A trade war, two beer importers, two very different outcomes

Ohio beer importer David Esber has tried for 16 years to convince Americans to give Canadian craft beer a chance.

It’s not an easy sell since shipping costs, duties and taxes made it pricey in the United States. He said a four-pack could cost American consumers as much as a dozen domestic mass-market beers.

Esber has met with roughly 50 Canadian breweries over the years, but only a handful managed to establish themselves in the U.S. market.

Even so, he persevered, helping Ontario breweries such as Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, Nickel Brook Brewing Co. and Cameron’s Brewing Co. find customers in U.S. bars and stores through his family distribution business, Esber Beverage Co. At its peak, his Canadian craft beer business generated roughly US$1 million in annual sales.

“We won’t sell crap,” he said.

Now, after years of work, that business has effectively been shut down by a U.S. ban on Canadian alcohol imports that took effect Sept. 29, following an earlier 50 per cent tariff on Canadian beer.

“You lose the shelf space, you lose the taps and I have to let my people go,” Esber said.

The tariffs hit on a personal level, too. He brought some of his American employees to Canadian breweries so they could see how the beer was made and better understand the products they were trying to sell.

In the process, he developed an affection for Canada and the people he met that went well beyond business. He travelled north regularly, cultivated friendships with brewers and sometimes brought his children along.

“People are so damn friendly,” he said. “My kids would tease me that I was Canadian.”

While Esber’s Canadian beer business has ground to a halt, another beer importer has found an unlikely opportunity in the same trade dispute: bringing a U.S. brand to Canada by brewing it here.

Chris Goddard, co-owner of Toronto-based Craft Brand Co., faced a crisis when Canadian provinces began removing U.S. alcohol from liquor store shelves in 2025. The move cost him Kona, a Hawaiian beer brand that accounted for almost 40 per cent of his company’s portfolio.

Rather than abandon that part of his business, he and his business partner, Mike Laba, came up with an unusual solution: bring another Hawaiian beer brand to Canada, but brew it here instead of importing it.

They had something many beer importers lacked: access to a brewery of their own. The pair also co-own Blackburn Beer Co. in Niagara Falls, which brews its own beer as well as products for other brands.

They approached Maui Brewing Co. with a straightforward pitch to make its beer in Canada rather than import it from the U.S. since Kona’s disappearance had created an opening on Ontario shelves for another Hawaiian beer.

Maui Brewing is Hawaii’s largest independent craft brewery and one of the 50 biggest craft brewers in the U.S.

“He was game. He didn’t hesitate,” Goddard said of Maui co-founder Garrett Marrero’s initial response.

The companies began discussions in the summer of 2025 and signed a licensing agreement that November. Test brewing followed this past spring, with commercial production beginning in May.

Marrero said his company had considered expanding into Canada for years, but the cost of shipping beer from Hawaii made it difficult to compete.

“It presented a unique opportunity because there’s really no American beer going to Canada at that moment,” he said.

Brewing locally reduces shipping and storage costs and can save 30 to 60 days in transit, he said, helping ensure the beer reaches consumers fresh. Maui is considering similar production arrangements in other international markets, including Japan and Brazil.

Maui Sunshine Golden Ale reached Liquor Control Board of Ontario shelves in early September and was available in about 100 stores by early October. Marrero said the provincial Crown corporation has already expressed interest in carrying more Maui products.

Under the licensing arrangement, Craft Brand and its brewing partners handle production, packaging and associated expenses in Canada, while Maui receives royalties. Goddard estimated the startup costs were roughly $50,000.

Brewing Maui beer in Niagara Falls supports Canadian production and jobs, but it’s still a U.S. brand at a time when many Canadian consumers are turning away from such products.

“The big question for us is will Canadians drink American craft beer made in Canada?” Goddard said. “Who knows? We’re about to find out.”

Marrero said he understands consumers may choose to boycott U.S. brands, but believes commercial and personal relationships should not become casualties of political disagreements.

“I’d rather not be drawn into the politics behind what’s happening between our two countries,” he said. “However, I think there’s more people that would rather connect than separate.”

Esber said there is no comparable workaround for his business since it depends on bringing Canadian beer into the U.S., something the import ban has made impossible.

He is sharply critical of the dispute, blaming both governments for allowing it to escalate rather than negotiating a settlement.

“We obviously don’t think what’s going on on the U.S. side is proper,” he said, adding that Canada’s retaliatory measures have also gone too far.

The dispute has also put a strain on long-time relationships with some of his Canadian brewery partners. One of them even refuses to visit.

“Some of them are very angry at the U.S. and I don’t blame them,” Esber said. “The others realize that we’re all in the same boat.”

But relatively few Canadian craft breweries were exporting to the U.S. in the first place, according to Christine Comeau, executive director of the Canadian Craft Brewers Association.

Canada exported roughly US$78-million worth of beer to the U.S. in 2024, according to international trade data, which Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada said accounted for just one per cent of U.S. beer imports by value that year.

Craft beer is predominantly a local business, she said, since shipping costs can quickly become prohibitive, particularly for a relatively inexpensive product that must also be kept cold to preserve its quality.

Comeau could not provide an exact number of Canadian breweries exporting to the U.S., but estimated it was probably only a handful.

Canadian brewers were already facing challenges since the craft beer market has matured after years of rapid expansion. They’re also dealing with rising operating costs and the tariffs on everything from brewing ingredients to aluminum cans only add to that.

Comeau said the trade restrictions are “just another nail in the coffin” for an industry grappling with multiple challenges.

But Esber isn’t ready to walk away.

“I’ve got 16 years of my life invested,” he said. “I’m very stubborn.”