Canada Day beer drinking: Molson and Moosehead

It might surprise you to know, given the number of beer ads that you see in print and on TV, that Canada is not exactly a world leader in beer consumption.

In 2010, we ranked in the low twenties just behind Spain. Despite that, there?s always a certain amount of effort made by Canadian breweries to gear up for the Canada Day long weekend. It?s unlikely that this has to do with the idea of drinking beer as a defining measure of patriotism or national character. It probably has more to do with the fact that you?ve got a day off and it?s humid enough outside that you feel like you?re breathing soup.

Nevertheless, brewers are appealing to your sense of nationalism and nostalgia for this year?s go-round.

Moosehead, for instance, has a special edition can festooned with caricatures of the kind of summery people who might be drinking their beer across the nation. Geographical areas are represented by different iconic images. The north has a Mountie and an Inukshuk. Halifax is represented by the lighthouse at Peggy?s Cove. Saskatoon has a barn, which seems reductive if accurate. It?s a nice touch, but it remains to see if it will sell a lot of beer.

The folks at Molson have gone heavily in the direction of nostalgia with a revamped version of their I Am Canadian campaign. The ranting Canuck in front of an appreciative audience has been replaced by a specially designed fridge in the middle of various European cities. The key here is that the fridge can only be opened by scanning a Canadian passport.

It?s a vaguely jingoistic concept which seems to celebrate the fact that we have all stood in lengthy lineups to talk to a bureaucrat about leaving the country. I don?t know exactly what the message is here, but I?m entertained by the idea that at some point, an unsuspecting Canadian citizen was accosted in the middle of a European vacation by someone saying ?Are you Canadian? Give us your passport. We want to get free beer.?

I?d like to think that if there?s one thing Canada is good at, it?s taking care of our own. For that reason, I?d suggest that your beer purchase this Canada Day shouldn?t be dictated by marketing, but rather by circumstance.

If you?ve been following the news, you know that Calgary has recently suffered from catastrophic flooding. Breweries like Big Rock, Village and Wild Rose have been volunteering their time and the efforts of their employees to help out. They?re working together to organize a relief fundraising effort in the immediate future. I would say that this is the kind of behaviour that we, as Canadians, should be rewarding. If they?re available in your market, why don?t you do that by making their beers your choice for this weekend?

Jordan St.John writes about beer at Saintjohnswort.ca. He is so Canadian he once hit a moose with a canoe.

Source: http://lifewise.canoe.ca/FoodDrink/2013/06/28/20937011.html?cid=rsslifestyle

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