Wednesday 25 April 2018

Cameron's Brewing gets its shiny make-over

You meet the strangest people at a craft brewery...
sometimes even the Brewmaster. Not that they are
strange people (yes, they are) but when I popped
into Cameron's Brewing in Oakville to check out
their renovations, I ran into Brewmaster Jason
Britton quite by accident and bombarded the poor
fellow with intrusive questions about IPAs, pales
ales and all manner of things. He was very nice,
courteous (and wisely vague) with his responses. 
Have you ever been watching a TV show and had it preempted by some major news story? And you're just kinda sitting on the edge of the cliff, thinking, I dunno, "Were Ross and Rachel about to kiss?" or something lame like that?

Well, that happened to me late last week. But it wasn't a TV show that was preempted. It was me. You see, I was in the middle of writing a blog about how I managed to side-step the entire ice storm in Ontario, simply by staying in Las Vegas a few extra days. Frankly, it was a easiest decision of my life. But, well, my blog got preempted. Or at least, the continued writing thereof did.

It took 11 words and they came to me on Twitter from my hometown homeys at Cameron's Brewing. Those words were: "Don, come check out our revamped Cameron's retail store - pretty swank!" I replied (with words to the effect of) "Are you cereal?" And then they replied (with words to the effect of) "Yupper do, Buckaroo!" and *bam* I was in my car, camera in hand and on my way. I guess, in essence, I was "Leaving Las Vegas" for the second time in the same week. Although this time, it didn't involve a plane.

After the arduous two-minute, 17-second drive to Cameron's (I unfortunately got stopped at the only light along the way, adding 30 unnecessary seconds to the journey and yes, my Town Councillor has been alerted as to my inconvenience), I was there.
Danielle holds up my two favourite Cameron's
offerings - their 12 Mile India Pale Lager and their
Dark & Sticky India Brown Ale. Unfortunately, the
Dark & Sticky will very soon be relegated to their
"seasonal" rotation, meaning maybe once a year.
I've also alerted my Town Councillor about that.

What a difference a month makes. The former retail area, which was, well, serviceable before in that you could buy your fresh craft beer there, as well as various and sundry related products, has now been magically transformed into a destination location. Three big tables are now situated at the windows where the retail counter formerly resided. And if you look out the windows, you can see... okay, the business across the street. But the thing is you can now stay and have a pint or two!! You see when Cameron's set up shop a couple of decades back, that was less of a thing. People popped in, grabbed their beer and simply left. But over the years, that dynamic has dramatically changed. Folks now want to not only drink that beer but also enjoy their pint in the cool atmosphere of relaxing in a craft brewery. And then they post the shit out of it on Instagram, Twitter and what-have-you. It's actually kind of a win-win for the brewery (any brewery) because, hey, free advertising! And social media has far more impact these day than the old-school traditional media. Granted, that's because traditional media, such as newspapers, is slowly disappearing but that's another story altogether.

The other big part of their renovation is the fact the growler station is now up front. In the past, you handed them your empty jug, they disappeared into the back and then magically reappeared with a full jug of beer.
Sales Rep Extraordinaire Robbie holds up their
brand new First Light Session Lager, At just 4%,
Cameron's now has a truly sessionable beer and
it's a tasty little bugger. It won't replace 12 Mile
India Pale Lager in my heart but nothing could.
It was all very Harry Potter. You weren't exactly sure what happened... but you were handed 1.9 litres (64 ounces) of brewery-fresh beer so you weren't inclined to care all that much. Hogwarts won. Voldemort lost. The Muggles cheered. The End.

But when I landed there on Friday morning, it was a great day for meeting people. And first on deck was their Sales Rep Extraordinaire Robbie. And while Robbie and I have connected on the private message backstage of social media several times, we had actually never met. But we have another connection. His wife, Jenny, used to work for Cameron's and one of the things she did as part of her job was their social media. And I knew her quite well while she was at the brewery. She invited me to a Cask Night and we talked about Cameron's and craft beer on countless occasions. Jenny now works for the Kerr Street Mission here in Oakville, an organization that does a mega-ton of good charitable work and helps so many people, especially children, in need that it would take five columns to go through all their contributions. They're an outstanding organization, Jenny's part of it and well, you get the gist. Just plain good folks doing good things for others and hey, the world can use as many of those as possible. We need more Jenny's. If you need to contact Jenny, her number is 867-5309.

So anyway, Robbie came out, introduced himself and pretty much instantly, we started talking beer. Being the brave soul he is, he gave me the bad news first. The brewery's Dark & Sticky India Brown Ale, the super hoppy brown ale that he knows I love, wasn't going to be in their regular rotation. That was a decision the brewery had to make after gauging public and bar reaction. Bars sales are Robbie's end and he admitted the beer hadn't caught on - or at least in the way they had hoped. The beer had its many fans to be certain, me among them but not enough to make it into the regular rotation. However, he added, it will be on their seasonal rotation, which means, we'll see it from time to time.
I was so happy with the renovations at Cameron's that I bought a split-
pack - 12 Dark & Sticky India Brown Ale and a dozen 12 Mile India Pale
Lager. I suggested to the brewery that I would call it the Donny Vegas
Pleasurable Pack and asked if the name was already taken. The joke
being Molson's used to have a Pleasure Pack with 12 Canadian and 12
Export. They suggested I copyright the name ASAP. I suggested that I
had enough "cease and desist" orders already. Oh, I still call it the Donny
Vegas Pleasurable Pack. In my own home. Quietly. With no one around...
You know what? When it's your hometown homeys, you understand they gotta do what they gotta do. (As craft beer drinkers, we sometimes forget this is actually a business.)

But a good sale rep knows to follow bad news with good news. And Robbie had some of that for me. Right now, the beer is available to licensees (bars) at a discounted price - something in the neighbourhood of $45-$50 a case. Soon, that will also be the price for the public. Did I mention that I live two minutes away? Yeah, think I did. Oh, did I also mention they have a skid-full of the delicious dark brown nectar in the back? Okay, I may have left that part out. But when they do drop the price for us, it's Little House on the Prairie Dinner Table Rules, meaning simply if John-Boy grabs the last piece of corn-bread, hey, Laura, you're shit outta luck. Or in my case, the race goes not to the swiftest but rather the closest.
Whatever happened to Cameron's outstanding California
Sunshine American Pale Ale? Well, it seems it ran into a
"cease and desist" order of its own as back in 2014 as an
American craft brewery said, "Hey, we use that name so
stop it or get sued!" And Cameron's pretty much had to.

Now at about this point, Brewmaster Jason Britton came wandering out. He was looking to meet someone who was definitely not me. He got me, instead. That poor bastard. As soon as we were introduced, I started peppering him with questions.

Would Dark & Sticky India Brown Ale be coming out every Autumn or Winter since it was now a seasonal? He wasn't sure. That was still under discussion, he assured me.

Whatever happened to their outstanding California Sunshine American Pale Ale, which hasn't been seen since 2014? Well, it turns out they got a "cease and desist" letter on that one because an American brewery was using the same name. That's a crying shame because it was excellent. But it also occurs to me that there are many other names. Just sayin'. (*Ahem* Donny Vegas Pale Ale...)
We gotta end this with the big man, co-owner
and president Bill Coleman, who had a hand in
a commercial that connected to the Canadian
psyche like no other before it. I suspect you may
find it somewhat familiar. I dunno. You tell me.

Are they gonna finally brew an IPA, just so I'll shut up about it? He smiled and said they have a lot of plans, well, brewing so just hang in and stay tuned.

And he slowly backed away from the insane man with the million questions. You know that GIF of Homer Simpson backing into the bushes? Yeah. Like that.

Okay, let's finish this off with a little story about Cameron's big man, president and co-owner Bill Coleman. You see, Bill is responsible for a big slice of Canadiana folklore that many people will recognize without knowing about his involvement. After Bill graduated from UWO's Ivey Business School in London, he went to Nestle and quickly worked his way up the ranks. From there, he went to a beer-related job that we'll discuss in a minute. But after that, in late 2010, he went to high-tech companies called Alias and Softimage where both companies developed leading 3D tech still used today.

But let's go back to that brewery job. It was with Molson's and Bill was responsible for marketing two of their biggest brands, Canadian and Export. Under Bill's leadership, a TV (and then radio and newsprint) ad came out in 2000 that, hey, maybe you'll remember. A nice-looking fellow walks out on a stage.
In March 2000, Joe Canada (aka actor Jeff Douglas)
took to the stage on a TV commercial and told us all
why we should be proud to be Canadian. Yes, it is a
beer ad but it has been taught in marketing classes
shortly after the moment it came out as one of the most
effective ads ever to hit the airwaves. Canadian gold.
He's dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and an open flannel shirt. And he starts talking. And with each sentence, he gets a little louder and a little more adamant until the very end. At that point, he is yelling over cheers from the audience.

"Hey, I'm not a lumberjack or a fur trader. I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber or own a dogsled. And I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzie from Canada although I'm certain they're really, really nice. I have a Prime Minister, not a President. I speak English and French, not American! And I pronounce it 'about', not 'a boot'! I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack! I believe in peace-keeping, not policing, diversity, not assimilation and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal! A toque is a hat! A chesterfield is a sofa! And it is pronounced 'zed', not 'zee'! 'Zed'! Canada is the second-largest landmass! The first nation of hockey! And the best part of North America! My name is Joe! And... I... Am... Canadian!!"

Yup, Bill, who came to Cameron's in 2010, was the guy behind it, the man who green-lit that iconic Molson Canadian ad. It is probably the best-remembered Canadian-centric ad ever unveiled. Anyway, that's another reason to come visit Cameron's swanky new set-up. You may just meet the guy who was in charge of the Joe Canada ad. I have. Several times. Great dude. Always smiling. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Back soon with Vegas and the ice storm but until then, I remain...


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