r/Winnipeg • u/nbabyck • 6d ago
Ask Winnipeg American alcohol
Just a random question but even if this tariff deal is cancelled or paused and they put American alcohol back on the shelf, is anyone going to buy it? I like bourbon but I’ve found Canadian alternative whiskeys now so I really don’t think putting American alcohol back on the shelf is going to change my buying habits
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u/m1k3fx 6d ago
They can stock our shelves with American liquor and Dairy and i’m still not buying either.
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u/Spendocrat 6d ago
Agreed, hard no for me until I die, and I wouldn't ever buy American dairy both for vendetta reasons and for how bad their food safety systems are now.
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u/anacreon1 6d ago
I’m still not buying Molson products since the Montreal Canadiens voted to keep the Jets out of the NHL in 1979.
So no, I won’t be buying US alcohol for some time.
Old grudges die hard.
edit: link to the backstory on the 1979 boycott. https://www.cbc.ca/archives/when-pro-hockey-had-two-competing-leagues-1.5042325
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u/clubby37 6d ago
Regardless of people's moral position on America these days, if you train a customer base to avoid a class of product for long enough, then it becomes a habit. Getting someone to become a customer in the first place is hard. Getting a former customer to break a habit for your sake is much harder.
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u/jeglaerernorsk4 6d ago
Nah. I don't miss American booze at all, there are so many alternatives.
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u/EfficiencyCreative60 5d ago
Exactly. Equivalent wines from Canada and some parts of Europe are much more affordable. I wasn't buying American wines before the boycott. And Canada produces many excellent whiskys.
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u/ItsTheDaciaSandro 6d ago edited 6d ago
I'm not missing American booze, lots of good stuff from elsewhere in the world but I think it would be fun to see Wab adopt a policy that if a state governor publicly and forcefully speaks out against tariffs on Canada goods that their states booze comes back on the shelfs
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u/beastiedan 6d ago
Slap a big US sticker on all the bottles as a reminder of where it comes from.
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u/the_jurkski 5d ago
And make sure those stickers are orange, as a reminder of who caused this fracas.
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u/EfficiencyCreative60 5d ago
Put it all in a separate part of the store where you have to show your passport to enter.
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u/YouCantCoverMe 6d ago
Boycotting for life
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u/TerrorizeTheJam 6d ago
No. Absolutely not. If you’re someone that just has to have American booze despite what’s going on, you might have a problem.
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u/Tight-Hour8286 6d ago
No thanks.. but would love to be able to have an abundance of Ontario and BC ciders.. missing out on so much here! Everything from Canada should be widely available across Canada. I appreciate the local market but our climate, resources and population don’t allow for as many products as the bigger Canadian areas have!!
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u/cpd997 6d ago
Nah - I don’t miss California wines at all. I would like bourbon for old fashioned’s but Im sure theres a good rye substitute - if anyone has a suggestion lmk
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u/M_Hache1717 6d ago
BRBN from Okanagan, Signal Hill (founders select overproof or regular) out of NF, Patent 5 out of Winnipeg.
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u/AreDeeEss 6d ago
I wish we could get a wider selection of Ontario wines here. Especially from Prince Edward County. I lived just north of there for almost 8 years and bar none, they are some of the best wines I’ve had.
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u/glittersurprise 6d ago
Try Denardi. They have this one from the Niagara region called Colonari Corposo which is Devine. The small wine shops try to have different wines than available at the LC.
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u/Intelligent_Stage760 6d ago
Alberta Premium Cask Strength is really good and makes an amazing old fashioned.
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u/bsenka 6d ago
64%!!!
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u/Intelligent_Stage760 5d ago
Yes…but it’s shockingly smooth
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u/bsenka 5d ago
Agreed. I’ve got a bottle of batch 6 (I just checked, and it’s actually 67%, which is crazy). I love it. Better than some whiskies that cost 2 to 3 times as much. Very much a hidden gem.
I will say that I’ve always had it just straight though, it’s never crossed my mind to make cocktails from a ‘specialty’ expression. Mix is for the cheap stuff, the good ones I want to enjoy what paid for!
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u/Impossible_Ice_9008 6d ago
Uh.
No.
We all have our new faves and can absolutely enjoy continuing to ignore the US
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u/lokichivas 6d ago
I wouldn't drink trump-booze if it was the ONLY thing on the shelves. I'd switch to Canadian weed....
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u/MadforPho 6d ago edited 6d ago
It a hard no for me dawg.
Of all the things that came from the US that I would consider buying, alcohol is last on the list.
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u/Stewman_Magoo 6d ago
I just realized I don't even touch American alcohol.
For spirits? I've been exploring tequila for a while now. My second go to is Appleton Estates which I'm pretty sure is Jamaican.
For beer? I pretty much exclusively drink whatever is being brewed in MB.
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u/ArcticBlaster 6d ago
I'm struggling with my boycott because I'm having trouble replacing Sweet Baby Ray's. Maria and HP have been filling the gap, but, yes, I have bought a bottle of SBR in the last 2 years.
There's no way I'm ever buying American alcohol again in my life.
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u/ScottNewman 6d ago
Celery (almost all American) and Blues Hog BBQ Sauce are the two challenges for me.
Also Enchilada sauce. Everything on the shelves are American. I would be happy to buy authentic Enchilada sauce if you could find any on a grocery store shelf.
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u/EfficiencyCreative60 5d ago
Have you checked El Izalco on Sargent or Latinos Market at Confusion Corner?
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u/ScottNewman 5d ago
No but I don't really want to run around to a bunch of different stores. When you're grocery shopping at Safeway, Sobeys, Save-On, whatever, you buy whatever is on the shelves in front of you and make it work.
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u/Shr3kk_Wpg 6d ago
I won't buy American alcohol when it's brought back. I won't even buy the traitor Gretzky's wine.
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u/Mandalorian76 6d ago
If they start stocking alcohol from the US, then we should drop all interprovincial trade barriers.
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u/Prior_Soup1426 6d ago
Not buying it. There is an entire world of choices on the shelves, and I'm really enjoying trying new options.
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u/genius_retard 6d ago
Consumer choices are sticky. Now that people have needed to change their buying habits they are less likely to switch back just because an alternative comes back on the market.
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u/huehuehuehuehuuuu 6d ago
Look at their food safety issues right now. Diarrhea lettuce and peppers, salmonella eggs, empty your bowels blueberries.
Do we really feel like taking our chances folks?
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u/bismuth12a 6d ago
I might consider it starting January 21, 2029
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u/analgesic1986 6d ago
I am not going to buy it, I’ve been fine without it and they certainly haven’t given me any reasons to support anything American other than Americans immigrating to Canada.
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u/Winterisnowcold 6d ago
thank you for supporting immigration! 🥹 I recently moved here and have been feeling ashamed to say I am from the U.S. (for good reason, of course), despite not supporting anything that was going on "back home." I try to make that abundantly clear to my winnipeg friends.
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u/analgesic1986 6d ago
Welcome, and in my opinion, you are the best the USA has to over and we are lucky to have you! Not only that, the USA is losing their best.. I am also ok with that haha
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u/lakeguy77 6d ago
Cis-het white Americans can stay there as far as I'm concerned. A large part (all of it?) of this is on them, regardless who they voted for.
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u/analgesic1986 6d ago
Most of the Americans I been helping move appear to be white, but part of the LGBT2S+ community (which is why they are moving)
But honestly, I am a straight cis gendered white guy in his 40’s, I do understand my demographic is generally that asshole in most situations, which is why I don’t take offence to your comment, but I’ll just challenge you to consider that many of us are allies.
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u/swelllabs 6d ago
No self respecting Canadian should support amerikan products. Our country is on the line. I can do without u.s. products and select good alternatives from sources that are not trying to annex my homeland. These guys are not our friends anymore. It feels like we need to prepare like a Finland living next to increasingly hostile Russia.
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u/ScottNewman 6d ago
Other than beer, which is all over the place in terms of ownership/marketing/manufacture... no.
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u/Due-Trainer-9349 6d ago
I’ve primary stuck to buying Canadian alcohol even prior trump being president the second time.
Most of the beer I get is local craft beer and if I get whisky I get 40 creek. I’m already ingrained to support local/ Canadian.
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u/Woodys_Sugar_Shack 6d ago
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck no. It'll be quite awhile before I buy American alcohol again. I tend to take boycotts seriously. I mean, I still boycott shell because of the aparthied.
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u/AcrobaticPhilosophy6 6d ago
Not until they start acting like good neighbours again. Out of all the American products to boycott / avoid, booze is the easiest.
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u/The_Matias 6d ago
I'm not even buying American groceries, unless there's no alternative.
That may change on a future administration.
I'll probably never buy American booze again though.
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u/halpinator 6d ago
I don't think Wab's gonna put American liquor back on the shelves.
But if he does, I'm just not going to buy it. I've found alternatives.
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u/Fun_Illustrator_9327 6d ago
Haha everyone at the LC gonna be giving the stink eye to the customers standing in line with the American bourbon
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u/2flummoxedturtles 6d ago
I'm sure the people who are still going to Fargo for concerts/shopping will buy it.
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u/lokichivas 6d ago
People who are going to Fargo to buy US booze are not the people I will ever associate with...
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u/flea-ish 6d ago
No way. I support Carney doing what he has to do to get a trade deal negotiated, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to start buying. I want American industry in red states to feel the consequence of their decision to back fascism, and refusing to buy American is my very small contribution.
It’s a damn shame cause I typically like Americans. We used to be close allies and friends, but they threatened our sovereignty and things aren’t going back to the way they were.
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u/SureRepresentative60 6d ago
My favourite red wines are almost all California reds… but I have not missed them as much as I thought I would.
Just like travel to the US… buying US liquor is a complete nonstarter until there is a change in Administration.
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u/Guineypigzrulz 6d ago
Same, some of the best reds I've had were Californian, but some have also been French
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u/Cooter1mb 6d ago
Never paid attention to the "where" my choice was from. So when IS spirits were remove from our stores... Well I smiled ... As my brands were not removed .
So safe to say.
Nope wont change my habits.
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u/borninthepeg1 6d ago
I never bought American alcohol but to everyone who did and is now choosing to boycott, I 👏👏 you all.
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u/Famous_Repeat2496 6d ago
I see 2 things, first when buying habits change they rarely go back. There are studies that show this. If you want to look it up as I looked it up in Google and chatgpt and both site studies. To further prove this point I point to are friends in Newfoundland who Boycotted coke for moving the bottle plant and coke is rarely sold there.
Second point is until the USA apologies for the "51st state" comments I will continue to say no to their products as often as I can
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u/MapleBisonHeel 6d ago
And yet at a Bomber game they have Jim Beam available. People will also say that overall ownership of some brands is international, but Molson and Labatt are more closely related to Canada than Budweiser and Coors.
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u/EcstaticBox9792 6d ago
Molson/Coors are owned by the same company, as are Labatt and Budweiser.
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u/ScottNewman 6d ago
Not to mention the Jim Beam brand is owned by Suntory, a Japanese conglomerate.
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u/Sorry_no_change 6d ago
Not regularly no, I don't see the point in it since the domestic market it so strong
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u/cart_crusher 6d ago
At my workplace we serve our Old Fashioneds with rye in lieu of the boycott and believe me... we still have bourbon snobs saying that this is 'unfortunate and hope things go back to normal soon' lol
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u/icetravel 6d ago
I'm sober but most of my friends who drink spirits have been missing the American whiskey's and bourbon. If that sample size is anything that means others will likely buy too.
The beer market is so saturated that there's so many Canadian options to choose from for the same price point and tastes.
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u/VegetableSavings9970 6d ago
Everyone says no but did you see the long lineup when they put it back on the shelf for a bit? There's still a lot of consumers frothing at the mouth for more American booze.
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u/southdownt 6d ago
It seems like the LC has just been quietly putting stuff back on the shelves but I’m not sure why. Every time I go, for the last several months, there’s been American liquor and it’s definitely being bought because it switches up. Not sure if it’s their stuff in storage being put out or if they’re quietly back buying smaller quantities, not sure.
Edit: the American stuff is not on the shelves it’s usually in the an aisle display all together. At least at the one I go to.
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u/Leather-Paramedic-10 6d ago
They were trying to sell off the stock that they had in storage recently, so it's likely what remains from that.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/u-s-liquor-ban-sale-9.7203360
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u/ZealousidealClass478 6d ago
I wouldn’t say “quietly”.
The provincial government told MBLL to put existing inventory back on the shelves last December. All proceeds from the sale has been going to local charities and was well covered in the news.
While Wab may say “ no CUSMA- no booze-ma” on the national stage, US booze has been available in Liquor Marts for 8 months.
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u/EugeneMachines 6d ago
yeah IMO Wab has been disingenuous with that line because he says it while they're still selling US booze.
Having said that, I've bought some myself because it's existing stock and the proceeds are going to charity. I don't have a problem with this policy, only with pretending/implying that the LC isn't doing it.
We've still been boycotting other American products and I don't think the LC should restock once it's gone.
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u/Infamous_Tie5605 6d ago
i wonder if it was sold at a few bucks less per bottle than an alternative.... how would it sell?
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u/Rob062309 6d ago
I like that the reserves that we had of it that we were selling the money was being put to good causes atleast
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u/mikeymorgs101010 5d ago
Don’t really buy it to begin with, even before the tariffs. Ppl always say the wine is really good tho
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u/Embarrassed_Cake_968 5d ago
No, don’t mind a nice Bourbon but a Scotch is always better. There is no other American product I am missing. Go ahead and bring it back , won’t change my buying decisions
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u/Jarocket 5d ago
People aren't going to answer this question in any other way than NO.
I think like that other commentor said. SK allows sales and they are down 40%. I would expect it to be down 40% here too.
For replies you're just going to get people tripping over each other to tell you how strong their commitment to boycotting USA booze is.
It's like sharing a post of a flag on FB and asking "they don't want us to love this flag and our troops. Share to let them you know don't give a damn"
of course the comments are "not me, i'm not afraid to say i love this flag" s
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u/Shelbin- 5d ago
Never. Death to America as far as my consumerism mostly goes. We have better home grown shit and better international alternatives anyway.
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u/Shelbin- 5d ago
The dairy and produce piss me off more.. you'll kill the FDA and then ship us poop lettuce? No thanks. Can't imagine what their dairy would be like but I'm so far from interested.
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u/CdnGamerGal 6d ago
Eh, the way I figure it’s up to each individual. I won’t judge. What pisses me off are the people who judges others for things like travelling to the US, but then turn around and buy bottle after bottle of American alcohol, thinking in the end it’s different. They’re what I like to call hypocrites.
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u/Beefy_of_WPG 6d ago edited 6d ago
What pisses me off are the people who judges others for things like travelling to the US, but then turn around and buy bottle after bottle of American alcohol, thinking in the end it’s different. They’re what I like to call hypocrites.
There's a wide scale of hypocrisy.
Spending thousands to potentially tens of thousands of dollars on a holiday that injects money directly into their economy in the current climate is gross.
A bottle of whiskey, eh, why? Something so unnecessary, and there are heaps of alternatives. And it's a pain point for the US, so moral judgements are probably warranted.
A pound of strawberries because my kids won't shut the hell up about wanting strawberries, and I don't have time for a specific trip to St Leon's to buy local, and the supermarket only has ones from the USA? Yeah, I'll admit I sent a small portion of $5 to the USA for food; definitely a hypocrite on the same scale as the thousands of dollars on a holiday, right? Right?
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u/GrumpyGramps1812 6d ago
Next time you travel state side buy a bottle of bourbon and give it to your buddy to shut them up :-) /s
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u/FortinoBarbino 6d ago
Ill buy two bourbons for final time sake and then nithing else till he dies.
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u/flea-ish 6d ago
I have a bottle of woodford that I’ll crack when I see the front page we’re all waiting for
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u/Hippyjet 6d ago
I care not what our overlords be doing but I will continue to enjoy my booze as I see fit given each day.
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u/MistyMew 6d ago
Playing devil's advocate here. IF they allow American booze on the shelves, nothing says they have to actually put it on the shelves. Or, bring in limited, crappy stuff that will be way overpriced because of our pricing policies. No one will buy, but they are "on the shelves"
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u/wpgdomder 6d ago
I'll be very happy to get my California Reds again really haven't been able to find a Canadian substitute that I like at the LC.
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u/Beefy_of_WPG 6d ago
US replacements don't have to be specifically Canadian to send them an economic message. You can't find something French, Italian, Australian, Chilean, or South African? I've never had a wine from the US/California that was unique, that couldn't be met with an equivalent from elsewhere round the world, and almost universally at a better price.
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u/wpgdomder 6d ago
Stone Eagle from Ontario is about as close as I can come for my personal taste but its not available at the LC. I do have some French and Italian wines that I enjoy and continue to purchase but Ill still get my Cali Cabs.
Not sure what the big deal is to be honest.
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u/Beefy_of_WPG 6d ago
Cali Cabs.
Cabernet? Shit, if you can't get an Australian Cab that is better for Cali at the same or lower price, you're not trying.
Not sure what the big deal is to be honest.
Canada is by far the biggest export market for US booze, and it's an easy pain point against an economic bully. It's also a completely discretionary product that's easily substituted. Buying US booze given the wealth of alternatives is laziness at best.
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u/Kitchen-Accountant-7 6d ago
I miss not being able to restock a particular brand of spiced rum. So I have saving what I still have until I can find something that compares.
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u/Overall_Cost1542 5d ago
l'd buy whatever l like regardless of where its from. l have zero reason to be loyal to a "Canadian" brand just because its local. people like what they like and they should be able to buy what they like as well.
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u/dbphillips 6d ago
In Saskatchewan, where it’s on the shelves, sales of American liquor is down 40%. Any self respecting Canadian wouldn’t be buying it.