FREDERICTON, NB – In a move that some are claiming to be related to the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the transportation of alcohol across provincial borders, Picaroons Traditional Ales has been instructed by NB Liquor to remove beer from Nova Scotia breweries from its retail stores.
Picaroons has been selling beer from other New Brunswick breweries in its Fredericton and Saint John shops for some time, an arrangement that is legal in the province. Owner Sean Dunbar tells business website Huddle that contacted NB Liquor several times last year to see if beer from other Maritime provinces would be allowed under the Maritime Beer Accord, a beer trade agreement signed by the provinces in 2007, but received no reply and decided to start stocking select Nova Scotia beers in January.
On the day of the Supreme Court decision, Dunbar reached out to NB Liquor once again, and received a quick response indicating that brewery retail sales of beer obtained from out-of-province breweries was not allowed in New Brunswick.
According to NB Liquor spokesman Mark Barbour, the 2016 contract allowing New Brunswick breweries to purchase and sell products from other breweries makes it clear that it only applies to breweries within the province. But as reported by Global News, the Craft Brewer’s Association of Nova Scotia (CBANS) has released a statement objecting to this policy, saying that it “contradicts the Maritime Beer Accord, a formal agreement between the Maritime provinces, which explicitly states that no brewery in the region will be treated any differently than any other brewery, no matter the maritime province in which they operate.”
For more details, see the full Huddle and Global News articles linked above.
[Photo from Huddle article]