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Government beer hits NB shelves today
by Scott Gilbreath ~ March 12th, 2009
In response to an estimated annual loss of $12 million in beer sales to Quebec, Alcool New Brunswick Liquor (ANBL) floated the monumentally bad idea of marketing its own cut-price brand of beer. Proving that no scheme is too foolish for government to implement, socialised suds hit ANBL shelves today.
I thought Guv’mint Swill™ would be a fitting name, but ANBL is not that adventurous. The new beers have very boring names: Sélection Lager and Sélection Light.
To guarantee sales, the government is allowing Sélection to be priced consistently below what other beers may charge. Even with such outrageous manipulation of the market, however, beer remains far cheaper in neighbouring Quebec.
New Brunswick’s policy of socially responsible pricing means that the lowest allowable price for 12 cans is $18.67. That policy is designed to set a floor price for beer in the belief that any lower prices would lead people to buy too much and develop drinking problems.
But in Quebec, the lowest allowable price is much lower. Beer drinkers across the border can get 24 cans of beer for as little as $25.
The new Selection brands will be sold throughout the year for $18.67 for 12 cans. Other beer companies have to apply to sell at the minimum price for a limited time and can only do that a certain number of times each year.
Until recently, another casualty of New Brunswick’s beer war with Quebec was the environment. New Brunswick bottle return centres were forbidden to accept Quebec beer bottles, but that policy was reversed as of 24 February.
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