Microbrewers ask Quebec government to allow them to deliver beer
Posted April 20, 2023 11:45 am.
Last Updated April 20, 2023 11:46 am.
MONTREAL – Microbreweries want the right to deliver their beers directly to their customers’ homes. The Quebec Microbreweries Association (AMBQ) is asking the Legault government to change the regulations.
“We want to highlight how nonsensical it is that in 2023, consumers will be able to get just about any consumer goods from their homes, but microbreweries don’t have access to this distribution channel,” deplores AMBQ executive director Marie-Ève Myrand, in an interview ahead of Quebec Microbrew Week, which begins April 21.
This is not the first time the association has tried to influence Quebec to obtain this regulatory change. At the height of the health restrictions, the AMBQ made this request while its members were hit hard by a decrease in traffic.
The Legault government did adopt some regulatory flexibility in December 2020, allowing restaurants – and by extension microbreweries that also sell food – to deliver alcohol as long as it is accompanied by a meal.
The AMBQ would like to see the regulations relaxed so that beer can be delivered unaccompanied, as is already possible in other Canadian provinces like Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. “I would say that things are evolving very slowly with respect to alcoholic beverages in Quebec,” says Ms. Myrand.
Even if the sanitary relaxation measures have been lifted, Myrand believes the changes requested by the AMBQ are still necessary. She points out that online commerce is part of consumer habits and that microbrewers want to be where their customers are.
“There’s nothing you can’t find right now in an online sales channel, whether it’s the explosion in food sales, clothing, consumer products. You’re ordering everything but beer!”
She points out that this ban does not affect Crown corporations, however. The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) offers the home delivery service. “Even the SQDC can do it (deliver online cannabis orders).”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 20, 2023.
