Canadians saying cheers to craft beer this Victoria Day long weekend

The long weekend is officially a time to mark Queen Victoria’s birthday. Unofficially, it’s a time to finally get your shorts and flip flips out of the closet, kick back on the patio or deck and crack open a few cold ones.

Back in the day choice was limited on what many call the May 2-4 weekend (in reference to a 24-pack of beer). Canadian guys were likely to be cracking open a Molson Canadian or a Labatt Blue. Those who considered themselves beer connoisseurs might’ve opted for an Alexander Keith’s or a Rickard’s Red.

These days, the beer mug floweth over with choice from Vancouver to Halifax, and everywhere in between.

In Canada’s most populous city, it’s a heady time for Bellwoods Brewery.  Since the award-winning brewery opened its doors in early 2012 it has tapped in to Torontonians seemingly insatiable thirst for craft beer. Bellwoods has been so perpetually popular it has struggled to keep up with demand. They are in the midst of opening a larger facility that will be able to produce 20,000 hectolitres of beer per year.

Not just for hipsters

While the brewery is in the heart of one of Toronto’s hipster havens co-founder Luke Pestl says his customer base is not limited to Millennial men wearing plaid shirts and beards.

“We get slapped with the hipster term, which is ridiculous,” says Pestl in a phone interview with Yahoo Canada News. “It’s a range of people: men, women, families, older couples.”

While craft beer has long been seen as the choice of male beer snobs with too much time on their hands craft brewers have done a good job of appealing to a broader customer base, says Roger Mittag, a leading beer expert nicknamed ‘The Beer Professor.’

Up until recently the beer industry focused solely on men, effectively cutting out 50 per cent of the population from being potential customers, notes Mittag, who used to work for Labatt before starting his own beer education company Thirst For Knowledge Inc.

It turns out marketing quality, locally-made beer that appeals to men and women is a (liquid) gold strategy.

Craft beer is the biggest growing segment within the beer category in Ontario, according to Ontario Craft Brewers. Craft beer sales have bubbled up to more than $50 million annually in the province, according to the Liquor Board of Ontario (LCBO). In other parts of the country it’s a similar story. Out in British Columbia craft beer sales are now close to $70 million per year, according to B.C.’s liquor distribution branch.

A taste for wine

The overall story for the beer industry is a bit more sobering. Beer is still the No. 1 alcoholic drink choice in Canada. And annual beer sales were $9,174.1 million in 2010, according to Statistics Canada. But, cracking open a few cold ones in the True North peaked at 106.50 litres of beer per capita back in 1975.  Consumption slowly decreased to 77.10 litres in 2002 and by 2010 it was down to 73.86 litres per capita, with many of us opting for wine instead, says StatsCan.

Just as our tastes have changed over time two of Canada’s biggest beer brands have significantly changed, too.

John Molson started Molson in Montreal in 1786.  More than 200 years later the brand seemed to hit Peak Canadian with its patriotic ‘I Am Canadian’ ads in the 1990s. Back then it was Average Joes, not hipsters, who were wearing the plaid shirts.

Despite its iconic tagline, Molson is no longer truly Canadian. It’s now called Molson Coors Canada Inc. and is a subsidiary of the Denver-based Molson Coors Brewing Company. Molson Coors Canada sales volume decreased 2.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to a press release earlier this month.

John Labatt started Labatt in London, Ont., in 1847. Labatt Breweries of Canada is now part of Belgium-based brand Anheuser-Busch InBev. In Canada, beer volumes increased by low single digits in the first quarter of 2015, according to a press release.  Total volumes declined by 1.2 per cent for the world’s largest brewer.

But Anheuser-Busch InBev’s executives haven’t been sitting around crying in their beers as craft brewers move in on their customers.

David vs. Goliath

The big guys are clearly worked into a froth by the small brewers’ success. Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser Super Bowl commercial mocking beer snobs drew many more jeers (9,473 dislikes) than cheers (1,567 likes) since it was posted to YouTube in February.

Many in the craft beer community in Canada, including Pestl, take the ad as a sign that big beer is quite nervous about little beer stealing its customers.

Perhaps they should be worried. 

Pestl could very well become the next John Molson or John Labatt. Bellwoods is not only expanding its facilities in Toronto but has plans to expand its brand reach to other parts of Canada, the U.S. and Europe. With all the success Bellwoods has enjoyed so far Pestl is buzzed about what the future holds.

The market leaders don’t seem quite sure how to respond to the success of Pestl and his fellow craft brewers. The big guys have tried making fun of craft beer, while at the same time buying up craft brewers in an apparent bid to buy street cred, points out Pestl. The Molson’s and Labatt’s of the world certainly have the resources to endlessly just throw things at the wall to see what sticks.

“It will be interesting to see where they are in 10 years,” notes Pestl.

It will also be interesting to see where the craft beer market in Canada is a decade from now.

Mittag says craft beer has grown from fad to trend. Will there be another craft beer bust like there was in the 1990s? Or will the Canadian market mature and become a mainstay à la Portland or L.A.? Only time will tell. One thing’s for sure, though.

Relaxing outside on a hot day on a long weekend with a cold beer (whether it’s Molson or Bellwoods) is a Canadian pastime that’s not likely to go flat anytime soon.

Canadians from Calgary to Toronto to St. John’s, Nfld. are hopped up craft beer these days. Here are some of the top beers from Canada’s big cities, small towns and everywhere in between.

Follow Melissa on Twitter: @Melissa_Dunne33