Let’s add liquor to wine, beer in supermarkets, say distillers
With beer and wine on Ontario grocery shelves, why not liquor?
That’s the focus of a campaign launched in London on Tuesday by Spirits Canada, a lobby group for major distillers.
Over the next few months Spirits Canada president Jan Westcott will be touring farms and grocery stores in rural Ontario drumming up support for liquor on grocery shelves and urging consumers to send a postcard to the provincial ministers of finance and agriculture. Westcott said it’s about a level playing field for all alcoholic beverages.
“You can’t discriminate against one sector of the business. Everybody has to be treated the same,” said Westcott.
Spirits Canada chose to launch the campaign at the annual Convention of the Grain Growers of Ontario because Ontario corn, wheat, rye and barley are key ingredients for the distilleries. “One hundred per cent of the inputs in our whiskey are grown by Ontario farmers,” said Westcott. Ontario first allowed wine and beer sales in grocery stores in 2015, with an emphasis on craft beer and local wineries.
As of next month 370 grocery stories in Ontario will sell beer and cider, and 70 of those stores are also allowed to sell wine. But the sale of liquor is still restricted to the LCBO. Westcott said liquor was specifically excluded, apparently because of its higher alcohol content. “That’s outdated thinking. People still talk about our products as ‘hard liquor’ but the world has moved on and society has changed,” said Westcott. Spirits Canada said all forms of alcohol should be allowed in Ontario supermarkets, not just Ontario or Canadian products. He noted that foreign wine and beer is now sold in grocery stores and the market for Canadian liquor is global with 75 per cent going to the United States. “We are exporters. We sell our whiskey all our over the world and we have to treat everyone fairly.” He said grocery chains would benefit from adding liquor sales because the products have higher profit margins.
Westcott said the Ontario spirits industry could be damaged if it is barred from grocery shelves, noting the industry’s decline in Quebec.
Quebec allowed beer and wine sales in grocery and corner stores in 1982 but still excludes liquor. Westcott said consumer habits in Quebec gradually changed and the market share for liquor fell from 40 per cent to 14 per cent. He said distilleries closed in Quebec and there were mass layoffs. “It killed the business ... We have seen that movie and it doesn’t end well for the spirits sector,” said Westcott.
The biggest player in the Canadian spirits industry is Windsorbased Hiram Walker, which is North America’s largest beverage distillery.
There’s also Diageo in Amherstburg, makers of Crown Royal, Canadian Mist in Collingwood and Forty Creek Whisky in Grimsby. But London has its own mini-distillery in Black Fly Beverages. Co-founder Cathy Siskind-Kelly says its line of lower-alcohol spirit-based coolers compete directly with wine and beer and deserve grocery store shelf space.
“We support having the same access to market as other producers in our category,” she said.