While I agree with most of your comments, we cannot assume that because the approach of Grant and his peers in the Pacific Northwest worked there, it would work here. The Pacific Northwest, (Northern Cal, Oregon, Washington, and BC) have a long history of supporting their local industries, particularly those associated with their agricultural base. The wine industry in the area flourishes - and not just grape wine, a variety of strange fruit based wines as well. The area is a huge hop growing region and much of the support for the small brewers in the area was a rally around the local hop growing industry. Yes, the tax laws and liquor license laws are significantly more benefitial to the small brewer out west than here, but it's the laid back culture, a much more relaxed attitude toward alcohol in general and a strong desire to support the little guy that really keeps the micro's going. The McMenamins chain of brew pubs has been around for 20+ years and has grown enormously. They are a "family oriented" chain of restaurants that make beer - and malt extract beer at that. Try making that one fly in T.O. - ain't gonna happen.On 2003-07-16 08:40, Jon Walker wrote:
..... What I can point to is the vastly different approach taken in Washington and Oregon back in the 80's when the micro scene there exploded. Guys like Bert Grant started up small operations and decided not to bother making products for the Bud drinker,...
We live in the big smoke - bigger is better, faster is better. Molson's and Labatt rule (unfortunately) - Sleeman's is a Micro that makes "premium" product - just ask any Joe Blow on the street. We also don't have a reputation for supporting our local agri based industries - look at how we've "supported" our local wineries over the years.
If the Micro brews are to succeed, they certainly must differentiate themselves from the big guys - making another faux Pilsner or Cream Ale just isn't going to cut it (unless your name is Cool and your mission is to sell real cheap simple suds). Quality of course has to be superior but education I believe is the key. The Ontario Small Brewers Association and the brewers themselves have to draw more attention to themselves. The sale of KLB to Amsterdam may be a sad event to the relatively small group of "beer connoisseurs" in Ontario, but the vast majority of people in this province have never heard of either KLB or Amsterdam for that matter. If you want more people in Ontario to drink local beer, you have to get in their face and let them know you exist first - from my perspective anyway.
If anyone is going to do anything about this - It's going to be 'us'...?
. A pretty significant change and because of the tiered structure, seems to reflect poorer economies of scale in the smaller brewer.