Beer drinkers in New Brunswick are likely happy to hear NB Liquor has extended its summer promotion on cases of beer until Thanksgiving, but local craft brewers aren’t thrilled with the news.
Grimsross Brewing president and CEO Stephen Dixon says NB Liquor didn’t tell craft brewers about the initial promotion and Dixon says while New Brunswick is now more competitive with Quebec’s lower alcohol prices, he says this is just a temporary fix.
Dixon says once NB Liquor ends the promotion, people will revert back to their old habits and cross provincial borders to find the best deals.
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NB Liquor customer Mike Healy told Global News he’s thrilled with the news and has already taken advantage of the deal a few times since it started in July. He stopped by an NB Liquor store Tuesday to get four more cases of beer.
“It’s way overpriced,” Healy said of normal beer prices in the province.
“They’ve got to do something about getting it back in line ’cause it’s too far to drive to Quebec for a lot of people.”
Dixon says another problem is that craft beer producers and other large local producers are over-taxed compared to other jurisdictions — something local craft brewers are working with NB Liquor on to try to come up with a solution.
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“Those millions of dollars that they’re going to be losing as a result of this discount program, that’s more than what we were looking to get in reductions in the mark-up,” Dixon said.
He say he’d rather be able to invest back into local businesses, export more, bring in new dollars and be able to hire more people. Dixon says that would, “raise the bar from an economical development perspective across the board,” something he says the provincial government should consider. Dixon tells Global News that despite the promotion he hasn’t seen any impact on sales — although Grimross beer won’t be available in cans at NB Liquor stores until next week.
NB Liquor communications officer Mark Barbour says the promotion isn’t related to outside sales. He said it’s just something that’s evolved over the past year under the corporation’s customer-experience approach.
“Since July 14 to August 21 we’ve sold 870,000 cases of 15 packs or $15.2 million worth exclusively to this beer promotion itself,” Barbour said.
The mix-and -match promotion offers customers four 15-packs for $74.99 plus tax and includes Alpine, Budweiser, Canadian and Coors Light.
Healy says Tuesday’s trip to the store won’t be his last, especially since the promotion now goes into October.
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