Brick Brewing Co. Ltd. has cancelled its revival of the old-time stubby beer bottle, announcing that its Red Cap ale will now be sold in industry standard bottles at a lower price.
The heritage brew — described as Canada’s most popular beer in the 1950s when it was made by the former Carling Brewing Co. — will be sold at Ontario’s lowest legal price of $28 for a case of 24: $25.60 plus deposit, Brick said yesterday.
That’s down from $16.95 for 12 and $29.95 for two packs of 12 stubbies.
“Over seven years have passed since Red Cap was re-introduced into the Ontario market in the stubby bottle,” Brick CEO George Croft said in a statement.
Brick’s use of the stubby — which from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s had been the Canadian industry standard — provoked a long dispute with The Beer Store, the Ontario retail operation owned by the big beer makers, which objected to having to sort the unique bottle.
Litigation over the matter was settled last September. The terms of that settlement were not made public, but Sean Dennis, the regional brewery’s director of marketing, said the issue did not motivate Brick’s decision to scrap the stubby.
