The Bar Towel

The discussions about the availability or lack thereof of certain specialty-released beers calls into mind a nagging question. Is it better to have a beer like Smuttynose Porter or Schlenkerla Marzen disappear quickly (thereby increasing the likelihood that the LCBO will bring it back) or have it linger for a few months (so that you can build whatever stockpile you'd like without driving all over town)?

It's a tough call for me. Stockpiling beers that don't keep is kind of pointless, but as much as I like to see beers stay on the shelves a while, if I'm the only one drinking them (ie Schultheiss Berliner Weisse), I may never see them again.

What are people's thoughts on the matter?

From my point of view I'd rather see releases in small batches than none at all. People that enjoy certain beers (which you cannot stockpile because of their short shelf life) certainly have somewhat to suffer from this whole arrangement. Me for one on the other hand, I'm willing to try as many new beers as posible rather than having permanent access to a particular brew that I like a lot (that's assuming new releases keep coming every 2-3 months). What I've seen happening at LCBO during the last few months looks really promising. Hopefully they'll keep it up.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Manul on 2002-01-27 21:58 ]</font>

I had a small 5 minute conversation with the beer manager at the Atrium LCBO, and he mentioned that he was under orders to reduce his beer selection by 60 brands.

Q: I guess you are not going to delist popular beers?

A: You're right.

I was also under the impression that he was equally disappointed with Bayview Village.

This isn't good. It looks like I may have to trek to Manulife now.

Manulife blows. The Atrium was a nice store to have. When it's all said and done, only Queen's Quay will have any beers at all...

But why is it that a publicly-funded entity serves only to screw consumers? They'll privatize anything in this province except the one thing that makes the most sense.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Josh Oakes on 2002-02-08 19:54 ]</font>

I've always found it funny that for the LCBO, it only pays to get in orders that are large, but at a place like Premier, it pays to get the smallest orders possible.

I would be in favour of the LCBO bringing in many different brands in small batches rather than a small number of brands in large batches. Not only would we have lots to try over time, if we miss a good beer due to sell-out, there will always be something good coming down the pipe.

You've hit upon one of many glaring structural problems that causes good beers to vanish here. The post the other day from Esprit about the Smutty Robust had me thinking...

The reality is that the consumers here are not to blame for lack of good beer sales. Part of it is expectations - the LCBO outlets are like any other and measure revenue generated per square foot, and that's fair. But they seem to expect every beer to sell like Sleeman Cream. This isn't Seattle, so it's not going to happen. We all love Premier, but how many stores in Buffalo are in the same ballpark? Not so many. Even in NYC and Chicago, you only have a handful of stores that would satisfy the needs of the serious beer lover. Volumes on a lot of the highest-end brands (B United and Shelton stuff) are low, and those importers are not millionaires. They do, however, have the ability to reach tens of millions of consumers, which Canadian importers don't have. Makes it easier to bring in the large varieties.

I could get into this for days, but when the LCBO has expectations that exceed even the most optimistic market observer, does not undertake the proper steps to SELL the stuff (most LCBO staff couldn't tell you two things about Pilsner Urquell - compare that with Lyle's people in Buffalo), it seems foolish of them or anybody else to blame the consumer for problems moving the product.