Cheers to change: Alcohol producers 'quite excited' as N.S. announces relaxed sales rules

Alcohol producers in Nova Scotia will soon have more options to get their bottles and cans into the hands of consumers after the provincial government said Wednesday it would be loosening restrictions on the industry.

Alcohol producers in Nova Scotia will soon have more options to get their bottles and cans into the hands of consumers after the provincial government said Wednesday it would be loosening restrictions on the industry. While industry associations expressed excitement at the changes, which include allowing cross-selling and making it easier to open storefronts, they are hoping for even more movement from the province that could benefit the industry. "It's certainly been a long time coming," said Andrew Tanner, president of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia.

"We're quite excited by all of this." Under the changes, wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries will be allowed to cross-sell as of early August, meaning they can stock their stores with products from another producer. The second change, expected this fall, will allow producers to open retail stores without having a production facility on site.

Poet Comeau, owner of Dartmouth's Lake City Cider and president of the Nova Scotia Cider Association, said the changes will make it easier for businesses like hers to grow and create partnerships with other local producers. "As a producer, I make cider and beer. So right now it means that I can look at what wines I want to complement what I have on shelf," said Comeau.

Waiting for more Tanner said his association will launch a strategic plan in September aimed at convincing the province to make more changes. They include eliminating the tax breweries pay to the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation for products not sold in NSLC stores, and the markup they pay to the Crown corporation based on production volume. Eliminating that tax and markup would require legislative changes, while the changes announced this week did not.

"We realize nothing moves quickly in government and that's just the way it is," said Tanner. "But we're still pushing and pressing on those items that will affect literally all craft breweries in Nova Scotia." Comeau said she'd like to see the province make it easier for Nova Scotia companies to sell products in other provinces and vice versa.

There was some movement on that front earlier this year when Nova Scotia and Ontario finalized a deal allowing alcohol producers to sell directly to consumers in the other province. "We have a lot of really great wines, beer, spirits that are produced across the whole country and sometimes they're harder to get just in Canada," said Comeau. PC MLA Julie Vanexan, who announced the changes at Benjamin Bridge Vineyards in Wolfville, said the government is "taking the industry's advice."

"We all want to see this industry grow and thrive," said Vanexan. Premier Tim Houston had also been scheduled to appear at the event but did not make it after protesters swarmed and smashed the windshield of the vehicle he was in after delivering a speech at Acadia University. In a news release, Houston said the changes to alcohol sales will lead to more choices for Nova Scotians.

"Local producers have been asking for these changes. We've listened," he said. MORE TOP STORIES