Premier Doug Ford’s plan to set the minimum price for a beer at $1 by Labour Day is an impossible ask due to the increasing cost of beer production, according to Ontario breweries.Etobicoke-based Great Lakes Brewery has two types of cheap beers available at both LCBO and Beer Store — the Canuck Pale Ale, priced at $2.80 per 473-mL can, and the Pompous Ass English Ale for $2.65 a can. That’s as cheap as the brewery is willing to go, given the total cost of producing the beers, said marketing and communications manager Troy Burtch.All the raw ingredients — including grains, water, yeast and hops — plus employee hours and packaging, mean the prospect of selling at $1 is virtually impossible, he said.“The tariffs that were just imposed on aluminum cans coming in to Canada have hit us hard,” he said. The brewery imports between eight to 10 truck trailers of cans per month (that’s about a million cans) from the United States, and each one is now costing about $2,600 extra.Burtch said the price of ingredients has been significantly increasing over the years due to factors like weather, product shortages and increase in demand with more breweries being created.Read more: Buck-a-beer by Labour Day weekend, Doug Ford says“And if you live in Ontario you’ll know your water bill has been going up,” he said. “Water is the biggest ingredient in the production of beer. For every 10 litres of beer, you’re using maybe 100 litres of water.”As Ford’s buck-a-beer policy, Great Lakes Brewery has no interest in participating in the experiment, regardless of the incentives. “We haven’t even given two thoughts about this,” said Burtch. “Why would anyone do this?”Other brewers reacted coldly to the announcement, saying the price of everything that goes into producing a beer has increased since 10 years ago, when the floor pricing was moved up to $1.25.Steve Himmel of H ...
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