Canadian beer - #2?????
I don't know what happened to me. I used to love all Canadian beers, but especially Canada's #1 beer 'Molson Canadian'. I used to like the taste and they used to have cool, funny commercials that were so 'Canadian'. Every time I bought beer, it would only be Canadian.But then, something changed. Molson (a Canadian company) merged with Coors (an American beer company). Whoa, what the hell? Canada's beer is now 1/2 American? Ok, well, that kind of sucks but whatever, its not a big deal, right?WRONG. All of a sudden, Molson Canadian has lost it's most important aspect - it is CANADIAN. For some reason, Canadians are very proud to be Canadian, and Molson always capitalized on that. Their commercials a few years ago were great. One had a pet beaver, and one had a guy who had a big rant about all things Canadian. And Molson had in their cases of beer shirts and hats and touques with the maple leaf proudly displayed.Then...the merger. No more do I see any Molson commercials showing why it is great to be Canadian. No longer are there any more Canadian prizes in the cases. The only thing that reminds me that Molson is still a Canadian product is the maple leaf on the box. BIG DEAL! And then recently, Molson's new commercial just was crap. It was so...so...American! It features this guy who throughout a night (or one night, who the hell knows) meets a bunch of girls who are inexplicably attracted to him, probably because he drinks Molson. It seemed as though they took a Coors Light commercial and stuck a Molson label over top of it. What crap.So why does this matter? Its just a stupid beer company, right? No. It's another piece of the Canadian identity being consumed by the American giant. It's the Winnipeg Jets all over again. Is nothing sacred? The Americans can take all our smartest people, greatest actors, and just about anything else they want. But when they start messing with our hockey and beer, that's where I draw the line!So what can I, Joe Canadian in Edmonton, do about it? All I can do is spread the word of this horrible injustice and boycott Molson. I no longer purchase Molson, only beers that are owned 100% by Canadian companies, or at least owned by companies not in partnership by American compaies. Alexander Keith's is a 100% Canadian-owned beer, but is distributed by Labbat's which is in partnership with a European company. If I really wanted to be patriotic, I should just stick to Sleemans, which is a really great beer. Unfortunately it is pretty expensive.As a disclaimer, I have nothing against Americans. I just would like it if Canadian things could just stay Canadian, rather than be lured by the almighty dollar across the border. One can dream, can't he?