The Great Rolling Rock Rip Off!

[jason.loxton]

So, I am down in Michigan for the year, enjoying the awesome selection of craftbeers available (and moderate savings--a 6 pack of the good stuff is only a bit cheaper, about $10-11 with taxes, but OH THE SELECTION!). Anyway, I noticed that the NSLC is now carrying Rolling Rock. They are selling a 473 ml can for $3.09. Rolling Rock is a very nicely packaged garbage beer down here. It is OK on a hot day. A nice light can of carbonated corn, but worth $3.09 a can it is not. How cheap is it here? Well, a 24 pack goes for about $14. It the main advertised bulk drunk beverage in most party stores. I did the math. That works out to $0.78 a 473 ml can. Versus $3.09 at the NSLC. Now, I understand duties and higher taxes, but... WTF??? That's a crazy mark up! What formula does the NSLC you use to determine this (except "what can we get the public to pay for yet another tasteless lager")? How do they justify these prices???

Grrrrr.

Jason

[mr x]

Yeah, thanks for the reminder of how fucked up this province is.

[sleepyjamie]

probably why they made record profits last year of $500M+

[PEIBeerGuy]

It's on PEI now, too. Something tells me it's at least $3.10...

[Tony L]

It's on PEI now, too. Something tells me it's at least $3.10...

Yeah, it's here also at a bit over $3. And yeah, it's a bland macro.. why even Molson and Labatts make better local named beer than that.

[Downs]

Ouch and here I was drinking RR on Saturday at Lion's Head.

On the price of beer though, I cannot get over how expensive beer is here.
Especially after spending the last year up in Ontario.
They have 12 packs up there for 12 bucks, hardly the 20 they cost here.
One of the main reasons I HAD to get back into brewing.
NSLC just makes is difficult to afford beer.

[derek]

Yeah, thanks for the reminder of how fucked up this province is.

I get a weekly email from Wine Access magazine, and last week's had tasting notes for a number of Ports. One 30 year old Tawny Port was available in NS for $145 and Ontario for $180. I guess that tells you the drinking preferences of the folks who set the price!

I worked in Michigan (Midland-Saginaw) for a few years, Jason. I actually found their "party store" system made for significantly less choice (in wine or beer) than I had available in Ontario. First, I actually had to leave town to get to a store that had a decent selection; then while it would have a better selection of craft beers than Ontario, nowhere near the sheer number of brands, and it's wine selection was heavily biased to California.

[Graham.C]

First, I actually had to leave town to get to a store that had a decent selection; then while it would have a better selection of craft beers than Ontario, nowhere near the sheer number of brands, and it's wine selection was heavily biased to California.

And Ontario's is heavily biased to Ontario. Not that Ontario makes bad wine, but there are other regions.

[KMcK]

On the price of beer though, I cannot get over how expensive beer is here.
Especially after spending the last year up in Ontario.
They have 12 packs up there for 12 bucks, hardly the 20 they cost here.
One of the main reasons I HAD to get back into brewing.
NSLC just makes is difficult to afford beer.

Maybe that's the difference between the Beer Store and the LCBO. When in Ontario I only shop at the latter for beer because the former only carries shit beer that I wouldn't buy at any price. The good stuff at the LCBO costs about the same as here, although the selection is broader. The Beer Store can get away with a lot less markup because it's owned by the macros and thus eliminates the middle man and can profit on volume. Craft brews at the LCBO can't compete on price, which is all that matters to Joe Schmo Blue drinker so he'll never try good beer.

Now that I think about this, I like the NSLC system better because it levels the playing field between micro and macro in terms of price and accessibility making it a lot easier for someone to get into craft beers. Also, the extra markup and taxes on macros that the NSLC has compared to the Beer Store go into provincial coffers, so Joe Schmo Keith's drinker is funding roads, schools, health care, etc. here to a greater extent that he is in Ontario.

[derek]

First, I actually had to leave town to get to a store that had a decent selection; then while it would have a better selection of craft beers than Ontario, nowhere near the sheer number of brands, and it's wine selection was heavily biased to California.

And Ontario's is heavily biased to Ontario. Not that Ontario makes bad wine, but there are other regions.

Not really. The LCBO wine shelves usually don't have more than 20% Ontario space (LCBO.COM lists 1719 Ontario wines and 11211 worldwide: 15.3%) - and much of that is actually made in Chile (if it isn't VQA, you can be virtually certain it's 85% non-Canadian, and most of that is from Chile) - and if it's on the LCBO's general list you are supposed to be able to get it shipped to any LCBO outlet, so even a store that doesn't stock all of those non-Ontario wines should bring them in for you. Because they're all private stores in Michigan, what I saw in the three I was familiar with may not be true everywhere, but in the best of those 50% of the wine was from California (and _their_ regulations require 80 or 85% California content).

FWIW, Rolling Rock retails for $2.35/473ml in Ontario.

[derek]

Maybe that's the difference between the Beer Store and the LCBO. When in Ontario I only shop at the latter for beer because the former only carries shit beer that I wouldn't buy at any price

Ah, but the Beer Store claims to carry all sorts of craft beer. They just don't ever seem to have any of it in stock... Come to think of it, it's like the bars I visit in NB

[Graham.C]

Maybe that's the difference between the Beer Store and the LCBO. When in Ontario I only shop at the latter for beer because the former only carries shit beer that I wouldn't buy at any price

Ah, but the Beer Store claims to carry all sorts of craft beer. They just don't ever seem to have any of it in stock... Come to think of it, it's like the bars I visit in NB

The beer stores are owned by the big three and they have a notorious reputation for leaving the 'craft' market out in the sunny spots or hiding them in the back collecting dust. Some stores are better then others, but unless something has changed I bet the LCBO is a better call (I know the OCB had a campaign to change this but I don't know how successful they were)

[Graham.C]

First, I actually had to leave town to get to a store that had a decent selection; then while it would have a better selection of craft beers than Ontario, nowhere near the sheer number of brands, and it's wine selection was heavily biased to California.

And Ontario's is heavily biased to Ontario. Not that Ontario makes bad wine, but there are other regions.

Not really. The LCBO wine shelves usually don't have more than 20% Ontario space (LCBO.COM lists 1719 Ontario wines and 11211 worldwide: 15.3%) - and much of that is actually made in Chile (if it isn't VQA, you can be virtually certain it's 85% non-Canadian, and most of that is from Chile) - and if it's on the LCBO's general list you are supposed to be able to get it shipped to any LCBO outlet, so even a store that doesn't stock all of those non-Ontario wines should bring them in for you. Because they're all private stores in Michigan, what I saw in the three I was familiar with may not be true everywhere, but in the best of those 50% of the wine was from California (and _their_ regulations require 80 or 85% California content).

FWIW, Rolling Rock retails for $2.35/473ml in Ontario.

Yeah I guess I am biased as I spend most of my time either in St. Catharines (Niagara) or the Queens Quay LCBO's (<- best one for beer too).

I would caution you against the assumption that Ontario = Chile. That's like saying beer is made from rice because all you drink is bud. Few, if any, of the small to mid sized wineries in Niagara use imported grapes (unless you are drinking sharaz or something out of climate). Their distribution is too small and too local to run the risk of a reputation hit, its only the big boys who use high concentrations of imports (again the exception being wineries that use high concentration of grapes that do very poorly in Niagara). The reason the stats are so high is because of how much of the market vincor controls. It would be like finding out Nash is importing his wort from Anheuser busch.

[mr x]

Ouch and here I was drinking RR on Saturday at Lion's Head.

Everybody gets one mulligan.

[Downs]

ouch
I only just saw this burn now.

Hopefully once I kick the Festa kit habit I have and start brewing at least from partial grain I can blow some minds.

[mr x]

I hear it's on tap at the H&T now.

[Downs]

gees I better get down there then