Who gives a Brick?

So knowing it’s the Christmas season and time for seasonal beers, I headed to the LCBO to see what Ontario micros have come out with. What did I find? Well, once again, a whole lotta not much. Sure, there’s a ton of Belgian packages, and glass and bottle combos from everywhere from Holland and Scotland to the U.S.

But from Ontario’s micros? You can get Jim Brickman’s signature on a bottle when you buy a beer and glass combo for $9.95. This ridiculous idea, however, is among the best available.

If the micros want to complain that it’s the government or the LCBO or whoever that’s the problem . . . well, want to know why Creemore was king of the micros before it was sold to Molson? Because it was committed to good beer, and it was creative, and it took advantage of opportunities to get more good beer on the market. And that meant at Christmas it produced a really nice Urbock and figured out how to sell it. When Molson bought out Creemore earlier this year, one of the rumours that first freaked people was “There goes the Urbock!” But nope, it’s back — and let’s give both Creemore and Molson some hearty backslaps for keeping it around.

Until some Ontario micro steps up and tries to credibly compete in this market, this six-pack, in which you get three bottles of Urbock, three bottles of Creemore lager and two Creemore glasses for $18.95 will remain the best local Christmas beer buy around.