N.S. craft brewers eager for end of interprovincial trade barriers on alcohol

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are looking to lift trade barriers on alcohol.

Nova Scotia craft brewers have been waiting for a long time to sell their products in other provinces and their wish might be coming true as New Brunswick has made a move to break down some of the interprovincial trade barriers on alcohol.

“I think that’s great to see provinces coming on board, opening up for individual customers to buy directly across borders,” says Brian Titus, president of Garrison Brewing.

Proposed amendments to New Brunswick’s Liquor Control Act would allow customers to buy alcohol directly from provinces and territories with similar rules. The government is also looking to eliminate personal exemption limits on liquor for people entering the province.

Bruce Macfarlane, senior director of media relations for New Brunswick, says this change does not mean alcohol from Nova Scotia will be on store shelves.

“The purpose of the amendments is to expand the market for consumers only. Retailers will continue to order products through ANBL,” he says.

There are 60 craft brewers in Nova Scotia and the hope is the removal of some of these interprovincial trade barriers will help them stay in business as tariffs start to inflate costs.

“Can prices are going up. Hops just got put on the list of counter tariffs so all of my hops coming across from the US, which is the majority, are going to get slammed with a 25 per cent tariff at the Canadian border,” Titus says.

As the trade war grinds on, Canadian liquor stores have removed American booze from their shelves.

“We were working on a deal to hit New Brunswick right there, which is right above Maine,” says Victor Yarbrough, co-founder of Brough Brothers Distillery, a Kentucky-based company that’s put its growth strategy into Canada on hold. “Part of the expansion is being able to go into the Canadian market, which is a huge market. They’re our neighbors, they’re our brothers and this is something that we’ve been working on behind the scenes and all of a sudden this hard work that we’ve had is now being impacted.

“If we know, either way long-term, that’s fine, that’s fine. We will pivot and make the adjustments necessary regardless, but the uncertainty of 30 days or on and off, two weeks on, two weeks off; that’s just very difficult for an actual producer.”

Allison Himmelman, communications director for the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission, says customers don’t seem to mind not being able to buy American booze.

“We’ve seen a lot of positive support, especially in those initial days where people have been coming in and are really proud to see the stance that our province was taking,” Himmelman says.

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