How Fucked-up is the LCBO?

@nooch Well they are featuring Benchmark Old no. 8, and of course in the feature article it is proclaimed to be 8 years old. Idiots!

@nooch I went through the exact same exercise this morning - so colossally stupid.

@Astroke Ha! I didn't even notice! Unbelievable.

As a final anecdote on the EH Taylor Small Batch story I have the following tidbit: today I crossed the border to fill up on gas and to pick up some beer. I decided to stop in at a Niagara Falls, NY liquor store I sometimes use if I’ve been away for 48 hours just to see what they have in stock. The store is well appointed and has more liquor and wine selection than any lcbo store I’ve been in, and it’s independently owned. It’s not part of a chain. As I wandered down the bourbon aisle I spotted 6 bottles of EH Taylor Small Batch. $40usd each. The LCBO is truly fucked.

About a year and a half ago Pennsylvania finally got Ardbeg into their liquor store system. They were patting themselves on the back for getting this brand. All I could think of was how clueless and behind the times they are.

@DaveM yeah, but did they charge $180 for an oogy that you can get for $85 in Calary?

@Nozinan The Uigeadail is going for $80 US in Pennsylvania.

@DaveM Wow! Uigeadail Cheaper in Calgary than somewhere in US?

On rare occasions whisky will be cheaper in Pennsylvania than other places I have checked. The A'bunadh is $80 in PA. I saw bottles of it in Maryland for $120. I figured I better buy a few extra at my local store for that price.

They're doing it again, on Facebook.

This time it is tequila. I got a text from a friend informing me that "extra extra tequila" is available on-line from LCBO, all the details are at fbook. That's a small improvement over a pop-up store. Totally effed up.

@Nozinan If a person is patient, the state liquor store will discount a particular whisky by $5 US from time to time.

@DaveM I could grow very old waiting here in Ontario...

@talexander "I think for casual consumers of beer and wine, the LCBO is great - but for people like us, it's much more difficult." The key word there is "casual". The problems faced by whisky connosr(s) are the same for beer connosr(s). The latest evidence of this was the Hill Farmstead release that crashed their website at the end of July. I wasn't interested in those releases (hate sour beer) but it was amusing to see their incompetence isn't limited to whisk(e)y. I doubt they are any better in the wine category - though the number of wine releases is astronomical compared to everything else. In addition to much greater choice/variety, the wine crowd does have one HUGE advantage: because the market is so much bigger (and "normal" to buy wine by the case), it is much easier to buy wine direct from agents than is the case for beer/whisky. There are agents selling beer direct to consumers but the availability is generally limited to a narrow segment (imported sours). Due to the nature of whisky/spirits, this direct-to-consumer model is more difficult (few people would buy 6+ bottles of the same whisky).

I'm late ton this topic. And as an outsider looking in...

isn't this organisation a government body? If so, is it not meant to be unbias and represent tax payers fairly? Not make sales driven by making pop ups that make some customers feel like they miss out on something exceptional.

@Frost A government body that is unbiased and represents all taxpayers fairly? Wow - where do I find such a place?? Tell me and I'll pack my bags!!! :)

@talexander Don’t we now have a provincial government that is For the People? They wouldn’t be using slogans as meaningless platitudes, now would they?

So the Laphroaig Cairdeas Quarter Cask CS was in the Vintages magazine a few weeks ago, but is still not available. I was told it would be released in May. Then they told me June. Then they said July for sure. I’ll be shocked if it’s released this year...

@talexander LOL good call, such a utopia does not exist

@OdysseusUnbound

Wasn't the Caol Ila 18 YO unpeated CS supposed to be released sometime this year too? A single store sold out in 5 seconds, a dozen bottles accidentally priced as the 18 YO used to be years ago... and then it was gone...

As some of you may know, I have a penchant for all things Laphroaig. I’ve been checking the LCBO app, website, and VintagesShop daily for months in hopes of snagging a Cairdeas QC Cask Strength. Imagine my bewilderment when seeing this (see picture) today. Now this means that either:

• It isn’t out yet, but will be soon
• They’ve sold it all to bars, restaurants, and other “prefered” customers, and I’m S.O.L.

I’m hoping it’s the former....but it’s the LCBO.

@OdysseusUnbound, I would expect that in 'LCBO-think' that selling to restaurants and bars would be much better for them than selling to individuals. They have an established network of partners. More individuals will get to drink from each bottle (so democratic! to pay 3-4X per dram! And the higher prices discourage alcohol consumption!)...and...think of all that much larger tax revenue for them in the long run! Alternately, they could do just about half as well if they sold the Laphroaig Cairdeas QC CS to individuals for, say, Can $ 500 per bottle. Shall "we" lobby for that? If the price were a mere 5x as much it would make sense for them to have some product to sell to individuals.

@Victor We should lobby for some common sense to prevail. Though the necessity of going through politicians to change anything about the LCBO makes the likelihood of common sense prevailing next to nil.

Oh yeah, it gets taxed twice when a bar buys it and then you buy it. Wow...

Kind of like a car. How can you tax the sale of a used car? You already taxed it when it was bought new.

@OdysseusUnbound

This is upsetting. I expect there is a 50% chance it will become available to "ordinary Ontarians" in the near future. Given how good QC is and the 10 CS is, and surprised at how "affordable" it seems to be, this could really upset my (lack of) purchasing plans for the rest of the year.

Not that I'm likely to get my hands on it...

@OdysseusUnbound Has your LCBO given any indication of the CS price?

@DaveM $105 CAD

@Nozinan Someone told me that if it’s featured in the Vintages magazine (as the Cairdeas was), it’s supposed to be available for online purchase...we’ll see. It wouldn’t surprise me to see all the Cairdeas stock go to Summerhill, Queen’s Quay, Wawa, and Reeces Corners.

@OdysseusUnbound No longer sold out!!!!!!!!

Now simply not in stock

@Nozinan The app is still telling me “sold out in stores/not available online”. Friggin lickbo...

@OdysseusUnbound You should know better.

There are three ways to get online access to LCBO: LCBO website, Vintages website and the app.

Vintages has no knowledge of this expression. The app (to which I do not have access) says sold out LCBO.com says listed but none in stock.

This is exactly how it's supposed to work. If any 2 of the three were to have the same information, all of the stores and warehouses would explode...