{"id":21351,"date":"2018-08-22T06:57:37","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T10:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=21351"},"modified":"2020-03-26T03:17:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T07:17:26","slug":"ontarios-buck-a-beer-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2018\/08\/22\/ontarios-buck-a-beer-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario’s “buck-a-beer” controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A vintage promotional bottle opener from Brewer’s Retail–“The Beer Store” from the 1970s. Photo: Dennis Gadd.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ford’s announcement<\/h3>\n

The price of beer has caused a bit of a brew-ha-ha in Ontario lately.\u00a0 Premier Doug Ford\u2019s government is lowering the minimum price a brewery or retailer can charge of a regular-sized bottle or can of beer to $1.00 from $1.25. So-called \u201cbuck-a-beer\u201d was allowed in Ontario from 2005 to 2008 when the former Liberal government raised it to the current minimum rate. Restoring \u201cbuck-a-beer\u201d was one of Ford\u2019s campaign promises before last spring\u2019s election and the government wants to have the lower price in place by Labor Day weekend. \u201cThe days of the government putting its hand in your pocket each time you buy a two-four or six-pack is over,\u201d said Ford when he made the announcement on August 6 at Barley Days, a craft brewery in Prince Edward County. The pricing incentive announced by Ford does not mean that all beer in Ontario will suddenly be only a dollar per can or bottle. It means brewer\u2019s will be allowed to sell it<\/em> for that price if they want.<\/p>\n

Brewer’s reaction<\/h3>\n

The \u201cbuck-a-beer\u201d varieties previously produced were generally low-cost brands made by larger brewing companies like Labatt, Molson, and Lakeport. Barley Days plans to make a low-cost beer, but other eastern Ontario craft breweries aren\u2019t interested in making them. Steve Beauchesne of Beau\u2019s All-Natural Brewing in Vankleek Hill made a direct statement on the brewery\u2019s Facebook page in response to the Premier\u2019s announcement.\u201cFor the record, no.\u00a0 We will not be participating in the buck-a-beer challenge.\u00a0 It\u2019s a nonsensical proposition. Can we take the politics out of beer and get back to drinking it?\u201d was Beauchesne\u2019s statement. Beau\u2019s was contacted for this story and a staff member said Beauchesne did not want to comment beyond his Facebook announcement.<\/p>\n

Part of the challenge the Premier has made to breweries to produce beer at $1.00 per 341 milliliter can\/bottle (most of us, even in the metric era, still say \u201cpint\u201d) is an incentive to get extra advertising, discounts and sales shelf space for microbrewers at Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores. Smaller craft breweries often have difficulty getting their product sold at \u201cThe Beer Store\u201d because of its near-monopoly on the market. Brewer\u2019s Retail, the corporate name for The Beer Store, is also owned by the three largest brewers in the province; Labatt, Molson, and Sleeman.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

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In 1972, beer in Ontario cost a lot less than $1.00 a bottle or can. From the 1972 Brewer’s Retail Ontario Road Map and Store Directory.<\/p><\/div>\n

Benjamin Mercier is one of the partners in Cassel Brewery in Casselman, east of Ottawa. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely impossible for us to produce a quality beer at that price!\u201d said Mercier, confirming Cassel\u2019s non-participation. He said the smaller breweries will likely face extra competition from the big breweries who will probably offer brands at discount prices now. Mercier said the priority of most craft brewers is to use high-quality, all-natural ingredients and involve the local community. \u201cAt $1.00, you can\u2019t even put air in a can at that price, we\u2019re more focused on serving a high-quality, good product,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

One eastern Ontario craft brewery has responded to Premier Ford\u2019s \u201cbuck-a-beer\u201d plan in a more activist way. Ottawa\u2019s Dominion City Brewing Company is launching a \u201cBuck-a-beer Ale\u201d where one dollar of the proceeds from each can will be donated to support refugee settlement in the city.<\/p>\n

The good old days<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beer for a dollar per pint in Ontario is still a long way from what the prices once were. In 1972, The Beer Store published a road map showing all its locations across the province and LCBO stores where beer was sold (clearly, drinking and driving was not as much of a concern then!). A case of 24 small \u201cpint\u201d bottles was only $5.50 and a dozen \u201cquarts\u201d was $3.25! That works out to 23 cents per small bottle or 27 cents a quart!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ford’s announcement
\nThe price of beer has caused a bit of a brew-ha-ha in Ontario lately.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6722,880,5638,17278],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21351"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21916,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21351\/revisions\/21916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}