Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen… well to be fair a great many people share my current beer dilemma, which is the woefully sparse craft beer representation at the provincially run LCBO stores in Ontario. I know there are many reasons (???) behind the logic of having beer stop at provincial borders but seriously folks a beer geek wants to have a vast ocean of choices not simply a rain barrel full. To be fair, there is a good amount of craft beer on the shelf but it’s a bit of a tease when you know there is so much more behind the curtain.
The result of this lack of brew diversity? I have become a bit (more) of an archaeologist when it comes to extracting the best that the LCBO can offer. Being blessed with an insider view means I am now privy to the fact that you can (for a price) get pretty much any beer you want ordered into the LCBO and with the handy-dandy app you can seek out the location of whales – I also happily discovered that a couple of stores even have growler fills and tastings (don’t laugh BC folks it’s just baby steps here).
What does this look like for me? See below for my current beer companions.
So keep the faith. Together we can work towards eroding the invisible borders that prevent us from creating a veritable garden of craft beer choices. Canada 150? Let’s equally share in what’s brewing across the country and beyond. A truly multicultural nation would embrace all the beer that calls Canada home and welcome beer from around the world where it can happily co-exist on the LCBO shelf and in my fridge
