Keeping the Playing Field Level

Brian MacIsaac is Co-Founder of Crannog Ales and Left Fields in Sorrento. Since shortly after its debut in 2000, BC’s pioneering organic farm-based brewery has been winning awards and producing some enduring favourite brews loved by craft beer fans around the province.

There’s a bit of a mythos around craft brewery culture. Our industry enjoys a stellar reputation for collaboration and camaraderie. Indeed, the ‘Rising Tide Floats All Boats’ is a sentiment shared among most of this community, and many of us work together for the common good.

Certainly, this is true of brewer-to-brewer relations, which are very collegial, and where there is much mutual support. However, on the business or ownership level things can sometimes be quite different. For some competitors, the ‘rising tide’ ethos can easily slip toward a ‘sink a few ships to keep mine afloat’ type of mentality. Perhaps the area most susceptible to this is the draught tap relationship between breweries and pubs.

Our 24-year-old brewing business happens to rely significantly on draught sales as a large proportion of its income. Sadly, in recent years we have had some long-term accounts poached by salespeople offering cash, free product, marketing swag or other incentives such as expensive equipment to willing publicans. (In one case I’ve heard of, these conjugal visits have even involved hints of sexual favours!)

As an example, we in the  Vernon area have recently come under threat from a well-known macro-owned brewery brand named after a sizeable Lower Mainland greenspace. They’ve actively been targeting specific accounts, and we are receiving multiple tips about bars being bribed to take our product off tap.

We tend to hear from customers when the only reason they went to a given pub was to consume a particular ale of ours, and now they can’t get their favourite drink anymore.

Competition is healthy and we’re all for it, since access to a given keg account is not our divine right. However, these stories are rampant, and not in the best interests of consumers, nor the independent brewers who refuse to, or can’t afford to, play the incentives game. Businesses can easily go under by having to give away one in three kegs to keep an account.

If the establishment is getting free beer, shouldn’t they provide free beer for their customers?

Perhaps you’re noticed how hard a time breweries are having staying open recently. There are many contributing factors, but it doesn’t help when the draught market is being undermined by predatory behaviour.

The various crafty brands are not the only ones playing dirty; there are many players involved including those not owned by macros. We can certainly confirm what’s going on, since our own brewery has been ‘offered the opportunity’ to buy a draught account by paying off the owner.

Years ago, a number of like-minded BC breweries grouped together with us to tackle this topic. We called ourselves the Ethical Brewers’ Guild, and communicated some messages to relevant industry leaders. However, neither the BC Liquor Distribution Branch nor any brewers’ associations have tackled this topic at all, to our knowledge.

Meanwhile, many independent breweries sell with honour, based on the quality of their beer and service, not on bribery. With all the hardships and obstacles we endure as small business owners and brewers, we need to make sure we don’t add to our issues by condoning this.