Is Mountain Crest importing to Ontario?

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:35 pm

Saw a blurb about "lakecrest springs " or " lake creek springs" or some other inane branding abomination announced as a new beer coming to the beer stores....the first thing that clicked was that perhaps Mindas from Mountain Crest was marketing some of his Huber-contracted budget beer here.

Any one else hear any such rumors?

BTW: Has anyone seen any Stratford pilsner in the LCBO yet?

Wheatsheaf · Post by **Wheatsheaf** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 4:03 pm

http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=1557

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:59 pm

I guess that's where I saw the blurb....any one seen any yet?

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:02 pm

pootz wrote:I guess that's where I saw the blurb....any one seen any yet?

It's not listed on the Beer Store website yet, but the website is up at www.damngoodbeer.com

Bobbyok · Post by **Bobbyok** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:31 am

GregClow wrote: It's not listed on the Beer Store website yet, but the website is up at www.damngoodbeer.com

Interesting, they've even customized their website for where you live. If you input an Ontario Postal Code you get the Lakeshore Creek brand. If you input a Nova Scotia (and Alberta I would assume) postal code you get the Mountain Crest branded site.

Also interesting, from the beer terminology page:

Barley Wine:
A Scottish traditional ale, quite strong and dark in color, often called "wee heavy" in pubs. Very high in alcohol.

Wonder where they looked that one up.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:15 pm

GregClow wrote:
pootz wrote:I guess that's where I saw the blurb....any one seen any yet?
It's not listed on the Beer Store website yet, but the website is up at www.damngoodbeer.com

I see they are importing the Berghoff specialty beers into Alberta...be great if they brough them east. From the review I see this line is a fairly good quality entry level beer fairly true to style...Bock, Oktoberfest Marzen, Dunkle, hefeweiss etc. Good stuff to market to the Stella "A" crowd to broaden their style variety.

Anyone ever come across these Berghoff beers?

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:29 pm

I saw a Lakeshore Creek commercial on OMNI the other night. It was even worse than the Steelback ads. But I guess when the beer is so cheap, it won't matter to most people that the ads are embarassingly bad.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:56 pm

GregClow wrote:I saw a Lakeshore Creek commercial on OMNI the other night. It was even worse than the Steelback ads. But I guess when the beer is so cheap, it won't matter to most people that the ads are embarassingly bad.

Well, from what I recall of the Mountain crest I tasted it's crappy Yankee corn swill....they contract Huber to do this low end stuff, but Huber makes a line of fairly decent beers that won some beer comp medals.

I don;t really welcome this corny import swill but I am curious about the Berghoff line from Huber that Mindas is marketing.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:27 pm

pootz wrote:Well, from what I recall of the Mountain crest I tasted it's crappy Yankee corn swill....

Yeah, I had a look around their different websites, and all of their products sound awful. They have one beer called Jack's American Lager in Alberta (aka Joe's American Lager in Manitoba) that they promote with the following blurb:

"Wow, imagine being able to get an authentic American Beer in Canada. Mountain Crest Brewing Co. imports Jack’s American Lager to satisfy the American beer lover in all of us. A genuine American Lager beer that is actually brewed in the USA! Brewed traditionally with only the most carefully selected Aromatic Hops, Choice Barley Malt and Pure Artesian Water. Jack’s American Lager is a perfect beer for those hot summer days & nights, or after the game. Jacks is a crisp, fresh tasting brew with an ultraclean finish - with a little less alcohol than Canadian beers. Jack’s American Lager makes friends easily and is welcome everywhere. Try a six-pack soon and get to know a real American."

The rest of their promotional material is just as cringe-worthy. If you want to visit all of their sites without having to figure out what postal codes to use for what area, here are the direct links:

http://www.damngoodbeer.biz/index2.html (Minhas Creek, Manitoba)
http://www.damngoodbeer.ca/index2.html (Mountain Crest, Alberta)
http://www.damngoodbeer.net/index2.html (Lakeshore Creek, Ontario)
http://www.damngoodbeer.com/index2.html (DK Brewing, Wisconsin)

pootz wrote:I don;t really welcome this corny import swill but I am curious about the Berghoff line from Huber that Mindas is marketing.

Some of them have quite good reviews at Rate Beer. I agree that they'd be nice to see in Ontario.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:02 am

GregClow wrote:
pootz wrote:Well, from what I recall of the Mountain crest I tasted it's crappy Yankee corn swill....
Yeah, I had a look around their different websites, and all of their products sound awful.
The rest of their promotional material is just as cringe-worthy. .

Well, here's one that gives me the creeps worse than the Blur.. er.. ah.. uh I mean Blue thunder promo drek:

You might think we are crazy, but just one sip of extra smooth Double Axe will convince even the most discriminating beer drinker that quality can know be found in a 40 oz. bottle.

brrrrr frightening...ain't goin' there...that's like an invite from a sick junkie to share a used spike...brrrr

I think the dexedrine pumped copy writers from Steelback have some real competition here for the shlockiest ( is that a word?) ad copy and the foulest swill in a bottle on Canadian shelves......anyone want to take the challenge to determine which is worse in a straight up full product line comparison tasting session??

Not I.....got better uses for my liver.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:16 pm

Well, after being listed briefly on the Beer Store website, I noticed today that Lakeshore Creek has disappeared (before the beer was even available for purchase, I believe). And I also found that all of the different versions of the "Damn Good Beer" websites mentioned earlier in this thread are down.

Did Minhas go belly-up? Trying to expand too fast, perhaps? Anyone got the scoop on this?

KeithsGuy · Post by **KeithsGuy** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:34 pm

GregClow wrote:Did Minhas go belly-up? Trying to expand too fast, perhaps? Anyone got the scoop on this?

Well, their corporate site doesn't even list beer as a product. *shrug*
http://www.mountaincrest.ca

Maybe there was just too many 'Lakes' out there (Lakeport, Lakeshore, Laker...). Last info I'd seen was an article in the April 18th edition of Marketing Magazine which mentioned them spending $1-million on advertising in Ontario.

s.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:50 pm

KeithsGuy wrote: Well, their corporate site doesn't even list beer as a product. *shrug*
http://www.mountaincrest.ca

That's a different company owned by the same family. It's a liquor/wine wholesaling company. Their "brewery" (or rather, the company through which they contract Huber Brewing in Wisconsin to brew beer that they sell in Canada) is a different company entirely.

Although you would figure that they would cross-link the websites, so maybe their pseudo-brewery actually has been shut down.

KeithsGuy · Post by **KeithsGuy** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:58 pm

GregClow wrote:Although you would figure that they would cross-link the websites, so maybe their pseudo-brewery actually has been shut down.

Ahh.. that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up Greg. It is still really odd however, that things went from bringing a top selling beer from Calgary to Ontario, increased media coverage, claiming to spend all this ad money to... nothing. With no news or reason why. Very strange. Do you think The Beer Store locked them out because the big 3 already lost too much business to the cheaper brands?

s.

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 8:23 pm

The Berghoff stuff is hard to find in the shelves of Edmonton or Calgary liquor stores and so is mountain crest....not great distibution....could be near the end for this importer.