The Bar Towel

I'm making a futile gesture and not going to the LCBO or Beer Store on Saturday Oct 3rd.
Also, I'm going to buy beer for home consumption from another source. Whether I go to Buffalo, Quebec, drive to Grand River Brewery or walk to the Granite, I'll decide on that day.

So join me. Maybe next year I'll make it a bigger boycott.


For those who want to comment it's useless or stupid, please feel free to pick up your weekly coors lite that day and drink it like the loser you "is".

I guess every time I drive to Buffalo, or drink local beers on tap, this is already a 'baby boycott.'

But sure, I will join you $ and refrain from our stores on that day. We'll show 'em. (I'm kind of pleased that a certain rabbit in self-imposed exile can't chime in here to pointlessly deride this small act of public will.)

Incidentally, what are - a) your particular motive(s) for this boycott, and - b) the results you wish to get from it?

I think we should ALL boycott TBS at ALl times to start to make a real difference.

SteelbackGuy wrote:I think we should ALL boycott TBS at ALl times to start to make a real difference.

I only go to TBS to return my empties purchased in Buffalo, Quebec, Michigan and England to get my deposits back

Don't actually remember the last time i bought anything there.

Duct Tape wrote: I only go to TBS to return my empties purchased in Buffalo, Quebec, Michigan and England to get my deposits back .

This is extremely trivial, but funny - bottle deposit in New York is always 10¢, yet you get back 20¢ at TBS if its over 630 mls.

TBS is handing me a big profit for my non-Ontario empties.

Belgian wrote:This is extremely trivial, but funny - bottle deposit in New York is always 10¢, yet you get back 20¢ at TBS if its over 630 mls.

TBS is handing me a big profit for my non-Ontario empties.

I don't have a car and the closest TBS is too far of a walk for me to bother carrying my empties. Man, I hate them. As reprehensible as the LCBO is (and it quite that), a state-mandated private monopoly is about the worst idea you could come up with.

On the one day protest... I clearly support the goal of this - which I'm assuming is allow the freedom to buy & sell alcohol among consenting adults without government interference. I don't think a one day boycott actually does anything to the bottom line of either TBS or LCBO, but it could raise public awareness to how messed up it is here. Good luck to you.

I hate to spoil your well intentioned effort, but...

The handful of beer lovers here will hardly put a dent in the business of the TBS or LCBO. However, the few craft brewers that have managed to get shelf space in either of these places will need us to keep their business afloat.

The Coors light morons will hardly join your boycott and they will hardly buy any beers made by our local friends, so I think this might do less to send the right message than it will do to punish those that have struggled to make their product available to us.

In a world of open competition, an effort like yours may be a soution, but we live in a skewed market. The only solution is legislative (from the top).

Tapsucker wrote:In a world of open competition, an effort like yours may be a soution, but we live in a skewed market. The only solution is legislative (from the top).

The only way a legislative solution will happen is to get the public on your side. Politicians tend toward the status quo without a good reason (ie. saving their ass) to do otherwise. If a boycott gets big enough to get some level of press, it could help to sway public opinion. Clearly people on the board are not enough for that to happen though.

I'll happily boycott The Beer Store. The last thing I bought there was a 12 of Magnotta India Pale Ale months ago. There's not really a whole lot they sell that I'm interested in.

But since we're stuck with the LCBO, I think a better form of activism would be to support the brands you like that are on the shelves, as Tapsucker said, with the assumption that if they're profitable then the LCBO will be inclined to bring in more products like it.

Anyway, these types of consumer boycotts are a great way to get publicity and raise awareness. I'd say next year make it a bigger boycott and contact the media and use it as a means to educate people on the stranglehold the LCBO and The Beer Store have on Ontario, but considering they serve the average beer drinker well, I'm not sure how many people will really be on board with this.

Here's an idea, maybe suitable for the freeourbeer folks.

Find a small group of Ontarians who are avid beer drinkers and have them boycott the LCBO and TBS for one year. Between buying directly from microbreweries, travelling to the US and even homebrewing I bet you could field a few candidates. It would make for good press.

If a group does develop, contact Grand River Brewing and we will set up direct delivery for you.

TJ wrote: Anyway, these types of consumer boycotts are a great way to get publicity and raise awareness. I'd say next year make it a bigger boycott and contact the media and use it as a means to educate people on the stranglehold the LCBO and The Beer Store have on Ontario, but considering they serve the average beer drinker well, I'm not sure how many people will really be on board with this.

If you think they serve the average beer drinker well, you should go accross the boarder and see how cheap the cases of Labatt Blue are. The LCBO sets the price floor for beer as a part of "social responsibility" (ie. people are too stupid, we need to raise prices to protect them from themselves even though alcohol sales are fairly inelastic)

Gedge wrote:Find a small group of Ontarians who are avid beer drinkers and have them boycott the LCBO and TBS for one year. Between buying directly from microbreweries, travelling to the US and even homebrewing I bet you could field a few candidates. It would make for good press.

A year might be a bit much - but maybe a month? Like a "Super Size Me" sort of experiment?

You could even set up a group blog (or use freeourbeer, if Cass is amenable to it), and have a post each day about different options that are available outside of the LCBO/Beer Store. One post about going to Buffalo or Michigan, one about going to Quebec, several about visiting different breweries, some about brewpubs, and perhaps even posts about homebrewing and brew-your-own shops.

Hell, if I had the time, I'd be all over it!

So I guess I'll go to the Loblaw's wine depot shop that day.... That's allowed, right?

GregClow wrote:
A year might be a bit much - but maybe a month? Like a "Super Size Me" sort of experiment?

Let's see... somebody volunteers to take an IQ test. Then they drink only bud light lime for a month. Then we re-test them.

I wonder if health insurance would cover the hoser syndrome if they deemed it self inflicted?