These amazing, hilarious, and pathetic comments in response to Martin Cohn’s article in The Star. Yikes….where does one even begin?

(Source: Toronto star comments)

The Ongoing, Anti-Climatic, Passive Aggressive Battle over Beer and Wine Sales in Canada’s Nanny State

Womp womp womp, Mcguinty fizzles from hero to zero faster than you can finish your beer.

The title couldn’t be closer to the truth. The author points out, innovation is stifled due to Ontario’s beer oligopoly. This is not the only downside, as we have seen time and time again small brewers and other beer businesses not only weathering the recession in the United States, but also creating jobs and promoting tourism.

To me, the most disheartening is Molson’s complete ownership of the phrase “I am Canadian.” Being Canadian shouldn’t equate drinking watered down mass produced garbage that is created by a publicly traded multinational. The industry, and phrase, need to be reclaimed.

- article submitted via @mattfinlin

So here we have it, a local beer advocate in the pages of this weeks NOW Toronto. He contrasts the 30 breweries in Ontario to the 49 breweries in Portland Oregon alone, and explains the stifling of the craft beer movement in Ontario as a result of the corporate owned Brewers’ Retail.

I have some questions. 1) Are there any channels for changing the dreaded brewers retail? Maybe small breweries need a Canadian content law that pertains to beer production.

2) How to circumvent the dreaded “beer store.” Following Portland’s model of the brew pub and selling beer directly to customers could be a good first step. What are the opportunities for other non-traditional channels of distribution in Toronto, such as growler filling stations?

whosisbrew:

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum likes him some beer.

My favorite part of this story is the Facebook comments on the bottom, particularly the silly dude that criticizes Santorum for drinking Guinness and not “drinking American.” Dude, no. No. This is beer. Not gas. Different rules.

beeriety:

PHOTO OF THE DAY: President Obama enjoys a beer with Dakota Meyer on the patio outside of the Oval Office on Wednesday. Obama will present Meyer with the Medal of Honor on Thursday during a ceremony at the White House.

via:nationaljournal

soupsoup:

Barack O’Bama says Sláinte before drinking his pint of Guinness on his trip to Ireland. Photo via @rtenews

For those of you following the Flying Dog Raging Bitch controversy, here’s the Canadian equivalent. According to the Globe and Mail:

“The beer, made by Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery of Barrier, Ont., was deemed potentially upsetting in light of Canada’s military missions in Libya and Afghanistan. Then there was the uncomfortable association of “smashed” and “bombed” with getting tanked in the civilian sense.”

I have no idea what Canada’s freedom of speech laws are, please fill me in. Also…does “getting tanked in the civilian sense” mean getting wasted (I’m certainly going to start employing that phrase, regardless)? Or…does this literally mean….getting run over by a tank… or something?

Drinking Towards Democracy

Click photo for story

Nevertheless, the photo caption remains odd (I should be a photo-captionist; perhaps). Why does the objectification of women equate democracy?