OTTAWA — Brewers Retail has sold beer pretty much the same way since it opened 88 years ago.

At an older store in the downtown neighborhood of Glebe here, shoppers make their selection from a dizzying wall display of more than 300 slightly oversize beer labels. Their orders are dispatched to a windowless warehouse attached to the store. The beer then pops out of a small hole in the wall and clatters down steel rollers for pickup.

“Ontario’s kind of puritanical when it comes to this stuff,” said Nick Lea, after buying 15 bottles of Sleeman Original Draught.

The antiquated retail system, which accounts for the bulk of sales in the province, is at the center of the beer wars in Ontario.

Small breweries and retailers are pushing to break the company’s grip on beer sales. Consumers want better prices and more convenient shopping. And the government is looking for more money.