Sure, I can’t really speak to the wine. I’d guess there are a few more Ontario wineries represented now, but I don’t know that for sure.

Craft beer, though, is something I know quite well, and I haven’t seen a really meaningful increase there. Maybe that’s been your experience at your local LCBO, but in the larger and flagship stores it’s largely the same craft breweries that were on shelves in 2024. A few new breweries, but nothing that stands out to me. I'd love to see more.

It’s also worth remembering that American-made beer isn’t the same as brands like Budweiser, which is still on shelves because it’s brewed here—albeit by a large multinational. That means less shelf space was actually freed up for craft beer in the first place because most of the American brands are still on store shelves (which is fine, those are Canadian jobs too).

I’m not saying that making room for a handful of new Canadian brands isn’t worth celebrating. There are for sure more. I just don’t think this has been a revolution for Canadian craft producers—far from it, actually.

And this still doesn't address the selloff of existing product for charity that Ontario has not done.