Craft beer holds on in Nova Scotia, despite national declines

Nova Scotia’s craft beer industry is hanging in there. 

Despite breweries closing Canada-wide at record rates, the number of breweries in Nova Scotia held steady, increasing by 1.9 per cent in 2025, according to Jason Foster, a Canadian beer analyst.

“It’s not getting hit as hard as Ontario, B.C. and Quebec are, but a huge chunk of that is simply because the number (of breweries) is so much smaller; you have fewer players,” Foster said. “Fewer players can be an advantage. You’re not saturating the market in the same way.” 

Craft beer exploded in popularity between 2017 and 2023, with the number of Canadian breweries soaring from 676 to 1,185 across the country. But that number has been falling since, dropping 6.2 per cent in the past two years, together with a record decline in the volume of beer sold across the country.

Drinking rates are plummeting nationwide, and beer sales are not immune, dropping 4.5 per cent in the 2023-24 fiscal year, the eighth consecutive annual decline.  

Foster said these declines spell trouble for the future of Nova Scotia craft beer.

“Even if they’re growing a little bit in a period where people are drinking less beer overall, that’s not a particularly easy market to be in,” he said.

Andrew Tanner is the president of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia and co-founder of Saltbox Brewing Company. While his brewery is seeing growth year-over-year, he said the province’s craft beer industry “needs a bit of work.”

“Us small breweries in rural Nova Scotia rely on locals and tourism, and last summer we had a banger of a tourism season,” he said. “Every day was sunny, other than I think one Sunday, so that certainly helps and props us up.” 

Foster and Tanner agree that the decline in beer drinking is hitting Canada’s three biggest breweries — Sleeman, Molson Coors and AB InBev, which owns Labatt Brewing Company — the hardest.

“Craft beer is treading water in rough seas,” Foster said. “The big boys are getting hammered. There’s no question. The big boys are getting absolutely hammered right now. Craft is finding a way to continue either holding its own or growing a little in what is overall a shrinking marketplace.”

According to the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, sales of local Nova Scotian beer increased 5.8 per cent to $10 million in summer 2025, while overall beer sales only increased 1.4 per cent — Foster and Tanner attribute this discrepancy to big breweries losing market share to local craft beer.

“Nova Scotia is anchored by very small breweries that service small communities,” Foster said. “That’s a real factor in their sustainability. They’re less impacted by the macro trends because they’re able to impact people on a micro level. That gives them a level of resilience and flexibility that works to their advantage.” 

Halifax-based Good Robot Brewing Co. saw record sales last year, which co-founder Joshua Counsil attributes to focusing on more than just beer. The company launched a beverage co-packing facility, started selling alcoholic seltzers and introduced non-alcoholic beer. 

“Consumer habits are changing, and we’re seeing that in what’s selling very well for us,” Counsil said. “We’ve been slowly innovating, but despite that, our regular beers are growing quite rapidly.”

The drinking habits of Nova Scotians don’t explain craft beer’s resilience. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the number of beer servings sold per person of legal drinking age in the province was below the national average and below the number sold in all other Maritime provinces, according to Statistics Canada.

Foster warned that Nova Scotia isn’t exempt from the struggles plaguing the rest of the Canadian industry, blaming increased production costs, a reduction in alcohol consumption and craft beer becoming less trendy for the national decline. 

“I think Nova Scotia will see the same retrenchment that we’re seeing in some of the bigger provinces,” he said. “The trends that we are seeing are of such a nature that breweries can only hold off for so long.” 

Despite celebrating its nine-year anniversary this week, Halifax-based 2 Crows Brewing Co. is noticing a drop in sales. Head brewer Jeremy Taylor said the brewery never bounced back to pre-COVID profits.

“We’re being more precise with the styles of beer we’re brewing, giving people exactly what they want, and not taking too many big gambles,” he said. “When we opened, you could brew any style, and you knew it would sell well. We’re being a lot more careful.”