# Why is Canada pulling American alcohol off the shelves? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180 "2025-03-05T22:57:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/21 "2025-03-06T01:51:00Z")
I admire Canada for trying to target alcohol made in red states. The US’s allies need targeted tariffs that affect states, districts and industries full of Trump voters. They need to feel the most pain for the evil they’ve brought into the world. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/22 "2025-03-06T01:55:38Z")
BTW, it is working. Good for Canada. > **[Jack Daniel’s maker says Canada pulling US alcohol off shelves ‘worse than...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/05/jack-daniels-canada-trump-tariffs)** > > CEO Lawson Whiting calls Canada’s move ‘disproportionate response’ to levies imposed by Trump administration ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/23 "2025-03-06T01:58:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > > [@Kropotkin](#): > > > > Though it’s harder to find bottled beer, granted. > > I dunno where you live but bottled beer is a rather easy find here. Sure it is, but craft breweries have increasingly been moving to cans and decommissioning their botttling and recycling facilities if they even ever had them. I read an article a month ago or so about a BC brewery that did this and is now being hit with the cost of aluminum cans, but there’s no going back. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/24 "2025-03-06T02:02:56Z")
Interesting to learn from that article, “Whiting, however, said that Canada accounted for only 1% of their total sales and that the company could withstand the hit. He added the company would watch out for what happens in Mexico, which according to its annual report, made up 7% of its 2024 sales.” Who’d have thought Canadians were such lightweights compared to the Mexicans? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/25 "2025-03-06T02:03:11Z")
I think Alberta is the only Canadian province with actual liquor stores, so for most Canadian they can only choose between different branches of the same store; at least for hard liquor. Many province do have private beer and wines sales; I know Ontario and Quebec (were most Canadians live) do. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/26 "2025-03-06T02:03:51Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Who’d have thought Canadians were such lightweights compared to the Mexicans? I don’t like bourbon. Too sweet. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/27 "2025-03-06T02:05:09Z")
That shocked the shit out of me too! But, my guess is Canada makes up for their lack of drinking of US whiskey by drinking a shitload of Canadian whiskey. And right now, even more Canadian whiskey. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/28 "2025-03-06T02:06:10Z")
Not all. Stay away from the wheated swill and head to the rye section. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/29 "2025-03-06T02:18:12Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I think Alberta is the only Canadian province with actual liquor stores No, most have provincial stores. They may also have private stores. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/30 "2025-03-06T02:29:13Z")
Whoops, that should read "actual _private_ liquor stores. I know about the government run stores; I live in Pennsylvania which has a government liquor monopoly. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/31 "2025-03-06T02:31:26Z")
Yes, one can find bottled beer, but here in BC the move is to cans. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/32 "2025-03-06T04:51:41Z")
Canadians actually care and have the cajónes to carry out boycotts. Btw, what term works to say USA-ians and not disdain our northern and southern neighbors since they shouldn’t be tainted with our shit? I have always automatically defaulted to “Americans” being the US. The US can’t even boycott Chik-fil-A for being anti-gay. How hard is it to not eat at one fast food chain in support of your personal beliefs? Naw, we can’t even pull that off. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/33 "2025-03-06T10:41:15Z")
Got an interesting message from a friend in Toronto. He belongs to a fancy private club, with a bar and a dining room. Apparently, while they will be running through their existing stock of Kentucky bourbon (I’ll assume they’re including Jack Daniel’s in that), and California wines, they won’t order any more. Not that they could, now that the LCBO is not distributing American product any more, but should this mess be resolved somehow, they don’t plan on ordering more American alcohol of any sort for a long while. A drop in the bucket, perhaps, but my friend had no problem with it. “Every bottle of Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s that is removed makes more room for the really good Canadian whiskies, and single-malt Scotches.” As for cans vs. bottles—a case of 24 empty bottles weighs 16 lbs (source: my training and experience at Ontario’s Beer Stores); a case of 24 empty cans weighs maybe one pound, tops. Given that liquor stores here in Alberta do not accept returns, most people let things add up until it is worth your while to go return all beverage containers to the Bottle Depot. So last week, I took back maybe 6 cases of cans—96 pounds of bottles, instead of six pounds of cans. Easy to put into green garbage bags and to lift and take in, in one load, and cans don’t break in transit. That’s why cans are popular out here. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/34 "2025-03-06T10:55:56Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Btw, what term works to say USA-ians and not disdain our northern and southern neighbors since they shouldn’t be tainted with our shit? I have always automatically defaulted to “Americans” being the US. Don’t worry, we know exactly what it means when people refer to Americans. Unlike “Europeans”, “Africans”, or “Asians”, no one really refers to inhabitants of the full Americas continents by any one name. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/35 "2025-03-06T11:09:14Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > cajónes Cojones. Balls are cojones. Cajones means “drawers,” as in “chest of.” I remember, because I read a mystery once where furniture played a big role, and my Spanish was very much a work in progress, and I was confused as to why balls were so important, when it dawned on me that I’d heard the word, but never seen it written. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/36 "2025-03-06T11:54:55Z")
Today I learned that it’s “Jack Daniel’s” and not “Jack Daniels.” ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/37 "2025-03-06T12:21:04Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I took back maybe 6 cases of cans—96 pounds of bottles, instead of six pounds of cans. Easy to put into green garbage bags and to lift and take in, in one load, and cans don’t break in transit. That’s why cans are popular out here. As things have worked out, I am in charge of returning recyclable materials for our house. Bottles/glass is a drag. Cans are not only lighter, they can be squished. And good for Canada for the boycott. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/38 "2025-03-06T13:22:42Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Btw, what term works to say USA-ians and not disdain our northern and southern neighbors since they shouldn’t be tainted with our shit? I have always automatically defaulted to “Americans” being the US. “Americans” is the US. No one hears it and thinks “I wonder if he means Mexicans…” But I suppose you could say Yankees. It’s a bit twee when you’re trying to be mad but no one will suspect you might mean Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/39 "2025-03-06T13:34:45Z")
I guess, in English, in some (most?) parts of the world. If you say “Americano” in Spanish, in Argentina, Uruguay and parts nearby it may cause confusion, at first look it means “Someone from the Americas” (the continents), from context/cultural osmosis many would recognize that you mean “Estadounidenses” but even in that case many would be offended by the assumption that only USAians can be “Americanos”. (I used to defend the usage saying that those of the United States of Mexico call themselves Mexicans and the first Brazilian republic (1889 to 1930) was also called “United States of Brazil” and their citizens “Brazilians”, but lately I’ve lost the urge, to be honest) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180/40 "2025-03-06T13:35:22Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > But I suppose you could say Yankees. It’s a bit twee when you’re trying to be mad but no one will suspect you might mean Canadians. Not “Yankees” - “Yanks”. Yankees are a baseball team. (I mean, yes, the word can also refer to U.S. citizens in general, or only to people from northern U.S., or only to people from _northeastern_ U.S., or only to people from New England… so it’s probably best to avoid confusion). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-canada-pulling-american-alcohol-off-the-shelves/1015180.md?page=3)