Saskatchewan is definitely a beer-drinking population. And we’re definitely not a wine drinking bunch.
StatsCanada has just compiled data on sales of booze and cannabis in this country for the government fiscal year that ended almost a year ago. And what it shows is the population is generally drinking less.
Total government revenues for sales of all types of liquor fell marginally but that happened even after prices went up. So, we were definitely buying less.
The only category that saw an increased in volumes was ciders and coolers. Recreational cannabis was also up, suggesting more people may be switching.
And here’s one factor that is important in light of American-made booze being taken off liquor store shelves in the tariff war… domestic product dominates our purchase choices. We choose Canadian roughly 60-percent of the time. And that was even before the tariff battles erupted. 88-percent of the beer we consume is Canadian-made.
In Saskatchewan, beer is our beverage of choice. We are second in the nation in this one. And we’re also the least likely to choose wine.
