Hot summer day… cold beer or cooler

The heat of summer is here. While Canadians are still most likely to turn to beer to slake their thirst on a hot summer day, ale continues to lose market share to ciders and coolers.

Beer sales ailing

Beer remained Canadians’ alcoholic beverage of choice, accounting for just over one-third (34.9%) of total alcohol sales during the 2020/2021 fiscal year, just ahead of wine (31.3%).

In 2021/2022, Canadians bought 2 billion litres of beer, equivalent to 3.7 standard bottles of beer per week per person of legal drinking age. This was the lowest level of beer drinking since we started counting alcohol sales in 1949, and just over half of that during the peak beer-drinking years of the 1970s (7.2 standard brown stubbies per week). For the uninitiated, a brown stubby was the traditional Canadian beer bottle that was phased out in the early 1980s.

Canadians spent $9.1 billion on beer in 2021/2022.

Sales of ciders and coolers continue to grow

Canadians spent $2.1 billion on ciders and coolers in 2021/2022, up 13.5% from the previous fiscal year and 59.1% higher compared with 2019/2020. Sales grew in every province and territory.

Ciders and coolers accounted for 8.0% of total alcohol sales in 2021/2022, up from 3.0% one decade earlier.

Yukoners are Canada’s biggest fans of ciders and coolers

Perhaps it’s the endless summer days, the legacy of the saloons of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896, or a way of adding some sunshine to the darkness of winter, but for whatever reason, Yukoners enjoy ciders and coolers.

In the 2021/2022 fiscal year, ciders and coolers accounted for 13.9% of total alcohol sales in the territory, the highest level in the country.

Thirsting for more alcohol-related data?

We track alcohol sales every year, and we also highlight some of the potential risks associated with alcohol consumption.