Local beer maker calls on province to allow brewer-owned stores
Via Ottawa Citizen:
OTTAWA — A local beer company is asking the provincial government to give craft brewers the power to open their own stores as a means of tapping into an expanding demand for their products.
Kichesippi Beer, which operates west of downtown Ottawa and just north of the Queensway, said the province’s laws concerning liquor sales are holding back the business.
Brewers, as it stands now, can only sell their take-home products at the provincially owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the privately owned Beer Store, duty-free shops at border crossings or the location at which they brew the beer.
Opening a store at a location other than their brewery would allow the company to do more to sell potential customers on its products, said Paul Meek, the company’s co-owner.
Kichesippi doesn’t sell at the Beer Store, he said, in part because this gives an advantage to bigger brands such as those from Molson that are displayed more prominently. Most locations also don’t offer an opportunity to promote products through promotions such as taste samplings.
Read full article.
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