Beer club brings exotic ales to the province

A club that brings different types of beer into Newfoundland and Labrador has stolen the hearts of many beer drinkers.

Tom Beckett and Mike Buhler are the founders of Beerthief, a club thatBeckett said hasreceived a surprising amount of support from consumers wanting to sample brewsthat would normally be unavailable.

Beckett said he knew the only way to be successful was to find a large base of people who were willing to pitch in on purchases.

"I said the only way we can do it is by getting a mass of people that are willing to order with us because you have to bring in a quantity," he said.

But what Beckett didn't expect was the huge number of people who joined up right away. So far, nearly 2,000 people have made use of the club, which is free to join.

"Beer is one of those things like wine that, after you've had two or three, you want something different. And there's a large group of people, at the moment, 1,915 of them, that want different styles of beer," he said.

"We figured it would take us four or five years to get to this point, but what we're finding is Newfoundland beer drinkers have a sense of excitement," he said.

"They've also recognized that there are very different quality beers out there and they're very, very happy to be joining us to buy them and drink them."

Members are sent an email highlighting certain selected beers each month, with a new list of featured beers.They then place an order for what they want from those specific selections.