Canada's top craft beers coming to NB Liquor event

NB Liquor will be showcasing 38 varieties of Canada's top craft beers and cider at 10 stores across the province later this month.

Craft beer enthusiasts may recognize the selection as the gold, silver and bronze winners at this year's Canadian Brewing Awards.

NB Liquor, as a part of its "Ultimate Beer Run" campaign, has secured limited quantities of the award-winning products.

"The Ultimate Canadian Beer Run is an exclusive NB Liquor event, no other retail store in Canada is celebrating the Canadian Beer Awards like us," said Brian Harriman, the president and chief executive officer of NB Liquor, in a statement.

"We have reached out to this year's winners and were able to secure more than 30 varieties that are not normally sold in our stores."

The Crown corporation is warning beer lovers that quantities will be limited.

NB Liquor says for some of the brands, this is the first time they have ever been exported, While other breweries have created a specific batch for this NB Liquor event.

The craft beer will only be available in select stores in the province, which NB Liquor says are the top 10 craft beer selling stores:

• Fredericton – York Street
• Fredericton – Devon Park
• Fredericton – Prospect Street
• Dieppe – Regis Street
• Moncton – Vaughan Harvey Blvd.
• Moncton – 936 Mountain Rd.
• Moncton – 1855 Mountain Rd.
• Saint John – Fairville Boulevard
• Saint John – Parkway Mall
• Kennebecasis Valley – 115 Campbell Dr.

NB Liquor is also offering beer lovers a special tasting at the York Street store from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Aug. 31.

This is NB Liquor's latest attempt to get further into the craft beer market.

The Crown corporation has recently announced it would permanently keep its growler program at selected stores. The growler stations offer customers the chance to fill up their 1.89-litre reuseable beer jugs with a selection of craft beer.

The liquor corporation has posted continued growth in craft beer sales. NB Liquor sold 1.2 million litres of craft beer, which comprised 3.14 per cent of the beer market, between Sept. 1, 2014 and Aug. 5.

That's an increase over December 2013 to November 2014, when craft beer sales represented 2.19 per cent of the beer market or the previous year when the sales represented 1.96 per cent.