“Buck a Beer”

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by eberesford, Aug 26, 2018.

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  1. eberesford

    eberesford Savant (1,249) Apr 1, 2017 Canada (ON)

    Here in Ontario the new Premier has launched an initiative called a “buck-a-beer”. The aim is to get the minimum price of beer down to $1 CDN - Superficially it sounds fun, but I do worry that it is not really possible to use quality ingredients at that price and most craft brewers in the peovince have indicated that they will NOT be participating. My further worry is that at a time when craft beer is gaining in popularity and beginning to make inroads into the market that this might set things back. What do others think?
     
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  2. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,790) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Current exchange rate makes $1 CDN = $.77 USD. That could be tough while maintaining quality. Not even sure you could homebrew for that.
     
  3. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    Why is there a government-set price floor in the first place?

    I'd suggest a close examination of the Premier's campaign contributors.

    BTW, in USA political-speak, "Progressive Conservative" is an oxymoron.
     
  4. Scott17Taylor

    Scott17Taylor Initiate (0) Oct 28, 2013 Iowa
    Trader

    I don’t like the idea of a minimum price, if I want a $12 30 pack of some cheap adjunct lager I should be able to buy it.
     
  5. nc41

    nc41 Initiate (0) Sep 25, 2008 North Carolina
    Trader

    I'm all for lowering costs, but with everything considered it can't be sustainable. You might pull off a retro roll back the price night every now and then, but I suspect they'll lose money.
     
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  6. Shanex

    Shanex Grand Pooh-Bah (4,960) Dec 10, 2015 France
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I am against lowering cost because it would dramatically raise my beer consumption which is already critical.
     
  7. dcotom

    dcotom Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,637) Aug 4, 2014 Iowa
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    This initiative simply lowers the minimum to what it was before it was increased to $1.25. From where I'm sitting, the closer they can get to $0 the better. If someone wants to make a sub-5.6% beer (what this initiative applies to) and sell it for less than a dollar, why is it any of the gubment's damn business?
     
  8. TrojanRB

    TrojanRB Grand Pooh-Bah (3,779) Jul 27, 2013 Texas
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I drink plenty of expensive beer, but recently I’ve been reaching for Hamm’s 6x16 for $4.50. You really can’t beat the price, and it’s perfect for yard work this time of year.
     
  9. A_Drunken_Production

    A_Drunken_Production Initiate (191) Aug 14, 2017 Oregon

    I had to read more into the legislation. For bars who buy Molson and Labatt en masse should be pleased because they can mark down those beers for specials, which should increase revenue. There are concerns that people can become too inebriated and be a nuisance and I understand that. But I don't see how this can improve the burgeoning craft beer market in Ontario. I'd like to see taxes in the ingredients brewers need to buy to lower the cost of the product.

    While on a trip to Banff and Canmore, I was talking to some of the brewers about some of the difficulties they were facing. One of them was a tax on buying ingredients. I'd also like to see the taxes to sell to other provinces as it'd help breweries grow outside of a region.

    http://www.albertabarley.com/craft-...introduction-to-albertas-beer-mark-up-policy/

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/supreme-court-beer-ruling-alberta-1.4627374
     
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  10. EmperorBatman

    EmperorBatman Zealot (741) Mar 16, 2018 Tennessee

    Perhaps it would be easier if they cut down on the liquor tax!
     
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  11. edward_boumil

    edward_boumil Initiate (0) Jun 28, 2015 New York

    A dollar for a beer? You don't have to twist my arm with that one, I'll take it!

    Joking aside I think with advances in brewing, increased automation and the like it could certainly be possible. What you have to ask is in regard to the craftier of the craft beers is this possible? Some things require a human touch, but if somebody can innovate and produce a quality product for cheap I have no qualms. Nothing wrong with reaching for a nice cheap beer to alleviate palate fatigue.
     
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  12. dcotom

    dcotom Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,637) Aug 4, 2014 Iowa
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    The other day I bought a 15-pack of Milwaukee's Best Premium for boiling bratwurst. With tax and deposit, it worked out to just under 48 cents per beer. Everybody's happy. Where's the benefit to having some nanny-state bureaucrat telling me I have to pay more than twice that for it?

    This has nothing at all to do with production costs, quality, or marketing. This is about behavior control. Pure and simple.
     
  13. Coronaeus

    Coronaeus Grand Pooh-Bah (3,744) Apr 21, 2014 Canada (ON)
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Pricing minimums have meant that crappy beer is rather expensive here. It hasn’t affected craft beer that much though. Similar quality craft beer is priced at around the same level as US equivalents if a little higher.

    The funny thing about this initiative is that a couple of the more lowly regarded craft breweries are the only breweries that have announced they will take up the challenge. The benefit to them will be prime placement in the goverment run liquor stores without the usual cost of such placement.

    Of course, as we all learned in the thread regarding the world’s worst beer scenes, Canadian beer is garbage to begin with, so no one should worry if quality goes down even further in an effort to reduce price. Is a Saison that tastes like dog piss better or worse when it is less expensive?
     
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  14. thehyperduck

    thehyperduck Grand Pooh-Bah (4,980) Feb 26, 2006 Canada (ON)
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    It's not even a matter of allowing it or disallowing it. If there's no money to be made, then lowering the price floor is a pointless gesture because no one is going to bother making it. The OP mentions that nearly all of the craft brewers in the region are not participating - gee, I wonder why they aren't lining up to sell product at a loss.

    So that leaves the macros. What motivation do they have to lower their prices? People are already paying $35.50 for 24 bottles of Busch in Ontario. Yes - really. They already know people will happily pay that much, so dropping the price on that case is tantamount to AB-InBev flushing money down the toilet.

    If they (the macros) had any interest in selling buck-a-beer, they'd at least be selling beers at the current price floor (which is somewhere in the vicinity of $1.25-1.50 IIRC). Interestingly, it's not easy to find a regular-sized serving of beer anywhere in Ontario for that price, which suggests that $1.50/serving is already too cheap to be worth the effort. Sub-premium macro lagers are the only ones that get that cheap, and that's only if you're buying by the case.

    There were many buck-a-beer labels in Ontario about 10-15 years ago. All of them were bought out by the macros, and all of them have languished in sales over that time span. Why? Because there's no money in them, so the macros are happy to let those labels languish and die. They bought them out to get rid of competition, not because they were valuable brands in and of themselves.

    And if a macro corp can't leverage its size to make buck-a-beer profitable, what are the odds of a much smaller craft brewery being able to make any money off this scheme?

    $12 thirty-packs do not exist anywhere in this country. In fact, I'd be surprised if $30 thirty-packs exist anywhere in Canada. Maybe in Alberta?
     
    #14 thehyperduck, Aug 27, 2018
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2018
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  15. Dan_K

    Dan_K Pooh-Bah (1,980) Nov 8, 2013 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    If you homebrew a pale ale with only an ounce of hops, you can make 5 gallons for about $25, which comes out to $5 a gallon, $0.46 a bottle. That's if you are doing all-grain, about 5% ABV. Rough estimate.
     
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  16. Giantspace

    Giantspace Grand Pooh-Bah (3,043) Dec 22, 2011 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah


    And I thought PA was bad. I can still get Hamms 30x12 for under $14 and High Life 24x12 bottles for $15 when on sale. Cans are a bit less but I love the sexy bottle and it taste better to me. More bite than the can.

    Enjoy
     
  17. eberesford

    eberesford Savant (1,249) Apr 1, 2017 Canada (ON)

    This sounds like a much better. Of course, it would require that some of his own government’s money went into the project which does not really seem to be the point of the exercise.
     
  18. Dan_K

    Dan_K Pooh-Bah (1,980) Nov 8, 2013 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    So, is part of the issue the local taxes? Why is beer so expensive in Canada?
     
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  19. TwoTrees

    TwoTrees Pundit (951) Oct 31, 2012 Washington

    Ontario must be a sweet place to live if the pressing political issue includes a need for cheaper beer!
     
  20. MNAle

    MNAle Initiate (0) Sep 6, 2011 Minnesota

    Pandering is as pandering does....
     
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