Now that it's all over I thought I would wade in on the Great Beau's Beer Debacle.

Ontario has some damn silly laws when it comes to alcohol and they really mess up any attempts by new breweries to make a living at it. These laws all stem from our attempt at prohibition and in typical Canadian fashion our politicians pulled a fast one to get the law passed. They waited till so many Canadian men were in Europe fighting WWI that they could get the bill passed before the war ended. Imagine the shock when our boys returned home to find it dry. Well sort of. We don't do anything whole heatedly and the same was true of prohibition in Canada. Every province had it's own rules, and inside most provinces every community had it's own rules. That's why so many alcohol companies in Canada made out like bandits during the overlapping American prohibition. Because they were bandits.
None of this has a direct bearing on my point but I find it interesting.
In the past year or so we have had several stupid liquor law stories running in Ontario. Please remember that these are all off the top of my head.

Rolland and Russel Samiclaus. It seems that the picture on the label (who looks like some very old seaman to me) might be taken to resemble Santa Claus, and that is the meaning of the beer's name. My main question here is why are we worried that a pre-teen Ontarian might be confused by a label in a liquor store. What are they doing in there in the first place? I can only assume that they are accompanied by a responsible adult and that no staff at an LCBO is going to allow a pre-teen Ontarian to buy a beer no matter what the label looks like.
Where the hell did this decision come from?
    
Flying Monkey's Smashbomb. The name is an acronym for Single Malt Single Hop. It's almost true, I understand that Flying Monkey actually ended up using two hops in this (probably because of some nefarious plot by the LCBO) but that is beside the point. The AGCO apparently had qualms about such a cartoony destructive name for, Gasp, a beer! Beer Bad (In Ontario).

Flying Monkey's Supercollider. I have no idea what happened with this one. It's a great beer but it apparently sat in the LCBO warehouses for a month or two before someone finally decided that they couldn't find anything wrong with it so maybe the could sell it and make a few bucks. It seems like the LCBO has it in for Flying Monkey's. Probably never watched the Wizard of Oz as children and are deprived.

Then we have Dan Akroyd's Crystal Skull Vodka which was banned by the AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) because of the packaging, The bottle was made in the shape of a Crystal Skull! Just like the name! Can't have that in Ontario, what will people think?
In this case my personal guess is that the Marketing department at the LCBO trumped the Blue Stocking department at the AGCO and the Vodka went on sale just before Halloween. What timing!

I could go on but it becomes redundant. Our Alcohol distribution system is badly broken and need to be fixed.

Now on to the Beau's fiasco. Beaus is a small craft brewery in Vankleek Hill Ontario, a small community about 45 minutes from Ottawa. They make a really good beer and offer some very interesting speciality beers. They wanted to set up a home delivery system to Ottawa and in a community minded move decided to work with a non-profit group, Operation Come Home, who help homeless people in Ottawa. The project would have provided a couple of jobs and the pricing structure was set up so the group could raise some money.
Sounds good all the way around. Not in Ontario. Someone complained to the AGCO. Initial reports were that the complaint was from another brewery but nobody seems to know or admit who complained.
The stupid liquor law in Ontario which was applied in this situation says that home delivery services must buy the beer from either the LCBO or The Beer Store. The Beer Store? What kind of law is this? Craft Breweries in Ontario are allowed to sell their own beer from a retail store attached to the brewery or through the LCBO or The Beer Store who are wholly owned by the craft brewers competitors and who charge a prohibitive price for listing beer from a small brewer.
That's asking the fox to guard the hen house.

In the end, after a week of delay the Ontario Government gave Beau's a "Special Dispensation" and their delivery service should start up again on Monday. Good news and unusually quick work by the Government.
They also said that they were beginning "a broad review of the Liquor Licence Act over the next 15 months to update its regulations" with the mandate to "ease the burden of outdated regulations that are restricting businesses from being creative and finding new ways to remain viable".
One can only hope that they mean it but given past history I doubt that any real change will be coming. I seriously doubt that there is a chance for beer sales in corner stores or anything as radical as that but just maybe they can see their way clear toward creating a level playing field for Ontario's Craft Breweries and maybe even some wineries.
I'm not holding my breath but you never can tell. Might be a good time to email a bunch of MPP's and express your opinions.