores cant recieve the product until the SKU's are live.

Great Durham Region shut out again....thank you LCBO geniuses.

mgmoney wrote:Great Durham Region shut out again....thank you LCBO geniuses.

It's because Durham Region is being punished for re-electing Bev Oda.

matt7215 wrote:Yesterday, monday the 8th of August I called all 24 stores participating in the release.

Not one of the stores had any idea what i was talking about.

In general most stores were very positive and placed sizable orders for our Pugnacious Pale Ale, some were causious and ordered in smaller quantities, some flat out refused to order the product despite being on the list of only 24 stores that we can sell this product too.

The products in this release are not live in the internal LCBO system and nothing has been forwarded by the LCBO head office to the stores that are supposed to be recieving these products AFAIK as of yesterday.

We have our product bottled and ready to ship but we cant because the stores cant recieve the product until the SKU's are live.

I feel your pain, this is like Catch-33.

I dont really see the logic in these features, is there any rationale?

I mean your "special" release is going to 24 stores that probably all carry your product and sell it quite well, so why send them a one time product? I could see targeting an area say for example, Thunder Bay-Fort Frances-Kenora, that dont see your product, send them a special release, the people like it and maybe those stores will want to order more of your other beers. But this "coals to Newcastle" thing I dont get.

It was like the SA Infinum release, which some have said was no loss. Hamilton/Burlington and the surrounding towns, Waterdown, The Creek, Dundas, Ancaster sell SA big time. The regular SA plus all the seasonals are carried by many stores and do quite well but when its time for a "special" release no way, 3 stores in Guelph and at least 3 in K-W but no GHA. I even asked at some local stores and they couldnt or wouldnt bring it in. If I wasnt so thick skinned I would see this as a slap in the face. You can buy our good beers but not our better beers.

Am I reading this wrong or should I say its just beer and suck it up, too bad TS?

Does the person at the LCBO that puts these releases together know about these issues? I would think its part of their responsibility to ensure the stores are properly notified and trained on these releases, and to put together appropriate marketing material to help advertise and push the products.

I do really like the idea of this release though, and would love to see it become a seasonal program with these brewers, allowing them more flexibility in selling one-off/seasonal brews through the LCBO.

mgmoney wrote:Great Durham Region shut out again....thank you LCBO geniuses.

Write to them to complain. I heard that they got numerous complaints when they rejected smashbomb - I wrote in a couple times about it.

matt7215 wrote:here are the stores:
....

sux for anyone who doesn't live close to the 401.

sprague11 wrote:

mgmoney wrote:Great Durham Region shut out again....thank you LCBO geniuses.

Write to them to complain. I heard that they got numerous complaints when they rejected smashbomb - I wrote in a couple times about it.

I did too...and then they had to write that form letter and post it on their website saying they were trying to work it out...It's the power of complaining to them...not a bad thing.

Also, mailing them the odd dead squirrel probably helped too.

JeffPorter wrote: Also, mailing them the odd dead squirrel probably helped too.

I did that with BrewDog when I complained and all they did was stuff some bottles up its ass.

ritzkiss wrote:

JeffPorter wrote: Also, mailing them the odd dead squirrel probably helped too.

I did that with BrewDog when I complained and all they did was stuff some bottles up its ass.

!!!!