Two beer-related stories ran on CBC last week. They differ in their focus and even their heftiness, but each demonstrates that maybe, just maybe, Alberta is turning a corner on craft beer.
The more significant of the stories comes from CBC Calgary’s radio morning show that did a feature on Alberta’s craft beer scene, specifically asking why there are fewer craft breweries in Alberta than other provinces (we have lower per-capita craft breweries than even places like Nova Scotia). Radio is a hard medium to discuss complex, multi-layered issues, as there simply isn’t time. However, this piece makes a good attempt to touch upon some of the key dynamics at play. You can listen to it here on their podcast (the beer story starts at 16:27).
The reporter talks to a few players in the industry (including myself – full disclosure) about their perceptions about why Alberta’s craft scene lags. The story touches upon the minimum production requirements in the regulations, the unintended consequences of privatization, and generally a “conservative” culture when it comes to beer (and likely other things, but let’s just stick to beer for now). It also hits on the ever-popular issue of mark-up rates.
It doesn’t break any new ground, per se, but it does add to the number of stories that are taking seriously the policies behind beer in the province and how they help and hinder the growth of craft beer. While people may disagree about how to handle mark-up rates or the effects of privatization on local breweries, I think more debate about what we should be doing to promote more local beer can be nothing but good. So I am glad they did the story.
The second piece ran on CBC-Edmonton television News on Friday (the video can be found here). It is, ostensibly, a light piece about the opening of The Underground (who also got a Vue Weekly piece last week – good media for a place not “officially” open yet). But the reporter takes an interesting angle with the story, probing both myself and Neil Herbst at Alley Kat about what this means about Edmonton as a craft beer city. By taking that approach, the item becomes about more than a single bar and instead about Edmonton’s slow but (hopefully) sure progress toward creating a beer culture.
As an addted bonus of the CBC piece you can catch a glimpse of my fairly impressive homebrew system (just a glimpse, as it was partly disassembled because they came by while I was just cleaning up from a session – a Scottish 80/for the record) and my much less impressive face. I think the shots of Neil at Alley Kat are much more flatteriing (it might have to do with my ballcap and Rogue Ales hoodie).
Yes, it is a bit suspicious that both pieces happen to include me. Feel free to accuse me of narcissism, but t0 be honest I only knew about them because of my being interviewed. I would happily post about other news stories on the prairies that are significant. So feel free to forward other news stories to me as you see/hear them.
October 15, 2012 at 11:21 AM
The VUE article about Underground includes the following line: “There is a beer from almost every province, as well as a couple of territories…”
Is there beer being brewed in NWT or Nunavut that I’m not aware of? I assume that the line is just a careless mistake, but if there is beer from up north that’s not coming from Yukon, I’d love to hear about it.
(I realize that you didn’t write the article, Jason, I just figured that you’d know if there is beer from the other two territories.)
October 15, 2012 at 11:59 AM
Indeed, that is just some careless writing, we only have Yukon Brewing up there. Alas, Vue really should use only me to write beer stories 🙂 (no self-interest there, eh??).
October 15, 2012 at 12:51 PM
There *is* a ‘NUNAVUT’ beer, but go figure, it’s brewed in Norway: http://www.nunatsiaqoneline.ca/archives/60804/news/nunavut/60804_02.html
October 15, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Alan,
Interesting. Of course, that is the Norwegian region of the same name. Also, your link, oddly, doesn’t seem to work. This one does:
http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/60804/news/nunavut/60804_02.html
October 15, 2012 at 4:11 PM
So Brew Brothers has been open for 15 years and has never reached the minimum production level of five thousand hectoliters and only brewed one thousand hectolitres last year so there goes the minimum level issue as the AGLC hasn’t closed them and, the AGLC never enforces this. Alley Kat and Wild Rose took a long time to reach minimum production level as well.
Ontario is nothing Jim Button from Village described. Every beer has to be reviewed by a blind panel, the brewery has to have a marketing plan rolled out and very few beers get expected each quarter as one time seasonal. In the BC half pregnant private & government system is a little fairer to smaller breweries as a start up the government stores will give a new brewery two listings automatically but other than that growth of listings is based on sales.
October 15, 2012 at 6:09 PM
I always value your industry insider knowledge, and insight into other jurisdictions. Based on your experience, what would be sound policy to foster a healthy local beer production industry, as Alberta clearly seems to be lagging in this regard.
October 16, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Mark I wish I knew. I think this is reactionary with Drummond as the catalyst with Kent Hehr the Liberal MLA both spreading false information in thinly veiled disgust of Minhas. Minhas will be a moot point soon as with their Alberta brewery + production levels in the states they will be well past the ceiling for any tax concessions possibly even this year.
I believe we have the best province for beer in Canada and the local breweries will follow suit and in some ways already have. As to growth in our market I know that Fallen Timber Meadery is putting in a brewhouse, there is a new brewery in Cochrane well past the planning stages, we have a brewpub in Fort Mac going in. Village has exceeded their first year projection and has already done an expansion. Wild Rose is building a second brewery. Grizzly Paw is building a new brewery. Alley Kat just finished another expansion and we have a crazy amount of cool draft rooms going in around the province educating people about beer. That sounds like a healthy local culture to me.
I think Jason hit the head on the nail in his interview with CBC and as one lady said so eloquently in these forums I hope they don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
October 16, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Yeah, I think things are really on the verge of taking off in AB in terms of local production. Knowing how difficult it is for small local businessess to make it (especially those catering to a niche market), I’d like to see governments do whatever they can to encourage their success.
You’ve mentioned it before, and I do tend to agree, that a lot of local product (across Canada) is still rather timid, inconsistent or of poor quality. It speaks to an immature craft beer culture, both from the perspective of consumers not familiar with the product, and breweries still learning how to produce quality beer consistently.
I think another hinderance to the craft beer market in Canada is price. I’m seeing prices increases in the US, and rare limited beers are certainly pricey down there, but “basic” craft beer is still reasonably priced in the US. I think the price point of craft beer in Canada will always keep it as more of a niche/luxury item than say a staple product. If I wasn’t a homebrewer who also makes a couple trips by vehicle to the US each year, there is no way I could afford to drink good beer regularly.
October 16, 2012 at 2:42 PM
Craft beer is cheap in the states! I was just at the Great American Beer Festival last week. $14.99 for awesome mixed packs from great breweries and $6.49 for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale,kind of wanted to cry:(
October 17, 2012 at 9:57 AM
I agree, Hoser, that things are looking up. I am quite bullish on the trend line. But that doesn’t change the fact that Alberta’s local brewing industry lags behind most other jurisdictions.
There is more than just Minhas at play in this mark-up review. It is a complex political dynamic.
The Alberta system needs some improvements to encourage greater local production. The mark-up policy may or may not be part of that solution, but things can be changed, including regulations, incentives for small brewery start ups, etc.
i am very curious how the review turns out.
October 15, 2012 at 8:15 PM
Ha, you do look a little grizzled in the CBC piece, Jason. Not your fault – the camera adds 5 pounds of grizzle.
October 17, 2012 at 9:40 AM
From the CBC News clip it seems someone at The Underground needs some training.
I wouldn’t want the tap dunked in my beer at the end of the pour like that. I hope they clean their taps with a dedicated sanitized cloth when that happens.
October 17, 2012 at 9:51 AM
I noticed that too. I see that mistake far too often, even in good beer places. I imagine they will straighten that out soon enough – soft launches are soft launches after all…
October 18, 2012 at 1:26 PM
I completely agree with Hoser on this. There is a political dynamic at play here that runs much deeper than the convenient whipping boy of Minhas; and the craft boom at present happening in the major centres of Alberta is, in no small part, because of new Alberta players, and the tremendous selection on the shelves.
Jim at Village does need to bone up on his knowledge about listing in Ontario through either The Beer Store (Molson & Labatts jointly owned monopoly) or the LCBO. Having been to meetings at both, I can assure you it isn’t as easy as a matter of marching. To be successful, you need a pile of cash, significant good luck, and a plan for support. Oh–and you need some pretty aggressive sell through to maintain the listings. Once listed, I will admit that the Ontario Craft Brewers have done a good job of getting the LCBO to commit more space to Ontario craft than they did even just 6 years ago; but it’s no guarantee of a listing. The Beer Store is a discussion left for another post–it’s an extraordinary beast that I actually prefer NOT having to deal with out here in Alberta. Jim is also being kind of mellow dramatic when he describes the retail channel in Alberta has 2000 individual sales calls. In truth, there are quite a few key calls you can make to secure listings with the various chains; then the shoe leather kicks in and you start visiting the individual stores. I have actually found the retail model here a successful way to grow craft beer business, since there’s a great degree of autonomy with independent retailers and a better chance to turn a call into a sale in Alberta than Ontario (because a cold call in Ontario with no listing with the LCBO or TBS will bear no fruit whatsoever). Direct calling is the best way to tell a craft story and get a listing–and the best way to grow listings and secure better floor space/shelf space. In Ontario, those key locations on shelves and stores is FOR SALE, and must be applied for and paid for prior to securing.
I also agree with Hoser that education is key to growing the market. The AGLC mandated minimums have never been enforced–just ask two of the multinational bigs who operate under manufacturers licenses and haven’t brewed here for years (yet are allowed to forego the provincially mandated warehouse monopoly of Connect Logistics to deliver it themselves).
The mark-up rate discussion can be boiled down to this: the Big Boys want to destroy their closest competitors by taxing them to death. They’re doing it with high-priced lobbyists whose only job is to wine and dine. That those two Bigs, who have 95% of the market, are able to drive wedges between the smallest players in Alberta (which includes Minhas) and create a discussion that pits Small vs. Small in a discussion about Brewed in Alberta vs. Elsewhere is a triumph for those Lobbyists. If we don’t stick together, as we did in Ontario, the Bigs will kill the education and interest that is being generated in Alberta by ALL craft players, and it’ll likely kill some treasured Alberta brewers as well (or, at least, put them on life support). In my mind, when 95% of the beer is being brewed by foreign-owned mega-corporations, there’s plenty of room for Canadian (and American) craft to grow and thrive in the market.
October 19, 2012 at 9:49 AM
About the AGLC mandated minimum, as I understand it, you only are required to be able to produce the minimum but don’t physically have to produce it. This means you need the brewing equipment and fermenters to handle the throughput but don’t have to actually make it. So if a brewer plans out to brew twice a day, for all working days in a year, ferment out his beers quick and package them, if that amount would hit the minimum then they meet the guidelines.
I only bring this up because it has been stated twice that breweries aren’t making the minimum, thus breaking the rules when in fact the way the rules are written, they only need the capacity to produce it.
October 19, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Thanks, Kurtis. You are exactly correct. I should have posted a clarification about that when the comments went that direction – so thank you for doing it.
The Alberta government doesn’t care how much you brew, it is how much you could brew. But that is the problem. It means buying bigger equipment, larger location, etc. A nano-brewery would not be possible in Alberta, which is a shame.
October 19, 2012 at 11:12 AM
The two Bigs I’m referring to, I don’t believe, even have the equipment to politely point to and say “Coulda, woulda, shoulda”. But it’s a very good clarification.
October 18, 2012 at 2:05 PM
Thanks Brad always enjoy read your posts and I whole heartily agree!
On top of all the positives I listed above I forgot to mention their is the brewing college about to open in Olds once again another REALLY big positive and doesn’t sound like an industry that is suffering.
I would like to add one thing to Brad’s comments. The more I read up on this the more I think this can be added to Brad’s thoughts. This also is Drummond and Big Rock(sorry Pine Valley) fighting over the buck a beer market and not even realising that soon Minhas won’t be getting the transitional mark up rate as they will have exceeded four hundred thousand hectolitre maximum. Minhas brewed 390,000 this year with more brewery expansions south of the border and a brewery (?) built in Calgary added to those production levels this is going to happen soon.
As Brad stated this being before the government has noting to do with craft beer and in the end it will cost drinkers more for less.
October 21, 2012 at 11:07 AM
I don’t really see the college in Olds being a positive. The craft market is expanding, but not enough to warrant ~20 graduates a year to fill those positions (on top of those coming out of Niagara). I’ve heard the program lead say that they’ve consulted industry, but my bet is that the big guys want new people as more start to retire. Additionally, in talking with people who’ve taken the program at Niagara, I was less than impressed with their knowledge, both practical and theoretical. I may have only talked with people who didn’t do very well though.