Encouraging Good Beer North And South

A couple items in the news caught my eye this week, one from here in Ontario and one from New York to our south. Up here the news is this:

The LCBO’s redesigned and relocated Laird and Eglington location in Toronto will showcase a new 1625 sq-ft cold room boasting a prominent craft beer section spanning up to 160 linear feet of shelf space. Craft beers will be arranged by beer styles (ie. IPA, Stout, Lager, etc.).

That’s a relief. I was worried it would be arranged alphabetically or by the primary colour on the cap. Basically, the provincial monopoly on better drink is opening up one new store and it will have a bit more space for good local beer. Fabulous. 13 million Ontarians. 160 feet of shelf space. It’s the subject of government press releases. By way of contrast, the law down south in the State of New York is aiming to spread the goodness of good beer a bit more broadly according to this news item:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says 14 local farm breweries have opened statewide as a result of legislation that took effect in January. The law created a farm brewery license for those who rely heavily on locally grown farm products for their beer. Under the farm brewery license, brewers do not need an additional permit to serve beer by the glass.

While there is still concern that not all the breweries that open do not actually hire that many staff, it is clear that this great law is opening up new meanings for real and local when it comes to NY beer. And creating rural employment and wealth. Heck, they are even letting farm stands sell nearby wine as a means to boost jobs in small communities. I suspect a lot of this is due to the guidance of departing Ag Commissioner Darrel Aubertine, my near neighbour over the lake, a guy with whom I did once sit and have a beer. Practical laws to use good beer to generate wealth.

Do the changes to our south make the news up here worthless? Not exactly, but it sure puts things in perspective. Notice how lobby groups need to be involved, masses spent up here on updated retail space. Swankification. In New York, farmers are freed up to seek a share of the market, to expand it. Which makes better economic sense? Which speaks better of the government’s attitude to its own citizens?

One thought on “Encouraging Good Beer North And South”

  1. [Original comments…]

    Craig – October 11, 2013 1:09 AM
    http://www.drinkdrank1.com
    Don’t be fooled by faux-altruism.

    I hate to say this, but the farm brewery thing wasn’t very well thought out. Both brewers and farmers—and anybody else who’s involved with it is starting to realize that the infrastructure isn’t in place yet for everything to get off the ground. Not to mention the farming challenges. There simply isn’t enough barley or hops grown in New York—and won’t be for years—in order to make the set quotas. One of the big issues is that NY wheat farms aren’t willing to take the risk on growing barley. And who could blame them?

    Worse yet, and as politicians are apt to do, they’re not listening to either the growers or brewers. Very, very little research was done by the administration prior to the proposal of the farm brewery license. The requirements that are needed to obtain a farm brewery license are not realistic, and the administration doesn’t seem to want to adapt their imposed numbers.

    What I fear the most, having worked with the Cuomo administration, is that this is all for the sound-bite. A showy-show which leaves participants out in the cold when it comes down to it. I think the Cuomo administration saw an opportunity to associate themselves on a popular trend, and if it works out for the brewers and the growers, great, if not, oh well, the administration got what it needed.

    I hope it works out, but I’m very skeptical of anything like this that Cuomo is involved with.

    Alan – October 11, 2013 8:17 AM
    Ah, NY politics. I love it and, yes, the administration has a habit of big talking but moving from banned to even unrealistic is huge move. And places like this are willing to try to work within the law. There are still going to be loads of issues but if this was legal here I might be buying a farm.

    Alan – October 11, 2013 8:35 AM
    PS: keep in mind, this is what a bad idea can look like.

    Alan – October 11, 2013 8:47 AM
    Here is some smarty pant background info: Cornell, WSJ, the law.

    Craig – October 11, 2013 8:59 AM
    http://www.drinkdrank1.com
    I’m sure some good will come of it—both for the brewers and farmers. But most of the good will go to Cuomo. As usual.

    dave – October 11, 2013 11:33 AM
    So the NY farm brewery bill (paraphrased) says “any brewery with this license can only use NY produced ingredients (barley, hops, apples, etc), unless a natural disaster, act of God, or continued adverse weather condition has destroyed much of the necessary ingredients for brewing beer/cider, which then the commissioner of agriculture and markets will say, on or before August twentieth, how much non-NY produced ingredients a farm brewery can use for the next year.”

    So if galaxy hops (or any new hop) are not grown in NY, these farm breweries can not use them?

    Also the link for “hire that many staff” does not go anywhere.

    Alan – October 11, 2013 12:51 PM
    Fixed the link, Dave. Helps actually putting in the link.

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