The Bar Towel

1) There's a very strange full-page ad in this week's Now Magazine. It features the following text:

---

THE CARLSBERG YOU KNOW
HAS BECOME
THE CARLSBERG YOU KNEW

For the past 15 years Labatt has brewed Carlsberg right here in Ontario. Since January 15th, this Danish beer has been brewed by a different Canadian company. That means another brewery with different brewers brewing your Carlsberg. Recently, 302 Ontario pubs, bars and restaurants opted to stop selling this "new" Carlsberg in their establishments. We'd like to thank them for their continued support.

SINCE JANUARY 15, THE BREWER OF CARLSBERG HAS CHANGED. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW.

---

Despite the fact that they are only mentioned briefly in the text, it's fairly obvious that Labatt are behind this ad. And I'm sure that the Carlsberg being brewed today by Moosehead (who are contract brewing for the new Carlsberg Canada Ltd.) is just as lousy as the version brewed by Labatt. I'm just surprised to see such a blatant smear ad, and I'm also curious to know what sort of pressure Labatt put on those "302 Ontario pubs, bars and restaurants" to get them to drop Carlsberg.


2) Reading the Feb/Mar issue of the Great Lakes Brewing News, I noticed that the Ontario Small Breweries Association and the Canadian Association of Small Brewers were scheduled to hold a reception in Ottawa this past Tuesday to serve beer to members of parliment, and to lobby for a reduction in their federal excise tax. Does anyone know if this happened, or was is scuttled due to the sponsorship scandal hitting the fan that day?


3) The GLBN also has a blurb about a new brewery called Steelback opening in Bruce County. The decription of their beers doesn't sound too promising - a "Canadian style golden lager" called Steelback Lager, a "European style lager" called Chain, and an "American lager with lime" (ugh!) called Tango - but I'm still curious to know if anyone here has tried them.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2004-02-12 19:19 ]</font>

On 2004-02-12 19:17, GregClow wrote:

I'm also curious to know what sort of pressure Labatt put on those "302 Ontario pubs, bars and restaurants" to get them to drop Carlsberg.

I would imagine that this is simply because Interbrew own the taps in the vast majority of those 302 establishments.

I think that the ad was most likely placed by a union local than Labatt corporate, but you never know.....
Michael
P.S. CASB/OSBA beer tasting went ahead as planned and was a huge success. Over 40 breweries and hundreds present (Senators, MPs and their staff).
Michael

I heard rumor of a bounty available to Labatt reps to replace a Carlsberg tower with one of their new fangled fonts. Of course there was a piss-up afterwards where they gathered and smashed the offending towers. I can't help but think there is some common sense to having all men removed from any position of responsibility on earth. We really do some remarkably stupid, childish things under the guise of "competition".

FYI, Carlsberg for this market is most probably being produced by McAuslan in Montreal as a result of their partnership with Moosehead.

As for your question about those new Steelback lagers...you might now them by their more common names, Duff, Duff light and Duff Dry...

Call me presumtuous but I won't hold my breath waiting for their oatmeal stout to get released. Sounds like a Cool competitor with aims to make "working man's" beer.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jon Walker on 2004-02-13 00:14 ]</font>

On 2004-02-12 23:27, the.brewer wrote:
I think that the ad was most likely placed by a union local than Labatt corporate, but you never know.....

That would make sense, actually, given the rather bland and non-corporate appearance of the ad.

P.S. CASB/OSBA beer tasting went ahead as planned and was a huge success. Over 40 breweries and hundreds present (Senators, MPs and their staff).

Good to hear! And I bet that they all needed a couple of drinks after the rough day many of 'em had on Tuesday...

On 2004-02-13 00:04, Matthew O'Hara wrote:
FYI, Carlsberg for this market is most probably being produced by McAuslan in Montreal as a result of their partnership with Moosehead.

That doesn't seem to be the case, according to a press release I found announcing the split from Labatt:

"Moosehead Breweries, New Brunswick, will assume license brewing of Carlsberg beer for Canada, excl. Quebec. McAuslan Brewing Inc., Montreal, will assume license brewing and distribution of Carlsberg beer for Quebec."

The tasting on the Hill WAS on Tuesday. The atmosphere was quite electric. The MP turn-out was good, but would have been better had this scandal not happened. I attended, pouring Sgt. Majors, and was beside Doug Pengelly (St. André), Michael Hancock and Ron and Kevin Keefe from Granite Ontario and Nova Scotia.
In the quieter moments, I managed to sup my neighbour's wares and let me tell you, if there are any doubts on the part of the MPs etc. that great beer is produced here, all doubts were erased. Michael's Weissbeer is so good I actually dream about it. The Peculiar from Granite tasted better than ever, more like Old Peculier than I remember. Hockley Valley had 1 litre bottles of a brown lager that was quite good too.
As an industry, the small brewers need this excise tax break. Its just nickels and dimes to the Fed. but its real bread and butter to us. If any one is interested in helping, please write your Member of Parliament. Postage is not required (really).

Are there any beer geek MPs?

About the Carlsberg, I was told by a publican that it was being repositioned as a premium beer so was going to cost more. This pub had it on tap as the cheap house lager, so dropped it for that reason. I believe he also said that it would be available now only in a larger keg so wouldn't be practical for a small pub. This particular place is not an Interbrew-tied pub, so I don't believe there was any pressure being brought to bear.

Sorry to bring back an old topic, but here's an interesting article from Now Magazine discussing the Labatt/Carlsberg issue, entitled "WHAT ALES LABATT - BEER GIANT TAKES AD SWIPE AT CARLSBERG AFTER BREWING DEAL GOES FLAT":

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2004-0 ... story5.php