VEBBie Awards - VanEast Beer Blog 2012 Year in Review

The fog brought on by too many barley wines over the holidays has finally lifted and the synapses are once again firing so now is as good a time as any to look back at 2012 and hand out the first ever VEBBie Awards. The award winners have been selected by the VEBB Awards Committee, a committee made up of, well, me and like 99% of all awards given out, mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things beer-related or otherwise.

The David Slays Goliath Award

The story of independent business owner Corinne Lea's battle with the LCLB in regards to the Rio Theatre and their liquor primary license set the tone for 2012. Lea applied for and was granted a liquor primary license for the Rio Theatre so they could serve alcohol at over-19, nighttime events and then was told by the LCLB she could not show movies, any time of the day or night, whether the alcohol was locked up or not, because of a decades-old, Prohibition-era law that prohibited liquor licenses in movie theatres. The ensuing public uproar at the ridiculous decision by the LCLB caused a huge backlash that saw support coming from NDP MLA Jenny Kwan, Vancouver City Council, the media, CAMRA Vancouver and thousands of angry citizens and eventually led to the provincial alcohol portfolio being passed from Shirley Bond to Rich Coleman who, after dragging his feet and screwing around with half-measure solutions, did the right thing and allowed for alcohol licenses in movie theatres but not before making Lea suffer due to having her business basically closed down for several weeks.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm Award

This award, hands down goes to the post I wrote entitled "Politics Make Strange Bedfellows" which saw VEBB break the story that the Ontario-only-based chain of liquor outlets called the Beer Store, owned by Molson (49%), Labatt (49%) & Sleeman (2%) had donated over $150,000 to the BC Liberals since 2005. I found it quite strange as to why an Ontario-only chain of beer stores would have such an interest in the BC Liberal Party but when you look at who owns The Beer Store and the fact that the big, national breweries are loosing ground quickly to the smaller, craft breweries.....hmmmm

Jackass of the Year Award

There was a lot of competition for this award but for me, in the end, there was one person who stood head and shoulders above the rest, that being restaurateur Chris Stewart, otherwise known as the Wine Snob. I encountered Mr Stewart while out for dinner with my wife and daughter and was amazed at just how arrogant, insulting and well, downright ignorant this man was. To sum things up, he stated to me, knowing full-well I was the president of CAMRA Vancouver, that craft beer drinkers were not worth enticing to his five restaurants because those who drink craft beer only order yam fries and basically had no idea what good food was all about. 

Political Friend of the Year for the Craft Beer Consumer Award

This award goes to NDP MLA Shane Simpson who, when I made contact with as a result of my CAMRA Vancouver President duties, was the official NDP alcohol critic. Mr Simpson was kind enough to take the time to meet with myself and CAMRA Van VP Dieter Friesen and actually listened to what we had to say. During that original meeting, Shane stated he liked what CAMRA was doing and asked us to produce a top-priority list of no more than three or four issues and stated if they made sense, he would take them forward to Rich Coleman, the Liberal minister responsible for the province`s alcohol portfolio.  And true to his word he did, bringing up CAMRA`s FUSS Campaign, the Bring Your Own Craft Beer campaign and the tied house and trade practice issue in the BC Provincial Legislature. Shane also wrote several letters to both Coleman and the LCLB in support of issues brought to him by CAMRA and members of the craft beer industry and also took the time to meet with myself some of the local brewers who have their breweries located in his riding of Vancouver Hastings. 

It was also Shane who, in July, put the Provincial Liberals under severe pressure in regards to their ill-fated warehouse distribution privatization plan by making public 39 pages of documents that showed the Liberals had no plans to privatize the liquor distribution warehouse system until approached by Excel Logistics personnel, who happened to be very interested in taking over BC`s alcohol distribution as they had in Alberta ans who had hired Liberal insiders to lobby for the privatization. 

Political Enemy of the Year for the Craft Beer Consumer

Rich Coleman, that man just does not give a shit about the BC craft beer industry or the BC craft consumer...enough said.

Best Supporter of BC Brewed Craft Beer Award
This past year Tap & Barrel restaurant opened up in the Olympic Village on the south side of False Creek. Besides having a killer patio that will be the envy of every other restaurant in the city next summer, they have a great 24-tap selection of craft beers all from BC breweries! I know that the Alibi Room, St Augustine's and a handful of other establishments have more taps and a better selection, but none are exclusively BC beers. I love the fact that the Tap & Barrel gang are sticking local and letting our great BC beers take centre stage...I wish more places would follow suit.

Whistler Blower Award
Journalist Bob Mackin, without a doubt, was the single biggest reason the province's liquor warehouse distribution system did not get sold to Excel Logistics, a company that had been lobbying and Liberals for years and who had basically, using Liberal insiders, talked the Liberals into thinking it was in the government's and public's best interests to privatize. Despite the fact almost everyone but Excel and the Liberals were against the move, Coleman and the Liberals plowed forward but with his series of posts hash tagged #Liquorleaks, Mackin led the charge of protest, went at the Liberals relentlessly with some stellar investigative journalism and exposed what NDP MLA Shane Simpson called a "tainted process".

Biggest About Face Award
Due to the above mentioned Bob Mackin, Shane Simpson along with many other journalists and special interest groups, the Liberals quietly announced they were dropping privatization plans for their liquor warehouse system while announcing having reached a tentative agreement with BCGEU in regards to a new contract.This announcement, hidden in the tentative agreement with the unionized government workers came out of the blue, just like the announcement to privatize did some seven months earlier. No real explanation was ever given as to why the plan, which had been heavily defended despite huge criticism from almost everyone, was dropped like a hot potato.

Biggest Shitstorm in the Local Craft Beer Community Award
Probably the worst kept secret in the BC craft beer community was exposed by blogger Barley Mowat in his post "The Grinch Who Stole Cascadia" when he wrote about how Steamworks owner Eli Gershkovitch was attempting to stop other craft breweries from using the descriptor Cascadian Dark Ale as he had trademarked the word Cascadia some years back. This blog post caused a shitstorm the likes that have never been seen before in the local craft beer community and resulted in a ton of negative, on-line bashing of Eli, Steamworks and the evils of corporate greed. For me, the actions of Eli and his "Steam Team" were a sign of how the local craft beer community is changing as the stakes get higher and the competition grows.


Well there you have it folks, the VEBBie Awards. It has been quite a year and there has been so much to write about. I only touched the surface of what is going on in the BC craft beer scene and now that I no longer have the responsibilities of being CAMRA Vancouver President, I hope to dedicate more time to this blog and writing. The readership of the blog has really grown and the more I write, the more I get people contacting me with great story ideas and inside tips about what is going on. Keep the flow of information coming and I will do my best to do what I do, which is offer up my rantings, ramblings, ideas and opinions in relation to the politics of the BC craft beer scene.

Politics Make Strange Bedfellows

Does anyone out there know what the BC Liberal Party and a chain of alcohol retailers in Ontario called The Beer Store have in common?

Tens-of-thousands of dollars in donations, that's what.

Recently a friend of mine sent me a link that is basically a search engine that allows you to see who has contributed what to whom, since 2005, in regards to political donations in BC and it seems that The Beer Store, a chain of retail stores that sells beer found in exclusively in Ontario, loves the BC Liberals, something that made me very curious.

Why the Hell would a chain of Ontario-based, retail beer stores feel the need to contribute to the BC Liberals, the same Liberals who control the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch who, in turn, control how alcohol is regulated and distributed in this province, but who have zero influence out east in the Centre of the Universe?

It seems, on the surface, an odd alliance.

After about 25 seconds of intense investigative journalism of the highest quality, I broke the case and figured it all out -The Beer Store (TBS) is owned by Molson Brewery (49%), Labatt Brewery (49%) and Sleeman Brewery (2%) all of whom have a very vested interest in being in the good books of those who control all liquor distribution and who run the largest chain of liquor stores in BC, namely the BC Liquor Stores.

The Beer Store has a virtual monopoly on retail beer sales in Ontario, about 85% of the market and has been accused by the Ontario Craft Brewers Association (OCB) of not playing fair with Ontario's craft breweries. According to OCB president John Hay and chairman Gary McMullen, in an article that appeared in the Toronto Star in July 2011, TBS is making it very difficult for the smaller breweries, with smaller operating budgets and shallower pockets, to get their products listed and properly represented in TBS's 440 locations which dominate the beer retail business in Ontario.

Not surprising, since TBS are owned by the OCB's competition.

Here in BC, despite the fact that, according to the BC Liquor Distribution Branch's (LDB) latest Quarterly Market Review,  domestic beer sales by the large (over 150,000 HL of production) domestic breweries are plummeting while the smaller (under 150,000 HL production) domestic breweries' sales are increasing significantly, the BC Liquor Stores, which are government run, continue to give the lion's share of their shelf and promotional space dedicated to beer to the large, national breweries. Local craft breweries, if they are lucky enough to get their beer listed with the LDB, have to fight over the limited space left, often hidden behind the mountains of cases of industrial swill and their related promotional displays that dominate the beer sections of these stores.

Calling again on my superior investigative reporter skills, I plugged in a few other names into the search engine and found that The Canadian National Brewers, a lobby group that works on behalf of Molson Breweries, Labatt Breweries and Sleeman Breweries, have also contributed equally significant amounts of money to the local Liberals since 2005.

Labatt Breweries, Molson Breweries and Sleeman Breweries have contributed directly to the BC Liberals but the totals that are easily identified as coming from them are significantly less. It is curious to me that these big breweries are funnelling dollars to the BC Liberals through channels that at first glance do not appear to be connected to them.

The contributions to the BC NDP party by all the groups mentioned in this post were drastically less, all totaled less than $5,000, at least from what I could find.

Now I am not insinuating that these political contributions to the BC Liberals are greasing the wheels for the big breweries to maintain the status quo and keep the prime real estate in the government run liquor stores, but it certainly isn't hurting.

Maybe The Beer Store chain were just in need of tax write-offs and they really dig what our BC Liberals are all about? Who knows, but the cynic in me has me thinking that there is some other motivation for these gratuitous political contributions, namely, maintaining the system as it is.

Where there is money like that being donated, there are expectations from those who are providing the donations. That kind of cake creates influence and gives the contributors a much better chance of catching the attention of the law and policy makers. I am curious to know if these contributions would have been directed the way of the NDP if they held the reins of power in BC over the same time period. We may soon know if the political polls showing the NDP to be leading in popularity with BC voters are correct and they get elected into power.

I found all this out in about five minutes. I wonder what is going on behind the scenes and how else Canada's big national breweries are reaching out to governments across the country to gain favour and influence. Maybe I am wrong and this whole post is based on nothing but my ever-increasing paranoia related to national and multi-national corporations acting as puppet masters for politicians around the world.

In the grand scheme of things I am sure that Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, who own Labatt Breweries, American-based Molson Coors Brewing Company, who own Molson Breweries and Japan-based Sapporo, who own Sleeman Breweries are not too concerned about what transpires in our little corner of the world, but you can be sure that the Canadian national breweries are getting just a little worried about the growing market share of the craft breweries on BC.  With hundreds of millions of dollars in beer sales in BC at stake, each percentage point of the market is huge dollars in sales, the big boys will do everything they can to protect their turf.
I am curious to see just how far the national breweries will go to tilt the playing field in their favour and maintain their stronghold in the government run liquor stores.