Canada and Their Love for Alcohol

Writer Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce Lahontan once said, “To survive the Canadian winter, one needs a body of brass, eyes of glass, and blood made of brandy.” This might be a bit of an exaggeration, but Canada is certainly no stranger to booze. What is the drinking culture in Canada like, how did it evolve, and what are the current alcohol consumption trends? Let’s find out!

Drinking Culture in Canada: Historical Roots

Canada’s history with booze goes way back. Let’s go on a brief trip through history from the pre-colonial times to the Prohibition era to the ups and downs of the last few decades.

• Pre-colonial era. Indigenous peoples mostly used alcohol for ceremonial purposes. The primary form was fermented herbal drinks used in religious rituals — not as beverages for everyday consumption.

• Colonial traders. British and French colonizers caught on to the addictive properties of booze and began using it in trading deals with indigenous groups (often in not-so-honest ways). Brandy and rum were used as currency and exchanged for furs and skins. Unfortunately, this strategy led to dire consequences with alcohol addiction becoming widespread in communities already at a power disadvantage.
• Industrial Age. Throughout the 19th century, many Canadians moved into the cities where drinking became a regular activity. As Emily Russell writes in Canada’s Boozy History, “Before sewer systems were installed, cities were a biohazard littered with human and animal waste piling up on the streets, dumps, and abandoned mines. Rain would wash waste into clean water above and below ground, leaving city residents with two options, boil the water to make tea and coffee or drink alcohol.”

• Temperance Movement. As overconsumption became more of a problem, efforts grew to curb drinking and the Temperance Movement took hold. Temperance societies began cropping up in 1827 around Pictou County, Nova Scotia, and in Montreal (though many didn’t really “count” beer and wine, focusing on hard liquor as the problem).
• One interesting twist? Women were at the forefront of the movement — and not just as wives who wanted their husbands to put down the bottle. As historian Cheryl Krasnick Warsh writes in her essay “Oh, Lord, pour a cordial in her wounded heart” in The Drinking Woman in Victorian and Edwardian Canada, many women fell into the clutches of alcohol misuse themselves and as many as 803 were sentenced in a single year for drunk and disorderly behavior in Ontario. At the same time, women who joined the Temperance Movement saw motherhood as a feminist prerogative (for which sobriety is essential).
• Prohibition Era. As the Temperance Movement gained momentum, posters appeared throughout Canadian cities pitting the virtues of water against the dangers of alcohol. The two might be “alike in appearance” but “different in effect,” with water having the ability to “ … benefit the body, soften food, quench thirst, make seeds grow, cool the skin, [and] put a fire out.” Alcohol, on the other hand, was known to “ … injure the body, harden food, creates thirst, kill the seed, inflame the skin, [and] make a fire burn more freely.”
• In 1878, the Canada Temperance Act (also known as the Scott Act) gave local governments the power to ban booze outright. Eventually, the Temperance Movement culminated in alcohol prohibition laws around the country. By 1917, all provinces except for Quebec were officially “dry” and alcohol sales in Quebec were limited to wine and light beer. 
• Back in business. By the end of Prohibition, the Canadian government started taking a more active role in the alcohol industry, primarily through the establishment of liquor control boards. These government-run entities were responsible for regulating the sale of alcohol — a system that remains in place in many provinces today. During this period, societal attitudes towards drinking gradually shifted, with alcohol becoming more integrated into social and recreational activities.

Drinking Culture in Canada: Modern Trends

As for the last decade, surveys and statistics show a rising number of Canadians can be considered “heavy drinkers.” Heavy drinking is currently defined as 5 or more drinks at one occasion at least once per month for men and 4 or more for women. In a Statista review published in November 2023, researcher John Elflein reports that in 2022 a whopping 20% of Canadians fell into that category. 

Alcohol-related risks, including chronic liver disease, have also been on the rise. The alcohol-related death rate has jumped in recent years, with cirrhosis claiming as many as 12 lives out of 100,000 in 2021. Elflein talks about the alcohol market trends in Canada during the last few years:

• Overall sales rose to almost 30 billion Canadian dollars in 2020.
• Beer sales in Canada actually dropped from 2020 to 2022.
• Spirits sales increased throughout the last decade and were at an all-time high of 6.7 billion Canadian dollars in 2022.
• Sales of wine in Canada climbed to over 8 billion Canadian dollars in 2021 — a 35% increase since 2012.

Reasons Behind the Alcohol Consumption Trends

Why so much drinking, especially in recent years? There are a few possible reasons.

• The pandemic effect. The COVID-19 pandemic did a number on our mental health, resulting in increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression across the globe. In addition to stress drinking, lockdowns led to blurred lines between work and home life and caused changes in drinking patterns, with some folks consuming alcohol more frequently as a way to mark the end of the workday or to alleviate boredom.
• Increased accessibility and marketing. Alcohol accessibility has increased over the years, with expanded retail options and online sales making it easier than ever to buy booze anywhere at any time. Marketing efforts by the companies selling these products often downplay the potential harms associated with excessive alcohol consumption, contributing to its normalization and increased appeal.

Drinking Laws and Regulations in Canada

The laws and regulations around alcohol in Canada are relatively relaxed. The minimum legal drinking age varies by province and territory. In Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec, the legal age is 18. In all other provinces and territories, it’s 19.

In recent years, however, there have been a number of government initiatives for alcohol reduction. Alcohol Consumption in Canada: A Public Health Perspective outlines some of the troubling trends in increasing alcohol use and associated problems. Here’s an overview:

• Direct effects of alcohol misuse on the brain include memory loss and blackouts in the short term and more severe forms of alcohol-related brain damage further down the road.
• Alcohol causes a range of conditions, such as liver disease, cancer, pancreatitis, stomach ulcers, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Sexually transmitted diseases are also more likely in populations with higher alcohol intake, as people tend to engage in riskier behaviors when under the influence. Unfortunately, sexual violence and assault are also risks when alcohol is involved.
• Booze affects every part of the body, including the immune, digestive, cognitive, respiratory, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and dermatological systems.
• Alcohol is also notorious for causing behavioral effects, such as impulsivity, violence, and poor decision making.

The report is in line with the Canadian government’s recent initiative to curb alcohol consumption. In January 2023, Canada’s Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction released a report detailing new drinking guidelines for Canadians. The message is that “Drinking less is better,” since “we now know that even a small amount of alcohol can be damaging to health.”

The report goes on to define risk categories based on the number of drinks consumed per week, with a maximum of 2 considered low risk, 3-6 as moderate risk, and anything above that as high risk.

Changing Trends in Alcohol Consumption

At the same time, there have been shifts in drinking patterns over recent years, with non-alcoholic beverages, sober bars, and social movements gaining traction. The changing attitudes and behaviors are part of the sober-curious movement, which aims to explore sobriety as an expansion of options rather than as a restriction or limitation.

A recent CTV News article talks about the growing trend. Surveys show that many younger Canadians are opting out of boozy nightlife, with as many as 15% of those over 20 choosing not to drink at all. Joel Gregoire, associate director for food and drink at the market research company Mintel, told The Canadian Press, "If I was running an alcoholic beverage company ... this is not a space that I would ignore. When you're trying to grow your brand with younger consumers, who are the ones who are generally most open to innovation ... that's where there's a lot of opportunity.”

And many companies are, indeed, jumping on this opportunity:

• Good Clean Fun. Brainchild of entrepreneur Sarah Kate, Good Clean Fun is a website launched in 2021. It highlights non-alcoholic wines, beers, and spirits with the sober and sober-curious in mind. It lists places to buy alcohol-free beverages and provides information about local booze-free events.
• Serenity Zero. Branding itself as Toronto’s one-stop, non-alcoholic beverage market, this online store aims “to empower people to make healthier choices while still enjoying the social aspect of drinking” by “curating a diverse range of high-quality, non-alcoholic beverages from local and international suppliers.”
• Partake Brewing. Based in Calgary, Partake Brewing specializes in craft non-alcoholic beers. The brand has received accolades for its variety of styles — IPA, Pale Ale, Blonde Ale, and Stout — catering to beer enthusiasts looking for low-calorie, alcohol-free options.
• Sobrii 0-Gin. Sobrii 0-Gin is a Canadian brand that offers a non-alcoholic gin made with traditional botanicals, such as juniper berries. 
• Bellwoods Brewery. This Canadian brewery prominently features non-alcoholic options with fun names, such as the non-alcoholic Jelly King — “Ready to hydrate, impress and convincingly wear the Jelly King crown.”  

Ready To Get Sober-Curious?

If you’re thinking about joining in on some sober “good clean fun” yourself — congrats! Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Approach the new lifestyle with curiosity. It’s all about discovery, not deprivation! Pay attention to how you actually feel when you drink versus times when you don’t. You might be surprised at the difference!
2. Find like-minded people. They’re out there! While it might seem as if everyone around you is drinking, that just means you need to venture out and explore. Find local booze-free events online or ask around — the sober-curious movement is here to stay, and it’s growing in many corners of the world.
3. Make the adventure your own. Don’t try to force yourself into activities or roles that don’t feel right for you. There are so many ways to be sober-curious and so many alternatives to alcohol to discover! 

Join Reframe! Reframe is a great place to meet other sober-curious people on the same journey and get support and science-backed advice about quitting or cutting back on alcohol.

Summing Up

Alcohol culture in Canada (and everywhere else, for that matter) is constantly shifting. While there have been times when consumption has been on the rise, there are others when people stand back and reevaluate their relationship with alcohol. Drinking is always a personal choice, and so is sobriety. As young Canadians in particular are showing us, it doesn’t mean missing out on the fun — quite the opposite!