I was wondering who the morons were that were keeping us from havning liquor in the grocery store. Stupid stupid stupid. Sunday sales bans are stupid as well. Here I was blaming the relgious folks, my anger has been misplaced.
It should be directed at me. Actually, I think Sunday sales would be good - I like being able to buy beer on a Sunday. And I wouldn't care about grocery stores selling liquor if I thought they wouldn't shaft small stores and, in turn, small craft breweries. But the more I think about it - it seems to me that Wisconsin may allow alcohol to be sold in grocery stores, and they have plenty of great beer stores. So perhaps my assumptions are misplaced. It's a subject I can be swayed on.
10:03 AM
Cookiequeen said...
I agree with you on the stupidity of not allowing Surley to have the brewpub onsite. I should think it would only increase interest in small brewery beers. Although they probably don't pay enough to the lobbying association.
8:30 PM
There's a bit of a ruckus going on lately with Surly's plans to attach a brew house to their brewery. I don't see a problem with it, despite the desire of Minnesota middle men to maintain their hold on distribution no matter what common sense dictates. Many breweries outside our state have a similar set up such as Goose Island and Sierra Nevada (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) and there's no appreciable impact to beer sales I suspect. It wouldn't surprise me if having a local brew house doesn't contribute to beer loyalty in the area and more sales. Just moving a tavern down the street is silly.
I did enjoy that the MLBA states that they oppose lower BALs for DWIs and smoking prohibitions (as if that has anything to do with them if they truly embrace a three part system). And they've already updated their site to reflect that they, "Fought back attempts to weaken the “Three-tiered” alcohol system."
That said, I DO see the advantage of not selling beer in grocery stores. I've been to Tucson several times, and finding a good liquor store can be a bit of an effort. If you allow grocery stores to sell liquor, then you get grocery stores that sell Miller and Bud and cheap wine and completely ignore variety. The end result is to take away the primary revenue stream from small liquor stores that helps fund their interest in variety. You lose the likes of Blue Max and The Cellars and are faced with nothing but beer from major breweries and only the most mainstream of local beers (Summit - which I like, but I want a choice). You're not robbing from grocery stores, they can still set up a liquor store if it's separated from the main store by a wall (Kowalski's and Byerly's), or by a parking lot (Cub Foods), and the separation forces them to compete in variety.
"Beer..."
3 Comments -
I was wondering who the morons were that were keeping us from havning liquor in the grocery store. Stupid stupid stupid.
Sunday sales bans are stupid as well. Here I was blaming the relgious folks, my anger has been misplaced.
8:19 AM
It should be directed at me. Actually, I think Sunday sales would be good - I like being able to buy beer on a Sunday. And I wouldn't care about grocery stores selling liquor if I thought they wouldn't shaft small stores and, in turn, small craft breweries. But the more I think about it - it seems to me that Wisconsin may allow alcohol to be sold in grocery stores, and they have plenty of great beer stores. So perhaps my assumptions are misplaced. It's a subject I can be swayed on.
10:03 AM
I agree with you on the stupidity of not allowing Surley to have the brewpub onsite. I should think it would only increase interest in small brewery beers. Although they probably don't pay enough to the lobbying association.
8:30 PM