I live in Montreal and for perhaps the last 6 months TDD has been regularly available in Montreal. In the last few years I have however seen their beers in Toronto (varieties I can't find in Montreal), and their beer (including stuff we can't get in Montreal) is basically always available in Lethbridge Alberta.... wtf is going on here?
Specifically, what beers of theirs are you referring to? You may see some rarer TDD stuff at bars in Toronto thanks to Keep 6, but there's absolutely nothing on the LCBO shelves you wouldn't find in Montreal.
Which ones? I think all their beers have been available at one time or another in MTL. The problem is once the BA stuff hits the shelves, it disappears in no time. Hopefully the new production brewery they have will up the quantity of their BA beers.
In Montreal I have seen La Sang-d'encre, La Shawinigan Handshake, Mactavish In Memoriam, and Blanche De Shawi regularly since early summer and La Buteuse once. I've see La Buteuse regularly in Alberta over the last few years, and I've found Dulcis Succubus there as well. On my one trip to toronto I stopped by volo and I believe they had the Succubus and L'Imperatrice and that was at least a couple years ago. I find the fact that I could regularly get there stuff in a small town in southern alberta and not montreal very weird.
It is a brewery trying to treat its long time best customers well. Alberta gets small amounts of beer from Le Trou du Diable and we have been doing business with them for four years. Their Alberta agent here and for a lot of other cool Quebec breweries. With LTDD's production brewery just getting going in June it will take time for them to supply all the markets that love their beer. Speaking of Ontario, Le Trou du Diable has been working with the same Ontario and their American importer for even longer. On a recent trip I saw rare Le Trou du Diable beers in stores in Portland Oregon and San Francisco, also Hopenstark and DdC.
So Hoser if its a question of the agents having great relationships with the Quebec breweries, why is the beer only going outside of Quebec and not from say alberta into Quebec?
Three letters SAQ, your system is very unique. Alberta on the other hand is one of the freest markets in North American. For example I can buy Drie Fountain, Cantillon, lots of Quebec goodness and Westvletern today if I wanted to go shopping. It is all a product of what the government liquor board dictates to its licensees.
In the case of all the provinces however doesn't a government organization have an ultimate monopoly over importation? I mean the systems in BC and QC in particular appear to be very similar yet BC has a very good selection and QC has literally not a single non-QC domestic microbrew
BC's system is open with its own hurdles, they just had a Cantillon Zwanze beer day and that province has an awesome selection of American goodness. Heck you can buy Sierra Nevada and New Belgium there and you can't in Alberta. Lets just the SAQ sucks and I am leaving this thread with this post.
The only good beer you cant find in Alberta, is a good beer brewed in Alberta Quebec protects its breweries from outside competition through protectionism laws that limit what can hit the shelves. Pisses off customers sure... but it did spawn an industry of over 100 breweries, some world class products, and countless jobs.
i agree with what hoser said, but it doesn't explain why Dep Peluso doesn't have much/any TdD. you have to give people like Keep6 credit for the relationships they've grown over the past decade. Cantillon, TdD, DDC... at times, i see more DDC at good Toronto bars than I see local breweries. and that's not a bad thing.
