We're pretty spoiled here with what we pay for beer, at least compared to BC and Ontario (don't know about the rest).

Besides, if you're drinking enough beer that a 10% tax hike puts a big dent in your budget... It's probably time to slow it down a bit :mrgreen:

This article

http://calgary.openfile.ca/calgary/f...ve-got-answers

Claims we still have some of the cheapest beer and notes (importantly) that prices on a 24 of Canadian can vary by as much as $7 depending on which store you go to in Calgary

i hope your not counting pst in bc and out east. this shouldnt count when considering whos more expensive.

In general, I hate all the tax we pay on alcohol, I love rum... but, free healthcare with heavy taxes on alcohol and smokes seems to make sense to me. It obviously not all going directly into healthcare, but somewhere it all balances out to cover some of it.

legalize and tax marijuana to add to the revenue stream vs. hiking up alcohol prices. Not like there isn't a sizeable market for the stuff.

Diversify!

+1!! This would be a HUGE asset to our country. Half of the BS in the courts and police work would be eliminated, and those resources could be used for important stuff. I don't even smoke, but LEGALIZE IT!!

Oh, and back on topic... NO!! Not more epensive beer!!! Ugh.

Make your own. I've been doing that for a while now. First at a brew on premise business. You pay your money, the owner brews it up, 2 weeks later you bottle it. Unfortunately the tax man is at work here as well & prices are going up on raw materials, which the business owner passes on to the customer.

Now I make my own beer at home, it's not rocket science. My RO system gets put to work making pure water, so all I need to do is buy the can of malt concentrate, 1kg corn sugar, boil up a couple gallons of RO water (add some of my home grown hops for extra flavour), add the whole works to 20 litres of RO water in a fermentation container & wait a few weeks.

Carbonation is the tricky part. Several ways to go about that. I've simply been using a 10lb CO2 cylinder & force carbonating each bottle after it's good & cold. Drilled a hole into a plastic bottle cap & fitted a car tire valve. Hose from CO2 regulator has an air chuck attached which locks on to the tire valve on the bottle cap. Fill the plastic beer bottle with beer, hit it with 40psi & shake for 30 secs or so. Takes a bit of planning since the bottle needs to rest overnight in the fridge before removing the modified cap. Thinking I should make up a few more of these caps to keep ahead of the game.

Ultimately I'd like to build a 'kegerator'. That's a mini fridge with hole in the top for a beer tap. Inside is a 'cornelius' keg full of beer & a CO2 bottle. Voila, your own beer bar. Tons of info & many good forums on the subject of homebrew on the web. Been making my own wine for years. Even have 3 grape vines growing in the back yard. Plan to add a few more. My own private vinyard. Okanagan is not a bad place for that.

I'm slowly getting tax weary. I don't think any level of government really has a handle on what's going on any longer. No offense to Navy folks, but they're spending like drunken sailors, usually in all the wrong places. And I still see sad looking homeless folks in downtown Vernon, hear about hungry kids here in Canada and there are plenty of charities looking for donations to fix various social shortcomings our governments are unable to solve or unwilling to fund adequately with our tax dollars. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I don't think it's more taxation. Our economy has been tanking for a few years now & taking more out of the average working schmoes pockets isn't going to help.

Let's see what I can find for taxes & fees that I am priviledged to pay:

Income tax
GST/PST/HST
Carbon Tax on Natural Gas
Gasoline Tax
Environmental fee on various goods like tires & batteries
Property Tax
Health care Fees
Alcohol Tax
Some sort of Rate Rider? on my BC Hydro bill (subject to HST by the way, double whammy there)
Might as well add all the casino/lottery money govts skim off & use who knows where

I'm sure there are other taxes & fees that I missed, some well hidden. Sorry, another rant by Mike, the thread killer.

I find Alberta is one of the cheapest places in Canada, that I've been too anyway. A few months back I picked up a few flats of beer for $12 each, that's 50cents per beer, before tax obviously but still.

As for brewing beer, been there done that all I got was a house that stunk and and some kind brew I couldn't stomach. Personally I wouldn't recommend this option. Simply buying less expensive beer from less expensive stores will save you money and stocking up on good sales also works well.

Also in terms of signing petitions, is there any evidence that something like this has actually worked in the past? Just curious..

I also brew my own beer now, costs me about $0.19 per pint (English 20oz). Makes it economical to fill up my yard glass which is a solid 80oz. I usually just do a second round of fermentation while in the bottles by adding sugar/carbs again when I cap it. I love ales and stouts.

When I passed through Alberta in the summer I got a 55 beer tower for my dad and it was $60, you'd get half that in BC and you can't get it at Costco. I picked up an 8-pack of Guiness and its other beers for $18 where in BC you get 4 for about $15 and I've never seen that mix pack either.

The problem is that it doesn't really matter, they will hike it, we will pay it. As a country, we are one of civil obedience... Nothing like what you are seeing on the other side of the globe, where people are fighting for injustices and freedom. :biggrin: But again, do we really have anything to fight against, overall I can say I am happy and FREE!

I now step down from the soap box, and start getting pelted with rocks. OUCH!!!

EDIT: And in regards to legalizing POT, NO WAY!!!! There are already too many dummies behind the wheel, even with illegal drugs, so making it legal just makes it worse. I myself am against this. Give it time, they will make cigarretes illegal, or add smoking to the distracted driving laws. HEHE.

As others stated, if you can't afford the hikes, then it is time to change your habits. I personally don't care what it costs for what I choose to do, if I can afford it then fine, if not, then guess what... I don't get to do it. Just wait, one day there will be a tax for the air you breath, for having kids/family, and so on.