Free Canada's Beer

Cutting taxes? On BEER?!

Surely the world will come to an end!

I used to work for one of the big Canadian brewers. Shipping bills to the US carriers showed less than $5 per 24 unit price. At the time a regular Ontario 24 sold for about $18 at Brewers Retail. The less than $5 price would have included the excise tax since that is applied at the brewery, just not the sales taxes. The mark up allowed at the beer store was $1.20 per case. The only thing that has kept the price down even little now is the increased competition, and perhaps a realisation by the governments that more sin taxes = less sales = no increase in revenue.

Live where Kokanee beer is made. Travel 6 miles south to Idaho and buy my Kokanee for $11/case. The BC government liquor store wants $23/case of 12 cans. Combine that with the cheap gas and life is good in that department.

I notice a beer promotion in our NB liquor commission stores. Selling 24 bottles for $29.95 for a brand I never saw before, Keystone(made by Coors). Normally a two-four would cost close to $45. The promotional price is the same as regular beer price across the border from Campbellton in Quebec on the Reservation. This is a super bargain considering I did not have to burn up $20 in gas like I usually do to get and fro Quebec. Yeaaa!!
Too bad it is only temporary.

Was in Calgary last weekend.

There was a 'liquor store' in the local strip mall. None to fancy but well stocked.

I noted 'Calgary' beer was for sale there. I have never seen it outside of SK.

Prices were roughly 2/3 the price in SK, across the board.

Prices in AB were 2/3 of SK prices.

(my first comment reads wrong)

Something doesn't ring right in his tax numbers. He says when you buy a case of beer that 50% of what you pay is tax. Later he says that it's not right to tax anything at 50%. If you buy something and tax is half of what you paid for it doesn't that mean you are taxed at 100%?

I love going to Buffalo just to buy beer at Wegmans. Huge selection of micro brewery beer and good prices. I also hit a liquor store when I'm there to get a small bottle of bourbon that is cheap and you can't get in Canada.

Not that I am rubbing it in or anything, but here in Germany I can get 20 x 0.5 litre bottles of good german beer (not molson or labatt type crap) for 15-16 dollars.

That's $1.50 per litre of beer, good beer mind you. If I went down in quality to a molson equivalent then the price is around $1 to $1.1 per litre of beer. If I went down even further to a 'lucky' standard, then it falls to around $0.90 per litre.

Again, not that I am rubbing it in.....but Canadians are getting screwed on alcohol taxes.

So come to Germany to drink beer, it is so cheap that you are actually making money if you fly over to drink rather than at home ;)

Thanks Kate MCMILLAN , for highlighting Brian Lilley with his take on the issue of the Foreign Owned Beer Monopoly sales in Ontario.

I have pointed out to Tim Hudak's conservative Party how to end the corrupt Ontario Government / Beer and Wine commodity control by involving MOM & POP corner store owners.

Do the Hudak Conservatives have the balls?
Do the Hudak Conservatives have the Balls to Save the Standardbred Yearling Sales Market, AS WELL?
Does the Standardbred Association have any Balls?

Does Tim Hudak have any Balls, or is he being backstabbed within his own Party?

And why are communist Anrea Horwath's ND's supporting the corrupt Wynne Liberals?
Tim HUDAK, ......."FIND YOUR BALLS!"

I don't patronize the output of our beer refineries,
just usually invest in a few expensive bottles from
our best craft brewers if the occasion demands.
Time for folks to start brewing their own. Wonder if
there is a home clone for Thwaites Lancaster Bomber?

Be thankful that you can drink wheat beers, as I have to go gluten free. I have found a lager made in Spain that actually tastes like beer and its $14.00 per four pack.

Derek "I noted 'Calgary' beer was for sale there. I have never seen it outside of SK."

In the days before before generic "beer" produced by multi-nationals and labeled into different brands in different markets, we had local breweries.

Calgary had Calgary Brewing and Malting, Lethbridge had Sick's Lethbridge, and Edmonton had Bohemian Maid and that's what people drank. Today, it's all about marketing generic horse pee as vintage champagne.

From a random website - "For the record, Calgary Beer is now brewed at the Vancouver Molson plant, since Molson does not have a plant on the prairies."

Here in Prague, beer, excellent beer, costs less than $2 for a pint in most bars & restaurants.

Molson Beer produced by labour Union employee's as opposed to Micro Brewers

Frenchie77 is right, and as well, the beer is much cheaper in Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, and in Hungary. Even the served restaurant beer is less than half the price of what it is here, and in some restaurants water is more than beer. Furthermore, you can buy a bottle of nice Austrian wine for $3. We brought back 1 1/2 L of Austrian and Hungarian wine at less than half the price similar wines would be here.

In South and North Dakota, 24 cans of beer are around $17. All liquor is 25% to 50% cheaper there than in SK.

Also, US Walmarts carry a great selection of beer. Lots of great beer from US micro brewers that can keep up with our best beers in Canada.

The first time I saw a case of Budwieser12) advertised at Circle K for 6.99 here in Phoenix I cranked on the steering wheel into the parking lot almost killing a few folks. Now, it's not such a big deal.

Today, we by Moosehead(Canadian) for about $8-$9 for 12 at Walmart or Frys.

Beer and Alcohol are the most blatant example of things that are much cheaper in Arizona(besides houses) than back home.

Most Canadian Provinces set a minimum price for beer. If a brewery wanted to sell at less than the minimum the Prov. jacks the price up to its set limit. (Milk price is set in a similar way in some Provs.) Unionized breweries demand it.

my eldest (not wisest) sister claims all CDN taxes are for our most beneficial FREE health care.

so count your blessings bros & sis's for Big Bro is lookin out for U!

i'm cheap, i homebrew beer & wine. (no gst on "brain food" ingredients)

beer=$1/liter, wine=$5/750ml bottle

I pay about $1.50 for locally-brewed excellent Cdn beer. I couldn't care less how much tax is included.

If you're drinking so much beer per day that the tax is a major factor in your life, then you've got other bigger problems to deal with.

Commercial Canadian beer is shite - cheap mass produced, bland, stale, fizzy piddle water that will eventually give you colon cancer or diabetes or both because of the refined sugars and chemicals. I only drink good German or Czech purity law beers - have for years - they're real - all malt, pure water, hops and yeast no additives - superior flavor, rich and satisfying, and I can get a 1/2 liter of a fine Bavarian Bockbier at 9%abv for the same price as a can of Molson slop - most import purity law brews are cheaper than domestic corporate slop anyway.

If you really want to beat the tax man, and drink better pure fresh beer with real flavor, brew your own. Thanks to all the craft brewers spring up you can get the same ingredients they use locally and probably make as good or better yourself. I made 45 liters of a kick-ass barley wine last year that I'll stack up against any craft brewery offering. Learn the craft and drink better and cheaper.

Want to see the state liquor monopoly and the Big corporate brewers drop the price? Just stop buying their crap - but that's asking too much in the zombie nation.

I want to be able to go straight to the brewer and bypass the distribution monopoly.

That accomplishes two things.

1- Kills the MLB, LCBO etc.
2- Kills the majors may decide to make better beer.

It's for the best.