Buy Your Beau's Online... AGCO Says NO Go!

The news you are about to read is not pleasant. In fact, it stinks. Bloody Ontario and their damn archaic alcohol rules and regulations.

The awesome folks at Beau's All Natural Brewing Co. have been talking about a new and exciting program for a number of weeks  that was launched today - Buy Your Beau's Online (BYBO). The delivery program allowed individuals to pre-order their Beau's beer, or merchandise online, which  would then be delivered to Ottawa area homes by Operation Come Home,  a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting street youth. There was to be a $15 delivery fee that would go straight to charity. You can read more about the program here.

I know right! A great idea! A forward thinking idea! Imagine, adults being able to order their beer from a brewery and have it delivered to their home with some of the proceeds going to charity - everybody wins!

Well, immediately after Beau's launched BYBO earlier today, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) promptly shut it down. The reason, according to a blog post written by Beau's Co-Founder Steve Beauchense, was this:

That’s right, after less than a day of operation, BYBO has been closed, after another brewery (we weren’t told which one) complained. The complaint has nothing to do with the service or the fact that at-risk youth were involved, but over a technicality involving what I believe to be a typo in the regulations around home beer delivery services.

Brutal right?

Beauchense went on to provide more insight into the situation with the following paragraph:

Our retail store operates as an authorized beer store by the LCBO, but the regulation around home delivery uses the wording ‘operated' instead of ‘authorized’, which is how it is worded to allow us to sell to special occasion permit holders, and retail customers. It is interesting to note that the Beer Store, which is not operated by the LCBO or government is somehow allowed to sell to home delivery services.


I was able to reach Beauchesne by phone shortly after the news broke, and although he and the rest of the Beau's team are upset with this, they pledge to do what they can to ensure BYBO happens. "Obviously we don't have a team of lawyers, so our ability to fight this is limited," said Beauchesne. "We will work with Operation Come Home to see what options are available to us."

Beauchesne did tell me that they just found out that Operation Come Home can appeal this decision to the AGCO, which would allow them to find out the identity of the complainant. "The AGCO approved the delivery licence application knowing how the operation would work, and all it took was one complaint..." Operation Come Home does have the delivery licence, but the wording of the regulation ultimately means that they would have to purchase the beer from The Beer Store in order to deliver it, a place where Beau's isn't available.

The saddest thing about all of this is the youth who would benefit most from this. "We had two youths ready to go, so this hurts," said Beauchesne.

Now, to the brewery out there that complained (based on what was written in Beauchense's blog post) - you should be ashamed of yourself. Beau's, since they've bursted onto the Ontario craft brewing scene, have done nothing but come up with great ideas. Ideas that essentially benefit the Ontario beer drinker. This is why they are successful. There is no room for petty jealously. Focus on your own business model and worry less about what other innovative and inspiring breweries are doing. You'll never get ahead with this attitude.

Readers and beer drinkers of this province - if this story irks you as much as it does me, please contact your local MPP and let them know.

Boxer Lager Gets A Call From the AGCO

I had this written yesterday but for some reason it didn't post?? So, what's old today was new yesterday.

I am not a fan of their beer and I'm not a fan of their branding and marketing, but I'm standing in their corner today.

Boxer Lager, a beer from the Minhas Creek Craft Brewing Company (craft term used loosely) based out of Alberta, received a letter back in December from Ontario's Alcohol and Gaming Commission (AGCO). The letter, as the Toronto Sun indicated, has to do with the name of their beer, Boxer, and a complaint the AGCO received from a member of the public (or from another major brewery) who thinks the name is using sports to promote their beer, something that is banned under Ontario liquor laws. Or is it?

I tried searching the Liquor Licence Act, but couldn't come up with anything that suggests using a 'sporting' term in the name of a product would be prohibited. I did however look under Section 87 of the Licences to Sell Liquor Regulation O.Reg 719 (Advertising Liquor and its Availability for Sale) and this is what it says:

87. (1) In this section,
“public service advertising” means any advertising carrying a strong message against irresponsible use of liquor where the message does not contain any direct or indirect endorsement of liquor, the brand name of liquor or of the consumption of liquor. O. Reg. 247/02, s. 27.

(2) Except for public service advertising, the holder of a licence to sell liquor may advertise or promote liquor or the availability of liquor only if the advertising,
(a) is consistent with the principle of depicting responsibility in use or service of liquor;
(b) promotes a general brand or type of liquor and not the consumption of liquor in general;
(c) does not imply that consumption of liquor is required in obtaining or enhancing,
(i) social, professional or personal success,
(ii) athletic prowess,
(iii) sexual prowess, opportunity or appeal,
(iv) enjoyment of any activity,
(v) fulfilment of any goal, or
(vi) resolution of social, physical or personal problems;
(d) does not appeal, either directly or indirectly, to persons under the legal drinking age or is not placed in media that are targeted specifically at people under that age;
(e) does not associate consumption of liquor with driving a motorized vehicle, or with any other activity that requires care and skill or has elements of physical danger;
(f) does not depict motorized vehicles in motion in advertising showing the consumption of liquor, unless the motorized vehicle is a form of public transportation;
(g) does not suggest any illegal sale, illegal purchase, illegal gift, illegal handling or illegal consumption of liquor; and
(h) is in compliance with guidelines related to advertising issued by the Registrar of Alcohol and Gaming. O. Reg. 247/02, s. 27; O. Reg. 284/02, s. 3.

(3) When premises to which a licence applies are used as a setting for a film or television production, the licence holder may show the name of the establishment if the licence holder complies with the requirements set out in subsection (2). O. Reg. 247/02, s. 27.

Am I missing something here? I know the brewery (who just got into the province 3 months ago) uses a boxing commercial to advertise here in Ontario but how different is it then the commercial with four guys sitting around watching a hockey game getting beer out of a fridge with a curved hockey stick (Molson Canadian), or a spontaneous road hockey game that shuts down Bay Street (older Labatt Blue)? Maybe I am missing something in the Act and Regulations; maybe I didn't see the right section, but if I'm reading Section 87 correctly, Boxer Lager is not advertising athletic prowess or irresponsible use.

The poster (above) featuring cans of the Boxer Lager and an athletic looking female with boxing gear on does not, in my opinion anyway, suggest that you require alcohol to obtain or enhance athletic prowess as an AGCO spokesperson stated in an article yesterday. What if the poster featured an overweight male with a cigar in his mouth with boxing gear on. What would the AGCO have to say about that? Would anyone complain?

The beer is sold in cans at the lowest legal price, which tells you enough about the brewery and gives you a good indication about the quality of the beer, but this, in boxing terms, is a low-blow.