New Arrivals at LCBO & TBS

[sofakingdrunk]

Stone returns!

https://www.lcbo.com/en/stone-fear-movi ... -ipa-29593

And Destihl comes to Ontario! Would not have guessed that.

https://www.lcbo.com/en/destihl-haze-of ... -ipa-29592

Nice to see Stone back, I hope it means Arrogant Bastard might return as well. We've already got a million hazies up here, but not much in the way of American Strong Ales.

I’d agree with this, glad to see Stone back but unless it’s exceptional I can’t see myself buying more then the one can.
I’d prefer to see stuff more in their wheelhouse, we’re already over saturated in good hazies here now.
I still hold out a glimmer of hope that one of these days the LCBO will bring in Bell’s Two Hearted.

[Craig]

Import IPAs are always several months old by the time they get on shelves. I keep seeing Deschutes in my local and it's from last summer. I'd love to get Arrogant Bastard again just because it'll still be tasty by the time we can buy it.

[anthony9]

I'd like the LCBO to flex its buying power and get some rarer or lower production stuff. I have no idea, but I assume there is somewhat a a concern about hurting local producers. If not that, getting more stuff from other provinces would be nice.

I'd also like some Two Hearted to be available.

[Cass]

I'd also like some Two Hearted to be available.

It was known in the industry that Larry Bell did not want to work with the LCBO. Now that they have corporate ownership, maybe there's a chance. But I've been hoping for Anchor Liberty to come back under Sapporo ownership and that hasn't happened. Not sure why some of the older craft brands now corporatized don't come here.

[matt7215]

I'd also like some Two Hearted to be available.

It was known in the industry that Larry Bell did not want to work with the LCBO. Now that they have corporate ownership, maybe there's a chance. But I've been hoping for Anchor Liberty to come back under Sapporo ownership and that hasn't happened. Not sure why some of the older craft brands now corporatized don't come here.

dealing with this market is a nightmare, thats why you dont see many widely distributed brands here

[Craig]

The rare Bourbon (aka Pappy) lottery is back. Looks like prices have risen a bit on this thing.

[Cass]

dealing with this market is a nightmare, thats why you dont see many widely distributed brands here

Oh, I know...I was an importer and it was generally awful.

I sometimes wonder though, if it's a combination of "dealing with the market" and the market itself. Take Stone which was just mentioned - made a big splash a while back entering the market and then quietly pulled back. Didn't seem to take here.

On the other hand, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is well distributed, available in-retail and in-bar, and at a good price. I'd love to see other "basic" U.S. craft brands like that in Ontario. Sierra & their agent have figured it out, seemingly.

[Craig]

Stone was an interesting thing. They showed up with a bit of fanfare, but I generally found stale beer on shelves and it wasn't really priced better than local options. I tried a few of their offerings when available, but I don't recall ever going back for any of them. I guess the RIS was well-priced when it was released, but if I remember right that was just them dumping last year's unsold stock on our market. I feel like that's what Rogue does a lot of too, we seemed to get a lot of their weird donut stuff or whatever several months after release, which probably didn't sell great. I have a hard time seeing strategies like this work for anything other than dumping old stock, since they don't really have the following up here they would in the US where they have been huge players in the craft market for decades now.

I wonder if this new Stone beer is brewed in Canada?

[Craig]

Anyone catch the date on the Arrogant Bastard? Is there a BB date? I don't recall seeing/noticing one on previous bottles purchased in the States.

The expiry date is probably Sept 01 2015, if its all the same run.

http://www.stonebrewing.com/freshbeer/

Those I have bought in the States several years ago had the dates on the shoulder and were almost impossible to read.



BEER FRESHNESS INDEX

We have some high standards when it comes to beer, and many of our creations are intended to be consumed fresh. We stamp each bottle the day it's filled with an "Enjoy By" date. Below is a chart with the "code lengths" of our beers...
BEER CODE LENGTH
Arrogant Bastard Ale 90 Days
after bottling
Stone Cali-Belgique IPA 120 Days
after bottling
Stone Delicious IPA 90 Days
after bottling
Stone Enjoy By IPA 37 Days
after bottling
Stone Go To IPA 90 Days
after bottling
Stone IPA 90 Days
after bottling
Stone Pale Ale 2.0 90 Days
after bottling
Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0 90 Days
after bottling
Stone Smoked Porter 90 Days
after bottling

Like this right here, everything was 3 months old!

[Cass]

I wonder if this new Stone beer is brewed in Canada?

I kind of forgot that Stone sold to Sapporo, who also owns Anchor that I still pine to come back. I would be slightly surprised if they (Sapporo/Sleeman) decided to brew this particular beer in Canada, instead of a more main line product such as IPA or Arrogant (although I see that Fear Movie Lions is a year-round release). The Guelph brewery isn’t known for its small batches in my experience…

[Craig]

I'd be surprised too, but it would make a certain amount of sense for the stuff they aim at our market to be made here too. I'll ask around and see if I know anyone who knows.

[skaghevn]

I was quite surprised how Rogue pretty much vanished from the Ontario market; we used to have access to a number of decent releases -- Shakespeare Stout/Wild Irish, Chocolate Stout, Dead Guy, Imperial Stout, Old Crustacean, Hazelnut Brown, Brutal Bitter -- and then it went downhill quickly, with only the odd beer now and then.

I'm probably dating myself by mentioning I still can see Rabbit's/Peter's/Esprit's foyer chuck full of Rogue boxes.

[Cass]

I was quite surprised how Rogue pretty much vanished from the Ontario market; we used to have access to a number of decent releases -- Shakespeare Stout/Wild Irish, Chocolate Stout, Dead Guy, Imperial Stout, Old Crustacean, Hazelnut Brown, Brutal Bitter -- and then it went downhill quickly, with only the odd beer now and then.

I'm probably dating myself by mentioning I still can see Rabbit's/Peter's/Esprit's foyer chuck full of Rogue boxes.

Rogue was an early U.S. supporter of Ontario (so it seemed), and I think there's a small band of beer folks my age that had quite an admiration of them - I know I did. I really liked their beers that were here, sought out their stuff when I was in the U.S. (I still think those tiny bottles were the best for high-proof beers), and visited a number of their locations. Can't remember the last time I had a Rogue beer nowadays...

[JerCraigs]

Rogue was an early U.S. supporter of Ontario (so it seemed), and I think there's a small band of beer folks my age that had quite an admiration of them - I know I did. I really liked their beers that were here, sought out their stuff when I was in the U.S. (I still think those tiny bottles were the best for high-proof beers), and visited a number of their locations. Can't remember the last time I had a Rogue beer nowadays...

At the Montreal Ratebeer Summer Gathering many years ago they had a big tasting/bottle share, and there were a bunch of bottles that were not big enough to share with everyone. They rigged up an auction system with paper "money" to let people choose which beers they were most keen to try. A Rogue beer came up and was getting a lot of action and people were confused by how high the bids were - the people that won were pretty much all Canadians.

[lister]

The rare Bourbon (aka Pappy) lottery is back. Looks like prices have risen a bit on this thing.

Yup. Load up the cart with $1500 worth of Pappy and expect a final bill of $0. Rinse and repeat for next time.