Imported Lagers

There are few things Canadians love more than an epic beer story and fortunately for us this one just keeps dragging out.

That sentiment however is likely not entirely shared by the people travelling with six massive beer tanks on the final stretch of an overdue journey to the Molson Coors brewery.

The convoy and its 75 staff did not manage to reach the brewery as scheduled early Sunday morning, hampered by cold weather and unforeseen complications with wires along the route.

“That’s it, that’s all,” said Frank DeVries, of Challenger Motor Freight, the company orchestrating the move, shortly after 3 a.m. on Sunday. The decision to stop was based on multiple factors, he said.

“The wire work took longer than we had all anticipated it would. It was a combination of the cold, snow. We had some wires we had to lay on the ground and cover with ramps . . . the ramps were sliding out so that took some time,” said DeVries.

“Just stuff you can’t really plan for.”

If all had gone according to plan the six 43,500 kilogram beer tanks would have reached the brewery on Carlingview Drive near Dixon Road between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.

The convoy left on the last leg of its journey at about 9 p.m. on Saturday, from Highway 27 and Toronto Rv Road.

The height of the tanks (8.2 metres once you factor in the truck beds) meant moving hundreds of traffic lights, manoeuvring around more than 1,600 services wires and operating the convoy at night to cause the least amount of disruption to drivers.

Last night a cold weather alert also made it more difficult to work, said DeVries.

By the time they pulled up to Woodbine racetrack at about 2:30 a.m., they realized the journey was well behind schedule.

“If we left Woodbine we would have to get to Molson’s,” said DeVries, adding the Challenger team and outside partners dealing with phone lines and hydro wires along the route concluded that wouldn’t happen before 10 a.m.

“We have hours of service rules,” said DeVries. “We can’t keep our people driving for more than 14 hours,” he said. They plan to start up again at about 7 p.m. Sunday.

About an hour before they reached Woodbine, DeVries was already considering putting a halt on the trip for the night.

The trip from Hamilton to the brewery was only supposed to take four nights.

The custom order tanks started their journey in Burgstadt, Germany, travelling by barge and ocean vessel to Hamilton.

Molson has said the reason the operation has taken place in winter is so they can bump up beer volume in time for patio season.

But, transporting the tanks on Canadian soil would prove the most technically difficult leg of the route.

“Transporting in winter has its challenges, said DeVries, laughing a bit despite the latest setback. “Certainly we wouldn’t have these challenges in July.”