10_Layout 1 09/07/2020 14:54 Page 1
LETTER FROM NORTH AMERICA
The Future of Beer Retail Stephen Beaumont
The Canadian province I call home is not exactly known for its progressive or even modern approach to the retailing of alcohol. In fact, less than forty years ago, a trip to the government-owned LCBO chain – Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the name of which tells you a lot about how booze was viewed in the province – involved copying a number or two from a store chart onto a slip of paper, handing this slip to an attendant with payment – cash only! – and receiving one’s purchase already packaged into a plain brown bag. The viewing of actual bottles was verboten, lest the fancy colours on the label upset your otherwise sober decision-making, and yes, this was the only way you could buy spirits.
Most beer at the time, and to a lesser degree still today, was sold through a theoretical ‘brewers co-operative’ called the Brewers Retail, now the Beer Store, which is effectively owned and operated by the province’s three largest breweries: Labatt (AnheuserBusch InBev), Molson (Molson Coors) and Sleeman (Sapporo). Grocery store sales remained illegal until a couple of years ago.
As a beer and spirits scribe, I railed against this ridiculous system for years. Turns out, we only needed a global pandemic to haul us kicking and screaming into the modern age. It didn’t take long for things to start to change. Seeing small business suffer because of forced closure, and emulating what was being done elsewhere, the government decided to allow restaurants and bars to sell alcohol ‘to go’ so long as they also sold food. And when the food turned out to be a pretzel or bag of crisps, enforcement officials elected to turn a blind eye, as the technical letter of the law was still being followed.
In between all of this, breweries shifted to home delivery en masse, to the point that a large majority of those operating bricks-and-mortar facilities were offering the service to at least some degree. Other, edge-of-legality operations also sprang up, delivering brands from multiple breweries in conjunction with one or more bars or restaurants, and again, authorities were content to simply let them operate.
Similar scenarios played out in jurisdictions across North America, and of course, once the rules have been changed, it’s tough to get people to go
back to the old ways. Meaning that beer delivery, in any multitude of guises, is probably with us for the foreseeable future, as are bar and restaurant alcohol sales.
For many breweries, the whole process has been an exercise in logistical gymnastics, with one brewery I know going from a majority of in-house sales to a full e-commerce platform in under a week! Others have been compelled to add canning machinery to their breweries in record time, and with only virtual service technicians to help, while still others have made room for their local mobile canners to play. None of that is changing any time soon, either. The good news is that, executed efficiently, delivery is a new and potentially lucrative distribution channel. The better news is that the same sort of nimbleness that allowed for the transformation from on-premise to take-out to delivery business in very short order is exactly the sort of strength that will continue to afford smaller breweries an advantage over much larger ones.
Think about it. While multinationals like Carlsberg and Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors are certainly capable of putting together beer delivery platforms – and indeed some already have, or have purchased existing companies specializing in alcohol sales and delivery – they lack the personal touch and local appeal that have been the hallmarks of craft brewing since…well, since forever.
So while Drizly in the US or Beer Hawk in the UK – the latter owned by AB InBev – can each process and deliver an order in a matter of days, it is doubtful they will also be able to supply
BEST BEER & TRAVEL WRITER 2017
10
the product knowledge that can be offered by a brewer in charge of their own brands, or personal touches like a sample can of something new, a handwritten note included in the package or a few complimentary coasters or stickers – all of which I have experienced since beer delivery began in my home market.
Similarly, take-out beer sales at bars and restaurants would – anecdotally, at least – appear poised to benefit smaller breweries in that those willing to pay an on-premise premium would also seem more likely to want a premium beer they couldn’t pick up at their local store. And in most jurisdictions, that means craft more than a regional or national brand. Reflecting upon all of the above, and factoring in all the difficulties the multinationals were experiencing with supplies in the United States during the lead-up to summer, it would appear that, rather then the disaster once widely prognosticated, 2020 may well prove beneficial to craft breweries. Provided, of course, that they continue to adapt to change and manage expectations.
Stephen Beaumont
A professional beer writer for 30 years, Stephen Beaumont is an award-winning author or co-author of fourteen books on beer, including his latest solo work, Will Travel for Beer: 101 Remarkable Journeys Every Beer Lover Should Experience, and the forthcoming, fully revised, rewritten and updated third edition of The World Atlas of Beer, co-authored with Tim Webb and available October 1. He can be found online at beaumontdrinks.com and on both Instagram and Twitter @BeaumontDrinks
BREWING & BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS • Summer 2020
