People in Ottawa may have a hard time finding beer for a buck during the Labour Day long weekend.

Three breweries took up Premier Doug Ford's challenge to sell beer for a dollar (plus deposit) after the Ontario government lowered the minimum price by a quarter.

According to CBC's review of the online inventories of the LCBO and Beer Store Thursday, only two of those brands are available in Ottawa and only at the Beer Store.

President's Choice is exclusively at the Beer Store, but its buck-a-beer promotion will end Monday.

Cool Lager is only stocked at five Beer Stores and late Thursday morning, only one had it listed as in stock.

It's in stock at a few eastern Ontario LCBOs, but none in Ottawa.

Barley Days' Loon Lager is not available in the capital.

Robert Desjardine has already tried the President's Choice Lager and bought a case of its Honey Red Thursday evening.

"It'd be nice to have a broader, more substantial availability, but it is what is," he said.

Alex Mark and Andrew Brown say they've been waiting for buck-a-beer and they have seen that it's sold out at some Ottawa Beer Stores. (Matthew Kupfer/CBC)

Andrew Brown said he has seen the dollar beer section of some Beer Stores sold out.

"Now it's harder to find, it's sold out pretty much everywhere, but you can't go wrong with it," Brown said.

"You're spending a couple dollars more on gas to go to the next spot, but other than that it's worth it … the savings on a two-four is $9."

Brown said he thinks another brewery will take President's Choice's place once they drop out of the challenge.

Risk of fizzing out

Michael Mulvey, a marketing professor at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, said the limited participation of breweries came from the design of the policy.

He said the challenge did little to address the increased costs of material, shipping, labour and taxes that brewers face — instead, it offered a brief window of publicity.

"You want to be a part of it while it's being launched because over time, the impact is going to be diluted," he said

Mulvey said it was also a branding opportunity for Ford and the Progressive Conservatives.

"I think it was part of the brand, try to be a bit more populist, rally the working class against the more privileged and posh consumers that are out there," he said.

"The promise of buck-a-beer has wonderful nostalgic appeal."

However, he suspects it could soon be a thing of the past.

"Nobody wants to sell beer for a loss."