You'll soon be able to buy beer and wine on tap at Quebec's grocery stores and convenience stores, if the province's food retail industry has its way.
Quebec's Food Retailers' Association is calling for the province to permit sales of freshly-brewed craft beer and wine on tap to carry away, citing the success the formula has had in some parts of the northeastern United States.
About 20 LCBO stores in Ontario are also selling the products on tap — and so are some Quebec microbreweries which sell their creations on-site.
Typically, the customers would fill up with a 2 L container called a growler, which maintains the product's freshness. Fresh craft beer is designed to be kept for no more than 72 hours.
"There is a market. We're pretty sure about that," says the Association's Pierre-Alexandre Blouin. "The product is working really fine in LCBOs and in grocery stores all across the United States."
Blouin says the idea would build upon Bill 88, a law passed recently by the Couillard government which allows locally-produced craft beer and wine to be sold at more places.
"We think it's a good opportunity for craft brewers to sell different kinds of products, smaller batches of products, and to offer more variety to our consumers," Blouin says.