LCBO Summer Beers - Full Listing

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Sun May 25, 2003 12:40 pm

Hey folks,

Here is the full list of the summer beer promotion at the LCBO, scheduled for arrival at the end of June:

St. Peter’s Summer Ale 500 mL
St. Peter’s Lemon & Ginger Spiced Ale 500 mL
Samuel Smith’s Organically Produced Lager 550 mL
Samuel Smith’s India Ale 550 mL
Hook Norton Haymaker 500 mL
Classic Choice Fruit Beer 500 mL
Curim Gold 500 mL
Dogfish Head Raison d’Etre 355 mL
McAuslan Apricot Wheat Ale 6 x 341 mL bottles
Fuller’s London Pride 500 mL
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier 500 mL

(anyone ever heard of "Classic Choice Fruit Beer"?)

rabbit · Post by **rabbit** » Sun May 25, 2003 1:29 pm

That would be the IGA house brand...sorry, that's Master Choice...actually, a Google search under that name comes up with nothing...wonder which fruit is involved here?

Publican · Post by **Publican** » Sun May 25, 2003 4:57 pm

Can't wait to try the Hook Norton Haymaker. I had the Hook Norton Best Bitter in two pubs in England a few years back. This pint was in better shape five miles away at the Falkland Arms pub than it was at the Pear Tree Inn which is a hundred yards from the brewery.In his book "The Village Pub", British beer writer Roger Protz states "The beer is immaculate as it should be with the brewery just a hundred yards away". Well not when I was there at least!

al · Post by al » Sun May 25, 2003 5:03 pm

Hi

I believe the Classic Choice Fruit Beer is by Belhaven. Read the links if you want to know more.
http://www.sundayherald.com/25418
http://www.belhaven.co.uk/corp/pdf/stuart_ross.pdf

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Sun May 25, 2003 5:35 pm

That's quite a nice assortment of stuff. I'm looking forward to getting the Rauchbier again, and I'm <b>really</b> looking forward to the Raison d’Etre - I hope it does well and leads to more Dogfish Head products at the LCBO in the future.

Greg

Jon Walker · Post by **Jon Walker** » Mon May 26, 2003 7:32 am

I agree. I'd love to see their 60,90 and 120 minute IPA's make an appearance here as well.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Mon May 26, 2003 11:37 am

If you want to see more Dogfish Head products in the future, go out and buy 10 cases of Raison D'Etre each on June 28th and maybe, just maybe, the LCBO will look at them again but, barring extraordinary sales, it's a tough call as to when you might see more of their products....I can tell you that a number have been rejected and there is nothing in the pipeline from them up to and including February 2004.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon May 26, 2003 12:03 pm

Then I will forever be going to Buffalo to buy beers I cannot get here. I don't think I'll ever get 10 cases of one product at once.

That being said, I'm still happy to see the Raison come to Ontario.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Mon May 26, 2003 1:29 pm

Obviously I was joking about 10 cases but my point is that people need to step up to bat and buy a reasonable quantity if they like the beer as quick sell-through is the only thing that might help in trying to sell this beer again or more from the same brewery...for example, think what you will of them but our St. Peter's invariably sell out in the first couple of weeks of an 8 week promo and, as a result, the LCBO is extremely interested in buying their products and regularly re-orders past releases and always tries new items in the portfolio as well...now St. Peter's is a lot more mainstream than something like Dogfish Head but it's consumer demand that ultimately determines what kind of variety of brews we're going to see and if the LCBO perceives that there is not much interest in Dogfish Head then they won't order it again.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon May 26, 2003 2:54 pm

Yeah, I figured as much

But it still begs the question - how can a beer sell itself? St. Peter's does, since the bottle is interesting and people obviously make decisions based upon this.

With Dogfish Head, no offense to you Peter, but I expect if someone does not frequent this web site they will never know anything about it.

How can DFH get written up in the LCBO's Food & Drink, as many new beers do?

When Victory came out I don't think I saw one coaster or other promotional piece anywhere. Why not distribute DFH stuff around bars?

Sorry, but it continues to be frustrating that beers don't sell - but I don't see how they can without some kind of support.

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Mon May 26, 2003 4:10 pm

Well, here's part of the problem:

In the last few weeks, there have been two different full colour glossy fold-out LCBO flyers in the Saturday Star.

One of them was devoted to fruity summer drinks, and featured a wide range of coolers and alcopops - but had no sign of the fruity beers from the latest beer promotion, such as Holsten Fusion and the Floris fruit beers. A lost opportunity to expose the Mike's Hard & Smirnoff Ice crowds to some interesting beer that they might like.

The other featured several beers, all of them completely mainstream offerings like Blue, Bavaria and Grolsch. A lost opportunity to expose the fact that the LCBO stocks a whole lot of beer beyond MolBat's and the big name Euro-lagers.

Until the LCBO makes a concerted effort to properly promote the not only their seasonal beer releases, but their non-mainstream beer selections in general, they will continue to have weak sales on all but a few of them.

Greg

joey_capps · Post by **joey_capps** » Mon May 26, 2003 9:33 pm

The problem is that the LCBO is only concerned with one thing--volume and maximizing profit. While I have no problem with profit in and of itself, I do have a problem with a government run monopoly that is also mandated to regulate and control the products they sell. There is an inherent conflict of interest here. If the LCBO doesn't want to carry Dogfish Head then why can't someone else step up and fill the void. Dogfish Head will never be the type of product the LCBO could distribute across Ontario and sell the type of volume they want. But surely Dogfish Head would do well in some markets (Toronto, Ottawa) .

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: joey_capps on 2003-05-26 21:34 ]</font>

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Mon May 26, 2003 11:02 pm

Greg,those glossy flyers cost the suppliers a fortune...like $20,000 for one page...there is no way you're going to see anything other than mass market stuff in such advertising vehicles because it's not the LCBO that's paying for them.

joey_capps · Post by **joey_capps** » Tue May 27, 2003 11:10 am

The problem with such large retailer like the LCBO (and Chapters and Walmart for that matter) is that they get their suppliers to shoulder much of the costs & risks of carrying a product. If you want the LCBO to carry and market your product you have to pay for it, otherwise there are no guarentees that they will carry your product even if it sells well because no micro can compete with the marketing and sales power of the macros. To me the situation seems akin to payola in the music business, except there is one radio station that controls everything. Also, by pushing sales volume (quantity) over quality, isn't the LCBO contributing to the drink-to-get-drunk ethos that is so omnipresent in our society. Aren't they really promoting excessive drinking. This seems to contradict their mandate. They say we need a government body to control the sale of alcohol, so minors and intoxicated people can't buy booze, but then they are only concerned with selling the swill that will fly off the shelves and breakneck speed.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Tue May 27, 2003 11:35 am

Your comments about "social responsibility" are well taken...the LCBO cannot get enough of alcopops, products for people who don't like the taste of alcohol but want the buzz...just look at the proliferation of high test, low-priced beers....the cost per absolute litre of alcohol of these products is dramatically lower than that of wine, spirits or normal alcohol beer...the sole purpose of these products is to deliver a buzz for the lowest possible price to the young, the poor and those with alcohol problems...some social responsibility! As someon in the beer business, I've addressed this issue to the LCBO and received no response...the fact is, the only socially responsible thing they do is turn intoxicated people away, after that, it's damn the torpedoes and sell anything and everything to make the biggest possible buck regardless of the social consequences.