The Bar Towel

I had a nice although dissappointing reply from Chris Robertson at the LCBO. Here's what he said after I asked him about keeping Hopdevil on permanent order;

Dear Jon,

Thank you for the compliment, we are trying to provide as much variety as
we can. Unfortunately, there are limits to the number of products we can
offer.

As far as Hopdevil goes, this will be a one-time purchase for now, but will
be most likely repeated next year. If you are a fan of Victory, we have
the Whirlwind Witbier coming out in late June. There is also some
possibility that we may add another American pale ale in the near future.

Thanks again.

Cheers

Chris Robertson
Product Manager,
Beers & Special Markets

It's nice to know they are planning to bring in some other Victory products and that the HopDevil will return. Another question might be though, will Victory want to do business in Ontario if it's sporadic? Is it worth their while to go through all the labelling BS to sell 200 cases of beer in Ontario every year?

Speaking to Peter at Esprit--gosh, I've invoked your name twice today, I hope you don't mind--I know of at least one brewery, and I assume there are others, that decided it was just not cost effective to sell such small quantities of beer in Ontario.

Not that I put all the blame on the LCBO. What sells, sells. The larger question is howdo we counter the marketing power of Interbrew (Labatts), Molsons, and so on?

Cheers, Joe.

PS Maybe a lovely golf shirt or oxford?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: jcappadocia on 2002-03-22 15:57 ]</font>

Notwithstanding that Chris's response might be disappointing to you, it's up to beer lovers to let the LCBO know how they feel although, in the end, the LCBO feels that people speak with their wallets. No matter how much you guys may love some of these products, unless many others feel that way and they fly off the shelves, selection will continue to be a problem. Don't hesitate to contact Chris at chris.robertson@lcbo.com. to express your views but don't dump on him...he is doing his best in difficult circumstances so let him know you appreciate his efforts.

I think the main problem is the unfortunate reality that, with only a few exceptions, the beers we enjoy are not going to sell well. Ever.

I would think it reasonable (and quite frankly, in the LCBO's interest to build prestige) to devote some small amount of shelf space to specialty products.

We can email all we like, but I personally dont believe the market is where the LCBO would like it to be, nor is it ever going to be. We have to change the LCBO just slightly away from the 'make-as-much-money-as-possible' attitude. Its the least they could do for the government-sanctioned monopoly that they enjoy.