WHAT’S BREWING The Magazine of the Campaign for Real Ale British Columbia Volume 23 No. 5 !
Careful What You Wish For ... The B.C. government has launched its review of liquor laws and regulations. Although we were told that all British Columbians would be listened to, it turns out that the only face-to-face meetings will be with the big players: Health Associations, MADD Canada, Police Authorities, Municipalities, and others that represent larger organizations. There will be a chance for larger, long-time Special Occasion Licence users to make written submissions via a website, which may or may not make it to the minister’s attention. Individuals? Forget it. That’s not to say there won’t be changes; there will. But other than a mopping up of difficult to remember why we made this rule (did you know that sales reps, for instance, INSIDE having dropped by a bar Out and About 5 and had the owner sample hard liquor, run Welcome CAMRA Powell River 9 the risk of being charged for having open Oregon Brewers bottles in the vehicle), Festival 10 there is more than Food Pairing at suspicion that some Beerfest 14 pain-in-the-arse red Beer in Cabo San tape that has long Lucas 15 bothered CAMRA BC BC Craft Beer Month 18 members and craft Ullage and Spillage 19 brewers alike will be left
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September - October 2013
in situ and even stands a chance of being entrenched because not all presenters are joyous imbibers of craft beer, brewers and vendors thereof; some long-time neoprohibitionist presentations will be weighted favourably wherever is suits government. Expect to see redirected funding via minimum unit pricing, lower breathalizer limits, and heavier penalties for non-compliance. And bet the farm the money for extra enforcement will come out of the pockets of drinkers. One tasty rumour is that Sobeys and other monster markets are presenting. That means the liquor in supermarket question again. Many citizens will be for this, but its introduction will surely be a blow to both government and private stores and perhaps a death knell to some of the latter. Good for some, bad for others. Well ... it may not be all bad ... we may be pleasantly surprised and liquor regulation in B.C. may enter the 21st Century. If not, there’s always GCBF in September followed by BC Craft Beer Month in October. §