Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
So there are literally dozens of craft beers that would fit the bill, as almost all of them probably already have bilingual labels.
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You would think so, but that's not actually the case. I'm most familiar with the Ontario market, but the largest craft brewers outside of Quebec tend to have English only labels and have generally eschewed the Quebec market. The reason for this has more to do with inter-provincial trade regulations and SAQ tariffs on non-Quebec beer though - the monolingual labeling is the end result. Essentially you need to pay a premium or set up a production facility within Quebec to do so. Not worth it when most small brewers are focused on the local markets or focus on other jurisdictions.
For instance, Collective Arts skipped the Quebec market entirely and are focusing on the rest of Canada and the US (they just opened a production facility in NYC). Bellwoods is exporting their shelf stable beers to the US and other provinces as well. Others I can think of are actually experimenting with the Nova Scotia market, as it's not too difficult to get SKUs in the NSLC. IIRC Beau's actually has a production deal with Les Brasseurs du Nord which is why they can distribute in Quebec.
With respect to VIA, it's my understanding they are fairly strict on the labeling point, though it may have something to do with difference in how train and air travel sales are treated. Ace Hill is on Porter airlines for instance and they do not have bilingual labeling, unless there are special cans made specifically for those flights. Also VIA apparently is just difficult to deal with. Somewhat coincidentally I actually talked about this with a close friend who used to be head of retail sales for one of the larger craft breweries in Ontario and that's more or less what he had to say on the subject.
This is from an Ontario perspective of course, not sure what the situation is in other provinces. Aside from the occasional Dieu Du Ciel and Trou du Diable it's very difficult to find actual Quebec craft beer here, and Unibroue no longer counts. That being said, given VIA's abysmal service outside the two big provinces I can't see why any craft brewer from elsewhere in the country would even be interested in selling to them!