Yup, that’s the theme of this month’s edition of The Session, as chosen by the guys at San Francisco’s 21st Amendment brewery, Nico and Shawn. And in my grumpier moments, which have been many this week, I’d answer, simply, not a damn thing, you myopic, self-absorbed Americans, because I’m Canadian and as shocking as it may be, the entire beer blogging world, indeed the whole brewing world, does not revolve around the United States of America!
(Incidentally, I both know and like Nico and Shawn, and some of my best friends are Americans, so this is not an anti-US diatribe, just, as noted, a reflection of what I felt in my grumpier moments. Still, and I know Alan will echo this, it is a pretty damn insular topic for what is, after all, a global beer blogging day, and why the hell can’t we get back to talking about beer some time?)
But then I think, wait a second, I live in Ontario, where the after-effects of our briefer fling with Prohibition are still felt today, arguably more acutely than in any market in the United States, outside of Utah. So maybe this is worth commenting on after all.
For those of you unaware, as is the case with the majority of markets in Canada, alcohol sales in Ontario is controlled by the state and beer, wine and spirits are all sold through the LCBO, a government-owned liquor store. Additionally, beer is retailed through a monstrosity known as The Brewers Retail, a supposed brewers co-op owned by Labatt and Molson, with a much, much smaller stake in the possession of Sleeman. (The BRI, or Beer Store, as it’s variously known, is often said to be run by the three breweries, but really the Sleeman share is so small as to be almost irrelevant.) Which means that my local brewers, and any brewer or importer who wishes to sell their wares in my home province, the largest in Canada, have the choice of selling through the government, which picks and chooses almost at random what it will retail and when, or buy a pricey listing at a humdrum chain of outlets owned by their biggest competitors, neither of which, by the way, is Canadian owned.
So unlike my neighbours to the south, I live with the after-effects of Prohibition pretty much every day of my life. It’s not entirely a bad thing, mind you – European imports, for instance, are cheaper in Ontario than they are almost anywhere in the States – but it is often, very often, a frustrating state of affairs that limits my available selection rather dramatically and demonstrably stifles competition.
(There is a movement afoot to change things, by the way, but the cynic in me says that ain’t gonna happen for a long time yet.)
Getting back to the question of what Repeal means to me, I guess my answer is nothing, since I’ve not yet experienced its full effect. My government and the two largest breweries in my country tell me what I can drink and make it difficult for me to even get samples of products unavailable in my home market, thus also making it hard for me to even do my job. And the political will to change things is not just absent at present, it appears to have scarcely even a glimmer of possibility in the foreseeable future.
So enjoy your Repeal Day, my American friends, while I still await my own. Guess I am still grumpy after all.
