Following recent news that sales of US made spirits had taken a hit over 2025 - with the ongoing trade dispute between the US and Canada being one of the key reasons for this downturn -, more evidence if emerging showing how plummeting sales to Canada is affecting US_based spirits producers.
Kentucky-based Brown-Forman has reported a 2% fall to US$3 billion in net sales for the nine month period to 31st January 2026. The ban on American spirits in many Canadian provinces has been cited as one of the main contributing factors that has led to this drop.
Brown-Forman is one of the largest spirits producers in the United States, with high profile American whiskey names Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve, and Old Forester among their key brands. Their portfolio also includes Glendronach, Glenglassaugh, and Benriach Scotch whisky, Slane Irish whiskey, El Jimador tequila, and Diplomatico rum, as well as a number of gin and liqueur brands.
Back in March 2025, a number of Canadian provinces removed American made spirits from their store shelves in protest against President Trump proposed tariffs.
With a portfolio boasting a number of major American brands, this boycott has hit Brown-Forman hard. The group reported a drop of 59% in sales to the region for the first three quarters of their fiscal year. This decline was sharpest in the three month period to 31st October 2025, when sales fell by 61%.
Sales have also fallen in other international markets, but the decline has not been as drastic. Sales to key markets such Germany (7%), the UK (10%), and Australia (1%) all dropped.
The situation doesn’t look much brighter at home either. The US market is Brown-Forman’s biggest region and sales dipped by 1% domestically, notably falling by 8% in the final three month period. This has been driven by lower volume of sales for key brands such as Jack Daniels.
There was some positive news for the group. Smaller emerging markets all recorded growing sales. These included Mexico (15%), Brazil (22%), and Poland (4%). Travel retail sales also grew by 7%, driven largely by Jack Daniels sales.
In terms of specific brands and categories, premium American whiskey brands Old Forester and Woodford Reserve grew by 2% for the period. Sales for Gentleman Jack were also flat.
Which brings us to Jack Daniels, which had something of a mixed performance. The standard expression fell by 3% while most flavoured expressions such as Honey or Fire also experienced single-digit declines. Sales of their Apple expression rose by 15% however.
Interestingly, sales of Jack Daniels branded ready-to-drink (RTD) canned beverages also fell by 5%, while the wider RTD category grew. This has again been attributed to the products being taken off Canadian store shelves.
Elsewhere, non-US whiskey sales soared by 51% collectively, but tequila sales were down by 7%.
While some of this data might at first seem alarming, they actually fall in line with Brown-Forman’s fiscal forecast for the year.
Chief financial officer (CFO) Leanne Cunningham recently explained that the firm would “continue to assume American spirits products will remain off the shelf across most of Canada for our full fiscal year and that expectation is reflected in our fiscal 2026 guidance”.
President and CEO Lawson Whiting added: “I am pleased that our performance remains consistent with our fiscal year expectations, even as we navigate a challenging operating environment.
“Our team’s resilience, along with our strong balance sheet and healthy free cash flow, continue to be sources of strength, and allow us to reiterate our full-year guidance.”
Regarding the situation in Canada, Whiting noted that the ban on American spirits had continued to have “most significant impact” on the firm’s organic sales.
Whiting had previously described the decision to remove American products from Canadian stores as “worse than a tariff” and a “disproportionate response.” Whiting also added that he was confident that Brown-Forman could survive the hit of reduced sales in Canada, something reflected in his current positive-yet-cautious outlook.
That said, Brown-Forman’s sales are reflective of those experienced by the wider US spirits industry. Last month, the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (Discus) reported that the value of spirit sales in the US fell by 2.2% last year.
For more context on this, check out our recent article “US Spirit Sales Drop in 2025.”
