E-Malt.com News article: Canada & USA: Ottawa-area microbrewery set to bring its beer to the US

The small brewer, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co which now employs 84 people at its Vankleek Hill operation, will begin distributing its award-winning brews to retailers across New York state in March, Ottawa Citizen reported on January 13.

The move to serve US consumers is a major accomplishment for Beau’s, which started out as a father-and-son-owned business that first opened its doors on Canada Day in 2006.

“We’re super-excited to finally get to meet the neighbours,” says Beau’s co-founder Steve Beauchesne. “We’ve had our hearts set on keeping the beer we brew within a day’s drive of the brewery, because it’s important to us to have real relationships with the people who serve it, sell it and drink it. Selling into New York state gets our beer out to more people to enjoy, but still lets us be a local brewery.”

Beauchesne and his father, Tim, took a big gamble on the brewery. The two beer lovers left their full-time jobs in order to get the new business up and running at a time when there were very few microbreweries in the area. The first beer they offered was Lug Tread, a light Kolsch-style offering that was immediately accepted by beer drinkers throughout the region. Others followed and the brewery now has dozens of offerings available at LCBO stores across Ontario. Many of Beau’s products have won awards from prestigious beer competitions.

However, it was one particular special offering that helped to spearhead the Beau’s move into New York state. A collaboration with comedian Tom Green produced a dark beer, known as Milk Stout. Green has been bringing the beer, known as the Tom Green Beer, to his standup comedy shows. Audiences have been quick to drink up whatever supply he has had on hand.

The beer even stole the show on an episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that aired earlier this year. Green and show host Fallon raised a pint of Beau’s Tom Green Beer and drank it on-air before more than 1.8 million viewers. News of Beau’s and its popularity in Ontario had already begun to bleed across the border into the U.S. The appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s show attracted a torrent of attention from American alcohol distributors.

“Having Tom and the beer on Jimmy Fallon let the cat out of the bag a little sooner than we’d planned, but it put some fire under our feet to get a deal signed and get things happening,” said Jennifer Beauchesne, head of Top Secret Projects at Beau’s.

The company decided to partner with Albany-based Remarkable Liquids, a boutique distribution company with a strong dedication to working with craft brewers, in order to get its beers to US retailers. While Ontarians rely on the LCBO to sell and control the sale of all alcoholic beverages, in the US several distributors compete with one another to sell to individual liquor store operators. Remarkable will be offering both Lug Tread and The Tom Green Beer to residents of New York State.

The company isn’t stopping there. Demand from beer lovers in Quebec has pushed the company to forge ties with the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), Québec’s version of the LCBO. Beau’s said it will be making its beer available to Quebec residents by the end of the year.


15 January, 2014