Megan Haynes

Following considerable media attention before the holidays over its structure and product offering, Ontario’s Beer Store has opened up its offering to more brewers.

Before the holidays, the Toronto Star reported on internal memos that shed light on the brand’s structure, including a restriction on the government-owned LCBO to sell bottled beer in packages greater than a six-pack, spawning more media scrutiny into its practices. Other criticisms in recent years have included the difficulty and prohibitive costs for smaller brewers to get listed at the Beer Store, claiming the big brewers stunt the burgeoning competition in the craft space. This, of course, has not stemmed the growth of craft beer. In fact, while beer sales in Canada has slipped, the craft beer space has boomed and is the fastest growing category at the LCBO, growing between 20 and 30% annually.

http://strategyonline.ca/2015/01/07/beer-store-opens-up-to-small-brewers/