Merridale Cidery closed for a week due to penalty

Merridale Cidery will be closed until March 12 as a penalty for contravening the Liquor Control and Licensing Act.

In a decision handed down Feb. 20, the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch ruled the Cobble Hill cidery should be closed for one week for having sold alcohol to a minor.

“A misstep occurred when one of our team members mistakenly sold a bottle of cider to a minor involved in a randomly selected liquor board undercover operation,” Merridale wrote in a social media post. “Despite our sincere plea for leniency, marking our first infringement since we opened our doors in 1990, we are graciously accepting the consequences and a week of closure assigned to right this wrong.”

The cidery went on to say it would “take this opportunity to learn and grow, and will use this as a teaching opportunity for our staff to follow a better path moving forward.”

The closure stems from an incident July 19 when a minor working for the branch in its “minors as agents” program was able to purchase a one-litre bottle of cider without being asked for identification.

According to the branch, the best practice is for licensees to require two pieces of identification from patrons who appear to be young.

At no time, during the incident did the employee ask the minor for identification.

According to testimony from Merridale, the employee had only been on the job for four months and had been hired as part-time help.

Because Merridale has a clean history of compliance with regulations, the branch recommended the penalty be either $7,000 or a suspension of the licence for seven days.