USA | As AB-InBev continues to streamline its craft brewing operations in the US, it announced on 28 March that it would invest USD 1 million in the operations of Wicked Weed in Asheville, North Carolina, which it acquired in 2017. The news coincided with the winding down of operations at its production facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, “over the next few months”.

Labatt shifts Mill Street’s production from Toronto to London, Ontario

Canada | Labatt Breweries is closing the Mill Street brewery in Toronto when the current ten-year lease expires later this year, the company said on 27 March. The move will result in 39 job losses, but workers will be offered roles at other Labatt operations.

Canada | The ongoing tariff rift between Canada and the US is set to raise the price of beer cans on both sides of the border. Industry group Beer Canada expects Canada’s beer industry to take a CAD 330 million (USD 230 million) hit this year.

With beer consumption declining, US barley farmers now fear tariffs

USA | American barley farmers worry that tariffs could take away key export markets. The industry has already been faced with tight margins. Besides, beer drinking levels in the US are at the lowest in 40 years. Barley farmer and Vice President of the Montana Grain Growers Association, Steve Sheffels, told media on 21 March, that farmers will ultimately pay for tariffs.

Over 200 breweries shower Los Angeles with a “We Love LA” beer

USA | Inspired by Sierra Nevada’s Resilience IPA and Maui Brewing’s Kokua Project, Common Space brewery’s fundraiser to help Los Angeles, which was devastated by wildfires in January, has already found plenty of supporters in the US and around the world.

Canada | Mr Trump’s punitive tariffs may have rendered Canadians a service. In an effort to make consumers “buy Canadian”, the government has reached a deal with the majority of provinces to allow Canadian booze to flow more freely across the country. Presently, Ontario breweries and distilleries, for example, cannot sell directly to customers in other provinces.

Moosehead’s Presidential Pack to see Canadians through Trump's term

Canada | Buy Canadian. The New Brunswick-based brewery launched a Presidential Pack – 1,461 473ml cans of Canadian lagers, or one can of beer a day for the next four years of Donald Trump’s presidential term, media reported on 7 March.

Canada pulling stock is worse than tariffs, says Jack Daniel’s

USA | The CEO of Brown-Forman, which also makes Jack Daniel’s, has said that the decision by state-owned Canadian retailers to remove American alcohol from shelves to protest against President Trump’s trade policies is more damaging to the company’s finances than the actual tariffs.

Canada | What pulled the US and Canada back from the brink of a potentially damaging trade war? Was it a last-minute call between Mr Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau? Or was it Canada’s feisty response on Sunday, 2 February, which would have seen American alcohol pulled from shelves? In any case, late on Monday 3 February, Canada agreed to reinforce its border with the US to clamp down on migration and the flow of the drug fentanyl. The tariffs are paused for one month.

American whiskey growth stalls in US: Brown Forman cuts costs

USA | It is not just Scottish whisky that has lost sales in 2024: Demand for American whiskey in the US has softened too. After growing steadily between 2010 and 2022, whiskey volume sales fell by 1 percent in 2023 to 31 million 9-litre cases. In 2024, the decline could have been more pronounced.