Just came over the border and I’m always amazed to see how Americans and especially Buffaloeans (is that a word?) still embrace Labatt Blue. You hardly see it on tap in Toronto or even available in bottle form at bars. The Blue Jays were sponsored by Labatts in the 80s, even owned by them,
and it was such a big Canadian brand on the same level as Molson. I think Labatt 50 is still available in Quebec but forget getting it in the GTA except the Beer Store. I miss them
by FrutaAndPutas
7 Comments
It’s still in the top 5 best selling beer brands in Canada.
Pretty sure the bottles are still 12oz…
When Anheuser Busch merged with InBev, US regulators forced them to sell the Labatt brand because of the combined market share in Western New York and Michigan.
So Labatt USA is a separate company based in Buffalo (owned by the same parent company as Genesee, Magic Hat, etc) that still markets the brand heavily and that’s why it continues to hold its market share in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit etc.
Labatt Canada on the other hand made a business decision to kill all marketing spend for the brand years ago and is content to let it die a slow death. Budweiser is their big brand now.
Another fun fact: Labatt Blue for the US market is actually contract brewed by Molson at their Toronto brewery
We get hosed for beer in Canada. Once they started making Corona here in Canada they lost me completely.
At a bar I’ll reluctantly order a Coors Light or Bud Lite. But when buying a buy a domestic brand. You’re literally just paying for the packaging. The only thing imported is the name for a majority of brands.
I remember back in the 70s when Labatts had their green and blue party packs. 12 Blue and 12 50.
I think 50 is still available in Ontario. We used to call it cinquante since it is more popular in Quebec. Good fishin in Kaybec.
It was shit beer back in the day, and it’s still shit beer
You can find labatt 50 at a decent amount of bars in the west end, usually around $5