Ottawa's Stray Dog Brewing Company, based in Orléans, is feeling the pinch of the ongoing Canada-U.S. trade war one can at a time. Co-owners Marc Plante and Justin MacNeill say the price of an empty aluminum can has climbed from 19 cents to 23.6 cents since tariffs took hold, while the cost of can lids has risen from four cents to six cents.
Small numbers, big totals
On their own, those increases might not look like much. "It doesn't sound like much," Plante said. "But when you multiply that by the thousands, they add up." That math adds up quickly for a brewery that goes through 3,000 to 4,000 cans every two to three weeks, all supplied by Elk Packaging, a Canadian company.
Plante spoke about the rising costs on Saturday, September 12, as Stray Dog prepared to mark its ninth anniversary, a milestone made bittersweet by the financial pressure now weighing on the business.
Part of a bigger trend for Ottawa breweries
Stray Dog isn't the only Ottawa brewery under strain. Orléans Brewing Co. closed its doors in August 2026, becoming the third Ottawa brewery to shut down this year, following Kichesippi Beer Co. in March and Small Pony Barrel Works in January. For a brewing scene that has built a loyal following across the city, three closures in a single year is a notable hit, and it puts the cost pressure now facing Stray Dog in Orléans into sharper context.
Why the costs are rising
The increases trace back to Canada's retaliatory tariff countermeasures against the United States, which took effect September 8, 2026. For a brewery buying its cans from a domestic supplier, that means the cost of the raw material and the finished packaging are both climbing at once.
What it means going forward
For now, Plante and MacNeill are absorbing the higher packaging costs while Stray Dog marks nine years in business in Orléans. The brewery's experience is a small, concrete example of how a trade dispute playing out between Ottawa and Washington translates into real numbers on a local production line, cents per can that add up across thousands of units every few weeks. With three Ottawa breweries already gone this year, the sector's ability to keep absorbing those costs without passing them on, or without further closures, remains an open question.
Sources: Ottawa Citizen (via Yahoo News Canada), Manufacturing Dive
