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Canada | American Bourbon has already become a victim in the US trade war. Provinces pulled it from their shelves in response to Mr Trump’s tariffs. Now it looks as if Canadian whisky Crown Royal could become a victim too, if Ontario’s provincial premier Doug Ford has his way. He said on 7 January that Crown Royal would be boycotted by the province-owned liquor chain LCBO in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, firing a warning shot at Diageo, the brand’s owner.
USA | Suntory Global Spirits, the maker of Jim Beam bourbon, on 1 January, halted production at its main site in Clermont, Kentucky, for all of 2026, while the firm takes “the opportunity to invest in site enhancements, the BBC learnt on 21 December. Its rationale is explicitly framed around aligning production with demand and managing inventory.
USA | All intoxicating hemp, including hemp-derived THC and CBD beverages, will be illegal to sell or possess in 90 days (March 2026), according to legislation Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine signed on 19 December.
USA | With US beer production in decline, it was inevitable: On 11 December, AB-InBev announced it is looking to shake up its brewery business for 2026 with the sale of one of its oldest breweries and the closure of two more. The company's Newark, New Jersey, brewery, which has been in operation since 1951, is going to be sold to property development firm Goodman Group. Breweries that are located in Fairfield, California, and Merrimack, New Hampshire, will close permanently. Production will be shifted to the firm’s nine remaining major breweries.
USA | Whatever happens to the USMCA trade agreement after its review next summer – Heineken pans to be prepared. Shortly after Donald Trump retook power in Washington, D.C., in early 2025, importing beer from Mexico went from a relatively straightforward business to a quagmire. While beer is still compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the administration’s trade policy has already forced the Big Brewers to rethink how they do business across the southern border.
USA | The Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS), an industry body, has run an ad campaign on Axios between 30 November and 6 December to spotlight the hospitality industry’s concerns over spirits tariffs during the critical holiday season.
Canada | Canadian provinces began removing US liquor from their shelves in February in anger over US President Trump imposing sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods and sector-specific tariffs on metals, lumber and automotives. As of December, only two out of ten provinces are selling American booze.
USA | Boston Beer’s noncompete provisions contained in its employment contracts are in the news again, with a pair of ex-employees filing a class action against the brewer in Massachusetts on 1 December. The suit alleges that Boston Beer improperly enforced noncompete agreements against employees across 39 states, but paid only USD 3,000 instead of the required garden leave payments which is equal to approximately six months of the employee’s highest salary over the preceding two years, the website Law360 reports.
USA | AB-InBev said on 5 December that it plans to acquire a majority stake in the US-based RTD brand BeatBox for about USD 490 million. The deal would give Anheuser-Busch ownership of 85 percent of the company, with a path to 100 percent after five years based on a predetermined pricing formula.
Canada | Molson Canada has accused former managers of embezzling millions of dollars in an intricate fraud scheme, allegedly involving fake vendors, shell companies and several other people, media reported on 27 November.
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BRAUWELT on tour
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BRAUWELT on tour
