ANBL getting some well deserved bad press

[paulmaybee]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-liquor-s-growler-program-chided-by-2-craft-breweries-1.2883249

[shazapple]

Well, it is a test run after all (with only 12 taps), so expecting it to include everyone is a bit unreasonable. You can't expect them to go full bore with something right out of the gate. CBC is like a dog with a bone sometimes...

[blisster]

40,000 growlers is a lot for a pilot, lol

[paulmaybee]

Yes, and what the CBC and everyone else seems to not want to mention is that this pilot project was a desperate backpedaling after the 10,000L rule for small breweries was announced.

[jamie_savoie]

I think it's very reasonable that every NB's micro should have a chance to be able to sell its product thru the program.  I think this should be used to promote product from NB exclusively, including MH or hopcity.  Why promote a beer made elsewhere when we have breweries HERE that would really like to be able to sell.  And remove those crappy Molson taps...we know Mr Harriman that you just want to help your old comrades from Diageo...

Red Rover's ciders a "wine product"?   What a freaking joke!  Just shows you how out of touch ANBL is...funny thing is when I go to their store, all the ciders is placed right beside craft beers...strange...

I expect that they'll threat John's mead the same way.  Sad thing

And no taps for Northern NB?  I guess they really want us to continue to spend our money in Quebec or Maine.   And I'll gladly continue to do so

[JohnQ]

I expect that they'll treat John's mead the same way.  Sad thing

That is correct, already been advised we are wine, just like cider is wine.
Presented the SAQ markup guide, showing Cider and Mead together as a separate category, was told they don't care what Quebec does.

JQ

[jamie_savoie]

I expect that they'll treat John's mead the same way.  Sad thing

That is correct, already been advised we are wine, just like cider is wine.
Presented the SAQ markup guide, showing Cider and Mead together as a separate category, was told they don't care what Quebec does.

JQ

morons
if something they should learn from quebec

[paulmaybee]

Yes, but following suit is admitting fault.  The ANBL folks are LEADERS, not measly followers.

[blisster]

Besides, Quebec privatized beer/wine sales and are blooming with craft breweries, what would they know about anything 

[ECH]

My take on it.

40000 growlers? Really? Initially only 3 stores, but lets give them the benefit of the doubt, and say they started with 4 stores.....that's 10000 growlers per store.....really? They probably wouldn't need 40k growlers if every corporate store in the province had taps. Just shear stupidity to buy that many for a test run.

My problem with it was that ANBL had a perfect opportunity to make good on their 10000L blunder, by promoting the micro breweries from around the province.

I mean when it opened, here in Fredericton we had a Picaroons tap, Shocktop, and I don't recall the 3rd, it was at least from a smaller micro brewery.

OK, right off the top....Labatts doesn't need help selling Shock Top, none of the 3 taps should be a mainstream product for one of the big 3 macro beer companies.

Picaroons....ok, a case can be made as they are the biggest micro in Fredericton...but....they have their own brewtique downtown, with 6 taps of their own....do they really need another at the Prospect St. store? Give them a tap in Moncton or SJ, where maybe their beer on tap isn't as readily available for purchase to take home. Ditto for Pumphouse, instead of a Moncton tap, give them a SJ or Freddy tap.

So rather than help promote the smaller micros, they choose to have stuff that is readily available.

How about stuff from Railcar, Big Axe (one of theirs was on once.....once), Petit Sault, etc, etc.

I don't get up to the Bristol area much, and I likely wouldn't make a special trip up just to get a growler of Railcar where I haven't tried it. However if it was on tap in Freddy where I could grab a growler of their brew locally, I might then make the effort to drive up to Bristol to see what else I could get. Win, win situation for both ANBL and the brewer.

As well, why only pour hours Thu, Fri, & Sat? There are enough staff on hand that if someone should come by on a Monday, that they could fill a growler. One of the people that stock the shelves, or the product advisor could do that at any time, why only limit pours to 3 days?

ANBL has a good idea, just piss poor execution and management.

I was into a beer store on Long Island over the summer. Typical bottle shop, lots of generic, and lots of products from smaller micro breweries, but what they also had was a walk in cooler that had 10-12 tap handles on the outside of it, that they had set up for growler fills from breweries from around the country (no Bud lite on tap as AB doesn't need the help pushing it), thought it was a great idea, but ANBL is making a mockery out of the growler trial....then again, I suppose we shouldn't really be surprised!

[Canuck]

^ Agree with everything you said.  Just one correction, they do pour 7 days a week (or at least they do at the KV store).  It's just Thurs/Fri/Sat that they have a dedicated person manning the taps.  I think that the program is a win win for both consumers and small breweries like myself.  But a number of tweaks definitely need to be made to make it more successful. 

[jamie_savoie]

hey @robcoombs , you're famous 
http://globalnews.ca/video/1747371/is-the-draft-beer-program-in-new-brunswick-a-success

[robcoombs]

I was kinda hoping no one would see that. A little embarrassing, and of course they cut out everything I said about wanting to see more beer from small NB breweries on the growler taps.