“When we started Nine Locks, we never thought we would ever hit this point,” said Danny O’Hearn, co-owner of Nine Locks Brewing Company.

In Nova Scotia, when a craft brewery generates a high level of revenue or produces a high volume of beer, the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC) will then raise the price markup in its stores.

“Nine Locks is the first of several to go over the ledge and jump to an 84.5 percent markup,” said Craft Brewers of Nova Scotia President, Brian Titus.  

This is more than double the previous markup.  “We will have brands that we sell in liquor stores that will not be profitable for Nine Locks Brewery,” said O’Hearn.

“If we were in B.C., we would be paying 10 percent,” said Titus. “If we were in Quebec or New Brunswick, we would be under 20 percent.”

“With this new policy that we implemented, they just pay the new markup until the fiscal year, April 1,” said NSLC Communications Specialist Beverley Ware.

Microbreweries will then go back to paying the smaller price markup until the increase kicks in again, next fiscal year based on beer sales.

“They certainly eroded the market share of these big players over the last number of years,” said Dan Shaw, from the Dalhousie University Rowe School of Business. “At some point though, you are big enough that you have to play with the big boys.”

Both Titus and O’Hearn said they hope to meet with the province to urge them to reconsider these price markups that they say are impacting profit margins.