Canada: Moosehead Breweries looks to buy a piece of The Beer Store

Moosehead Breweries Ltd. will continue to press to become a member on the board of directors of the company that sells most of the beer in Ontario, the chairman and CEO said Wednesday, July 27. "We have been attempting to become a member for some years, but we haven't pushed it," Derek Oland said in an interview, according to NB Telegraph-Journal.

"Now we are going to push it harder.We are going to talk to them informally first." Except for imported products and other novelty beer, most of the beer in Ontario is sold through Brewers Retail Inc., the government-sanctioned chain, which operates under the name The Beer Store. Its only competition is the government-run Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores where imported and craft beer is sold.

It is owned primarily by Molson Coors Brewing Co. and InBev SA's Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. A smaller partner is Ontario-based Sleeman Breweries Ltd. Mr. Oland acknowledges, however, the Ontario government can't force Brewers Retail to make Moosehead a partner in the franchise. "The government has nothing to do with it. It has given up the franchise," he said. "It is up to the shareholders."

The company's only recourse is to pressure the shareholders. "We think we should be part of it because we are substantial sellers in the system," Mr. Oland said.

Moosehead owns a brewery in Niagara Falls and is presently number three in terms of market share in Ontario. Mr, Oland says Moosehead is at least as big in Ontario as Sleeman.

Another Ontario brewery, Hamilton- based Lakeport Brewing Corp., says if there's room at the table of Brewers Retail it should have the right of first refusal. Mr. Oland has no problem with that. "All major brewers (in Ontario) should be part of it," he said.

Ontario government recently received a report recommending that beer should be sold in convenience stores, as in Quebec. If the government accepts this recommendation there might be no point in joining the Brewers Retail.

Mr. Oland, however, feels, that recommendation "is not going to go very far." Jeff Newton, president of Canada's National Brewers for Eastern Canada, said it is the sole discretion of the current shareholders to take in another shareholder.

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