NO CRAFT BEER FOR MOSAIC
A disappointed Joe van Heerden, general manager at District Brewing Company, stands at the loading dock at Mosaic Stadium after hearing the Saskatchewan Craft Brewers Association was unable to reach a deal to allow craft beer sales at the new stadium.
If you’re a Saskatchewan Roughriders fan and a craft beer lover, you may be disappointed to learn you can’t have both after an official decision was made not to sell craft beer in the new Mosaic Stadium in 2017.
Despite months of consultations between the Saskatchewan Craft Brewers Association, the Roughriders, City of Regina and Evraz Place, an arrangement could not be made according to a statement released by the SCBA on Wednesday.
“This will no doubt come as a disappointment to our membership and Saskatchewan’s passionate craft beer enthusiasts,” said SCBA president Kari Stenson in the statement.
According to the statement, options were presented by both sides, but an agreement could not be made due to commercial pouring arrangements already in place. The City of Regina, which owns the stadium, granted sponsorship rights to the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club in 2013, which included exclusive pouring rights. The stadium is currently under contract with Molson Coors and sells only Molson products.
Joe van Heerden, general manager of District Brewing Company in Regina, said he knows the SCBA did its best to work something out, but is upset that local breweries won’t be able to benefit from the stadium, which was built with Saskatchewan taxpayers money.
“It means that there’s one less revenue stream — a significant revenue stream — that ... could support this company significantly more and therefore (would) allow us to employ more Saskatchewan citizens,” said van Heerden. “It’s less money that stays in the province.”
Jeff Allport, owner of Nokomis Craft Ales, had the same concerns and said he was disappointed not just as a producer, but as a craft beer consumer. He said signing over pouring rights exclusively to Molson isn’t in the best interests of Saskatchewan and it’s people.
“Molson ... is a foreign multinational. None of the beer is produced in Saskatchewan and the ownership is not only not Saskatchewan based, but not even Canadian,” said Allport.
He said the deal not only takes away from Saskatchewan-based companies, but is bad from a tourism perspective as well.
“When people visit the province, they want to see what our province has to offer and something as generic as Molson products ... they don’t really showcase our province whatsoever,” said Allport.
Van Heerden said there’s a reason there’s a craft industry and that’s because people are tired of plain beer. He said everyone has different tastes and craft beer affords people more options to purchase beer they really enjoy.
“Variety is the spice of life ... and I think (craft beer options) would be a benefit overall to the Rider fans,” said van Heerden.
In a short joint statement released Wednesday evening by the City of Regina, the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club and Regina Exhibition Association Limited, it was said that after presenting two options last month that would have seen craft beer sold at all major events that “Unfortunately, SCBA has decided not to move forward” with either of the options.
“We look forward to continuing our collective approach to finding an agreement that is satisfactory to all parties in 2018,” read the statement.
“I hope there’s some public backlash about this and then they’ll realize that peoples tastes are changing. People want to support local,” said Allport.