Today marked the new beginning of a new five year Canadian distribution venture between Canada's largest independently owned brewery and the largest independently owned brewery in the United States: Moosehead Breweries and the Boston Beer Co., better known at Sam Adams.
Jim Koch, owner/founder/brewer of Boston Beer and Andrew Oland, Moosehead President and sixth generation member of the Oland clan to lead the brewery, announced the news today in front of a large crowd of industry personnel at Toronto's Drake Hotel. Koch, a craft beer legend and pioneer, mentioned that Sam Adams Boston Lager was originally represented in Canada by another pioneering brewery, Brick Brewery in Waterloo, and then later by Sleeman's, which is now owned by Sapporo of Japan.
I was able to interview both Oland and Koch about this news and that material will appear in the spring issue of TAPS: Canada's Beer Magazine. In the meantime, here is video I shot of the press conference. First speaker is Andrew Oland and second is Jim Koch. Please note that this video does not contain the full speeches that were given by each man. *And sorry for the quality of the video. The glare from the window didn't help.
Also, here are some highlights of the press conference:
* Sam Adams Boston Lager will be available in all ten Canadian provinces in bottle and draught format
* Seasonal products and other Sam Adams brands should start making their way across the border an onto store shelves
* Moosehead approached Koch years ago to see if they could out an agreement but Koch had to decline at the time - he know says good things come with patience
* Both men are extremely proud to be entering into this venture together as it celebrates the independence of the beer industry
6 comments:
Dear Moosehead,
Bring me Utopias.
Thanks,
Rick.
Hey Troy. I get a "This is a private video..." type message when I try to play that.
Thanks for the heads up TJ. I think I must have clicked private instead of public. I'm at a computer that won't allow Youtube, so I'll have to make the fix later.
TJ - up and running now.
Nice coverage Troy!
"Seasonal products and other Sam Adams brands should start making their way across the border an onto store shelves"
Let's hope the "should" becomes "will" in time!
Cheers
When an American says our beer distribution in Ontario is like Kasastan, this should light a fire under our asses to get a Craft Beer Store here in this province.
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