{"id":894429,"date":"2026-09-13T17:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894429\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T17:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T17:04:15","slug":"u-s-alcohol-ban-threatens-cape-breton-distillery-but-winemakers-look-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894429\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. alcohol ban threatens Cape Breton distillery, but winemakers look local"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p>A prominent Nova Scotia distillery fears <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/trump-canadian-aclohol-banned-9.7336507\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">that a recent U.S. presidential order banning the sale of Canadian alcohol<\/a> could hit its bottom line hard.<\/p>\n<p>Lauchie MacLean, president of Glenora Distillers in Mabou, N.S., said 33 to 40 per cent of its sales over the past few years went to the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>The ban on Canadian alcohol, motorcycles, molasses and other goods follows retaliatory tariffs Canada imposed on select American imports. The ban takes effect Sept. 29.<\/p>\n<p>It is not the first time the single-malt whisky distillery has lost a major export market. Glenora Distillery used to sell a significant amount of its product to Russia, but MacLean said that also changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A leader [in Russia] messed it up and now we got another leader in the U.S. messing us up again,&#8221; MacLean said.<\/p>\n<p>While Glenora ships small orders to Asia, MacLean said the business cannot &#8220;turn on a dime&#8221; to replace U.S. demand, adding a new long-term market strategy can take years.<\/p>\n<p>Other Nova Scotia producers remain largely unbothered.  <\/p>\n<p>Melissa Herbin, executive director of Wine Growers Nova Scotia, said only a small fraction of local wine goes to the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t really have a direct financial challenge for us,&#8221; said Herbin, whose organization represents 19 wineries. Instead, she sees an opportunity to expand interprovincial trade.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789319055_743_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>A vineyard in the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia. (Jean Laroche\/CBC)<\/p>\n<p>Herbin said that agreements like the one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/nova-scotia\/ontario-nova-scotia-deal-direct-to-consumer-alcohol-sales-9.7111786\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">signed by Ontario and Nova Scotia<\/a> set the scene for opening markets between provinces, but more could be done to expand that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur members still do need to register through [the Liquor Control Board of Ontario] to track their sales, but they&#8217;re able to now sell directly to a consumer,\u201d she said. \u201cBut following up on that, we would love to be able to sell directly to restaurants, to hotels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to CBC News, the Nova Scotia Department of Intergovernmental Affairs said it cannot control decisions in Washington, but is &#8220;doing everything possible to protect Nova Scotian workers and businesses,&#8221; including removing internal trade barriers. The department added it is working directly with industry leaders to assess the full impact.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Tanner, president of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia, said none of its 52 members exports to the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the market has certainly been focused on Nova Scotia as a whole. I think some have certainly looked to New Brunswick and P.E.I. and Newfoundland for some sales opportunities there,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Tanner added that a surge in buy-local support has continued to benefit local craft brewers.<\/p>\n<p>MORE TOP STORIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-894429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}