‘Far-reaching consequences’ for Kentucky bourbon after LCBO strips U.S. spirits off shelves
‘Far-reaching consequences’ for Kentucky bourbon after LCBO strips U.S. spirits off shelves
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has promised to keep U.S. alcohol off LCBO shelves until the tariffs placed on Canadian goods by President Donald Trump are dropped 'entirely.'
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As an American whiskey drinker, good.
I've also committed to buying only Blue State whiskey. My last two bottles were CA and WA.
I'd love recommendations for what to seek out next.
Stranahans in CO Woodinville in WA
Are both 2 solid choices from blue states.
Some folks also like 291 distillery in CO, they’re ok. Not as good in my mind as the other 2
CO seems a bit complicated for me, being fairly purple.
Looks like 291 is in Colorado Springs, a place further ruined for me by memories of Focus on the Family and Dr. Dobson from my childhood. But at least it isn't Boebert's district I guess.
Stranahan's is Denver though, so that's definitely fair game.
Now you got me thinking about trawling open secrets for donor information by owners...
Curious what you find on open secrets. Stranahan’s is one of my go to whiskeys
Current owners (proximo spirits of NJ, subsidiary of Becle SAB de CV, e.g. Cuervo)
Pretty much nada in lobbying: https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2023&id=D000091354
But owned by a Mexican company? Fuck it, 🍻.
For the founders:
All D's: https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=George+Stranahan
All R's (and an L): https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=jess+graber
So, mixed.
Why can nothing be easy anymore
Canadian Club
I think this recommendation is a good segue into how important it is to think about where your money is going.
First of all, it seems obvious to buy Canadian whisky to support Canada. However we're slapping big tariffs on them. That means that when you buy them that's giving that tariff money to the US government, which I think we want to avoid.
Further, we're in a very global economy. Damn-near every brand you've ever heard of is owned by the subsidiary of a subsidiary or some other company.
Canadian club is now owned by Suntory Global Spirits (Formerly Beam-Suntory, as in Jim Beam, they actually consider it to be a part of the Jim Beam brand portfolio) an American company, that is itself a subsidiary of Suntory, a Japanese company.
So an American company is getting a good slice of the profits from Canadian club.
And of course Suntory owns a lot of American brands (like Jim Beam since I already mentioned them) and they might well decide to take some of that Canadian Club money they take in and use it to prop up one of their Kentucky Bourbon brands which ends up funneling money towards whatever crazy right wing nut jobs there stand to profit from that.
So yes, Canadian Club is in fact made in Canada, presumably by Canadian employees, and contributing to the Canadian economy, paying Canadian taxes, etc. but a lot of it is also going to other places, and not necessarily places you want it to go, so it would be wise to weigh that into your decision-making here.
And I'm not trying to badmouth Suntory in particular, in the scheme of terrible megacorps I don't think they're the worst by a longshot (not that they're necessarily at all good either) that's just where I found a jumping off point. I enjoy a lot of their brands, and at least the handful of them that I make some effort to follow still seem to at least be paying lip service to some half decent ideas about things like DEI and sustainability, where some other companies have totally bent the knee to Krasnov.
EDIT: Out of curiosity I just spent a little time researching a few different Canadian whisky brands to see if any of the names I recognize are actually wholly Canadian-owned. It doesn't look like it, it's all huge multinational corporations based in other countries when you dig into them. The only thing I could personally come up with is Glen Breton, which is a Canadian single malt, not a Rye, so it fits the bill as a whisky made in Canada, but it's a totally different style than what most people think of as a "Canadian Whisky." I'm certain there are some smaller craft distillers that are fully owned by Canadians, but I couldn't come up with any big brands that fit the bill. Do what you will with that information. I'm not trying to suggest that anyone should or should not buy Canadian whisky, just that if they want to be mindful about which companies and countries are getting their money, it's a complicated web.
Sorry but you seem knowledgeable. Is crown royal safe? If you don’t know don’t worry I’ll do research later. Thanks in advance
And I'm not trying to badmouth Suntory in particular, in the scheme of terrible megacorps I don't think they're the worst by a longshot
Buy on the black market.
Black market just makes it even harder to figure out where your money's going.
Are the people smuggling liquor across the border only smuggling liquor, or are they involved in other crimes that you're supporting from buying from them?
When is the liquor being diverted from legitimate channels into the black market? Has it already crossed the border and the tariffs been paid? Kind of defeats the purpose then, doesn't it? Is it happening before it crosses the border and possibly fucking over the Canadians you're trying to support?
Unless you're traveling to Canada and buying it legitimately to smuggle back you're probably not accomplishing what you hope to.
Or I suppose you could start moonshining.
Local stuff. I'm a gin drinker. There's a distillery that's getting into bourbon around the corner. They are making gin now as well. So I buy that. I love Hendricks gin... But nows not the time.
Colkegan from Santa Fe Spirits in pretty interesting. NM is blue for now.
I'll keep an eye out!
Texas has some great whiskey, but we're petulant dumb-fucks, so you'll have to wait until we fix our shit to try it.
I don't drink at all anymore due to nightmarish acid reflux, but we'll say it's in protest.
Great Jones: distilled in Manhattan and grains sourced from NY.
What whiskey did you have from CA and WA?
Just what I could grab on the shelf conveniently so far.
- Redwood Empire - Pipe Dream
- Woodinville - Straight Bourbon
Woodinville is pretty good.
Can confirm.
A bit sharper than the stuff I'm used to drinking from ... Dixie.
Worth the trade-off in my book. Even if my favorite juice is owned by an Italian company. Sorry Jimmy.
I'm not a whisky drinker but I bought two barrels from Woodinville that I used for cask ales. The Scottish ale I put in the bourbon barrel was amazing.
That sounds fantastic!