Brews News: Labatt helping convenience stores add beer to inventory

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Convenience store owners on the fence about selling beer should be swayed by the Quebec experience.

At least that’s the gist of a push by Labatt – brewers of eight of the top-selling 12 beer brands in Canada – as the big beverage company looks to assist small Ontario stores to navigate this new frontier.

Labatt entices with statistics from the Quebec experience: alcohol is the No. 2 reason to visit a Couche-Tard or similar convenience store and beer grows convenience store baskets significantly.

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With an obvious vested interest in selling brands such as Bud Light (a safe bet as a convenience store sales winner), Labatt has set up a comprehensive resource hub to help stores navigate the process, including merchandising tips.

Labatt forecasts medium-size cases of 12 to 20 beers will sell best and single cans the least. Packs of 18 or 20 cans constitute the top format in Quebec convenience stores and the fastest growing in part because they fit in tight spaces.

And, with apologies to other alcoholic beverages, Labatt points to a statistic from Numerator, a consumer data company, which found 80 per cent of alcohol trips to convenience stores in Quebec are beer runs.

It’s not just about brands from big brewers. There’s a requirement for 20 per cent of shelf space to be set aside for smaller players. Savvy stores will dedicate that to small breweries in their communities, ideally in at least six packs because we’re weary of craft breweries trying to make it by selling one can at a time.

Ontario opens beer sales to convenience stores Sept. 5.

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CRAFTING CULTURE

One of Ontario’s most interesting craft beer cities is Guelph, home to Wellington, Royal City, Wrinkly Bear, Brothers and Fixed Gear as well as the much larger Sleeman’s.

The breweries, along with diversity organization Link Up and the Guelph Black Heritage Society, are teaming up for a tour that’s about more than the beer.

It’s called Culture Quest and it’s a welcome initiative to familiarize the Black, indigenous and people of colour community to the people behind the Guelph craft beer scene.

There’s beer, of course, at each stop the bus tour makes but there’s also food prepared by BIPoC chefs and music.

The tour is Sept 22 with the choice of two routes stopping at three of the breweries for $35.

NEW AND NOTED

Storm Stayed, in London, is playing with Gatorade as a mix beer. The Wharncliffe Road alchemists have taken their Moonshadow, a Berliner weisse, and mixed it with Gatorade flavours. They’ve got blue frost, orange and lemon-lime flavours.

There’s a new sour IPA at Upper Thames, in Woodstock. Sparkler is 6.3 per cent alcohol and the brewery describes its flavour profile as reminiscent of Sour Patch Kids. Be ready for strong notes of lemon-lime and grapefruit. It’s in cans to go and on tap at the brewery and Brickhouse Brewpub.

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The local blueberry season might’ve come and gone, but we’ve still got fresh blueberry-flavoured beer. Powerhouse, located at 100 Kellogg Lane in London, has canned Lazy Day Porch Gazer, a blueberry wit.

Have you spotted a craft beer in a new skinny can? Energy drinks were first to use the taller, smaller diameter cans. Now brewers are trying them. They’re 355 ml, same as a regular short can. Among those using them is Little Beasts, of Whitby, for its celebration of red berry season, Darryl Raspberry ale.

Farm-based brewery Willibald, of Ayr, and city slickers Bellwoods, of Toronto, got together to brew a new west coast style IPA. Wrangler features Amarillo and El Dorado hops, hence the beer name. Best paired with an urban cowboy hat, Wrangler has a grapefruit, lime and peach flavour. It’s 6.5 per cent alcohol and sold by Willibald.

Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.

BrewsNewsTravels@gmail.com

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