Destruction of thousands of alcohol bottles from the SAQ

Several thousand bottles were seized in 2022.

Several thousand bottles of alcohol were seized in 2022 by police or trustees at the result of bankruptcies of establishments and withdrawal of liquor licenses or because of the absence of stamps on the bottles held by bars and restaurants. These have already been destroyed or will soon be.

84,500 bottles were seized, reveals La Presse. This is the highest total in the past five years. These products are mostly sent to the warehouses of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), which then ensures that they are destroyed by another organization.

Each year, thousands of bottles of alcohol are destroyed in such circumstances. The SAQ is awaiting a judgment to destroy the products, which will be done by an independent company specializing in the recycling of alcoholic beverages in the months or years to come.

Products that do not undergo the destruction process will be returned to the SAQ's network of outlets, which stresses in passing that no bottle will be offered to its employees or consumed by them.