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Here’s a tale that’ll leave you thirsty – and one that could never happen today.

Thirty-five years ago this month, Ontario bar taps ran dry and the last bottles were drained as workers at every major brewery in the province, including Labatt in London, were locked out along with warehouse workers at what was then Brewers Retail after voting to strike.

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The dispute went on for five weeks.

Molson, Labatt, and Carling-O’Keefe were all shut down and, worse, the union was poised to have workers in other provinces walk off the job in a move that would’ve created a national shortage in an age before imports were big and when inter-provincial trade barriers meant beer had to be brewed where it was sold. Craft breweries were but a twinkle in someone’s eye.

Ask your parents about the beer crisis of ’85 and you may be regaled with stories akin to where they were when Henderson scored or how they survived some great snowstorm.