Nova Scotia Scott

Beer is more expensive in New Brunswick than in Quebec—so much more that lots of N.B. drinkers buy their brew in Quebec.  Not coincidentally, Quebec allows beer to be sold in corner grocery stores at retailer-set prices, while New Brunswick maintains a government monopoly on alcohol sales.

The N.B. government loses an estimated $12 million per year in beer sales—and associated tax revenue—to La Belle Province, and has finally decided to take radical action.  No, it’s not going to allow competition.  This is really stupid radical: the New Brunswick Liquor Commission is going to market its own no-name brand of beer.

The new mystery beer will be priced lower than other New Brunswick brands but will still cost far more than Quebec suds.  Not only will this scheme fail to stem the cross-border beer traffic, it will infuriate New Brunswick’s two brewers: Moosehead in Saint John and Molson in Moncton.   (Or, at least, the one that doesn’t get the contract to manufacture cut-price guv’mint^© swill.)

Did a government committee think up this cockamamie scheme after a late-night pub crawl through Fredericton?

The new brand will be available by the spring and cost less than regular beer at NB Liquor outlets. However, it will still be more expensive than that in the neighbouring province.
[…]
But who’s doing the brewing and what the products are will not be revealed until the brand goes on sale this spring.

[NB Liquor spokesman Nora] Lacey said the NB Liquor beer will be of top quality and cheaper than the $21 cost for 12 cans of regular beer.
[…]
“We are going to guarantee that these 12-pack of cans will be available at the lowest possible price, $18.67,” she said.

A typical Quebec price for 12 cans of beer is $10.82.  So, the price in New Brunswick will fall from 194% of Quebec’s price to a mere 172%.  That will definitely entice N.B. drinkers to buy at home.

Why does beer cost so much more in New Brunswick?  Ms Lacey admits that the beer market is more competitive in Quebec than in New Brunswick.

Lacey said that’s [the price differential] because grocery and convenience stores sell beer in Quebec and each of those individual outlets can negotiate with breweries and set its own price.

But allowing competition is apparently too simple for the N.B. Liquor Commission.  Far better to waste taxpayers’ money by marketing the government’s own no-name brand.

Alan McLeod of A Good Beer Blog has an interesting post on this fiasco, complete with the fine map that I shamelessly copied above.

Tags: Folly, Government finance, New Brunswick