One Ottawa brewery is hopping to it when it comes to the ongoing trade war between Canada and the U.S.
Stray Dog Brewing Co. debuted its “Tariffied” hazy pale ale beer on Friday in an effort to “bring some levity to a serious situation,” according to co-owner Marc Plante.
“We started hearing rumblings of tariffs coming in January and we had always been talking about making an all-Ontario ingredient beer. This kind of accelerated it a bit. Plus, when we make beer, we’re inspired by our social surroundings, at things happening in the social consciousness,” Plante told OBJ.
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The beer is crafted with Canadian ingredients, from the barley and citrus to orange and hydra, a Quebec-grown hop.
“We did source quite a bit from Ontario, but I can certainly say it’s 100-per-cent Canadian. The really big leap for us was sourcing the hops from this company we’ve never used before based out of Quebec. It’s a Quebec hop varietal called hydra. Normally we use punchy, floral-type hops that are more synonymous with the American southwest state, but we wanted to be as local as possible,” he said.
Plante said the ingredients are a nod to the bubbling “buy Canadian” sentiment, among other things.
“The beer is hazy, which is typical of our pale ales, but it’s also a kind of reflection of what’s happening between Canada and the U.S. Things are getting a little hazy in terms of that relationship. The (notes of) orange – you can take what you want from that. We can always look to our neighbours to the south for ‘orangeness.’ Maybe it’s a direct link to the president, maybe not. We leave it up to the consumer,” Plante said.
Stray Dog isn’t new to making beers that are reflective of the social moment. Some consumers may recognize the brewery’s “Moistly Mosaic” beer inspired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments during the pandemic about “speaking moistly,” or “Double ImPeachment,” a peach-forward IPA inspired by the two times U.S. President Donald Trump was impeached during his first term.
The Orléans-based brewery has also made beers to celebrate International Women’s Day, such as its “Jeanne D’Ark” oatmeal stout and the “She’s Someone Again” beer in collaboration with the Pink Boots Society, which Plante said “highlights how important our fellow women in the craft beer industry are.”
Plante said the first months of the year are always a tricky time for those in the service and hospitality industry, even without tariffs.
“People are still coming out of Christmas and getting those bills. They’re watching how they’re spending their money. When the weather starts to turn and things get warmer, people start coming out and buy more beer,” he said.
Though the company hasn’t been affected yet, Plante said suppliers are taking precautionary measures.
“We’re starting to get some notices from our suppliers. ‘In the event of this, this is going to happen.’ We’ve lived through this before. In 2018, the Trump administration put tariffs on steel and aluminum and that directly affects cans,” he said.
While price increases brought on by aluminum tariffs on cans would amount to a few cents per unit, Plante said it affects the bottom line since the company orders thousands of cans at a time.
“I think there was a lot more trepidation (last time). Today, I think we have more of a wait-and-see approach,” he said.
Plante said he hopes tariffs will push Canadians to support local businesses and governments to break down interprovincial trade barriers.
For now, Stray Dog’s “Tariffied” beer is rallying that sense of patriotism, Plante said. He expects supplies to last a week or two, due to high demand.
“It’s bringing people together. We’ve rallied around the flag and become extremely patriotic again, not that it ever went away. It’s bubbling to the surface because if you push Canadians enough, we’ll push back,” he said.
