Welcome in, today is Wednesday, September thirtieth, and we begin with the United States import ban on Canadian alcohol, now in force, per The Trent. The ban is live. The Trent reports the prohibition on most packaged Canadian alcoholic beverages took effect at twelve oh one Eastern on Tuesday, covering beer, wine, whisky, rum, vodka and brandy, alongside certain Canadian motorcycles and dairy-related goods. Following our earlier report on the brands positioned to route around it, that account adds the transition rule. Shipments that arrived before the deadline but were not yet entered for consumption face the fifty percent tariff instead of the ban. Per the same reporting, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Washington moved after talks with Ottawa broke down. The exposure is narrow but deep. Spirits Canada says roughly half of Canadian spirits production is exported, and ninety-three percent of that goes south. The Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition, spanning producers, distributors and hospitality, opposed the measure, and that account puts American wine exports to Canada down eighty-seven percent. Industry reaction leans toward calling the ban narrower than its headline, with smaller distilleries that bottle at home read as the most exposed. Also today, that distribution fight is now in court. Brewbound reports Molson Coors-owned Coors Distributing Company has filed a pair of lawsuits to halt terminations from two of its largest suppliers, following our earlier report that the wholesaler intended to contest the exits of Mark Anthony Brands and Constellation Brands. That report is a brief summary, with no court named, no timetable and no description of the claims, and the suppliers have not responded on the record. What changes is who sets the pace. A handover that was a commercial decision last week now waits on a judge. Industry reaction leans legal rather than commercial, with some in the trade framing the case as a test of state beer franchise statutes, where ending a distributor agreement can require a showing of good cause. Now to Scotland, where the Cameronbridge strike sits inside a wider supply correction. The Guardian reports distilleries across the country have paused production to avoid adding to the unsold surplus the trade calls the whisky loch, after a fifteen-year boom the pandemic accelerated. That reporting says workers at Cameronbridge began their walkout on Monday, following our earlier report on the strike dates, and that the community-owned GlenWyvis distillery moved to appoint administrators last week. Per the same account, dozens of Scotland's hundred and fifty-six active distilleries are rumoured to be for sale, and one operator with idle stills estimates the industry is running at roughly a third of normal output. The Scotch Whisky Association puts exports to the United States down fifteen percent after last year's tariffs. For anyone buying Scotch liquid, the glut is the sourcing story, and some buyers read it as an overdue price correction. Separately, Japan's beer tax gap closes tomorrow. News On Japan reports that from October first the liquor tax on beer, happoshu and third-category beer-like products is unified at fifty-four point two five yen per three hundred and fifty millilitres, cutting about nine yen from a can of regular beer and adding about seven to the cheaper low-malt tiers. That removes the structural reason those tiers exist, and it completes a phase-down begun in twenty twenty. Per the same reporting, the majors are already reformulating with higher malt content, including Suntory's Kinmugi, Sapporo's Gold Star and Asahi's Clear Asahi. On-trade kegs get about five hundred yen of relief, though one operator cited there plans no menu cut, with carbon dioxide costs expected to more than double in some cases. Industry reaction leans toward reading this as the end of the discount tier rather than a price tweak. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Scotch prices in India have fallen ten to fifteen percent, the Economic Times reports, as Diageo and Pernod Ricard pass through the halved British whisky tariff in several states. Beverage alcohol's post-Labor Day bounce has faded, with beer the steepest decliner in Circana's latest weekly scans, per Brewbound, with Circana expecting a slump running toward Thanksgiving. Molson Coors will take Coors zero point zero nationwide next year, Food Dive reports, and widen distribution of its Naked Life nonalcoholic canned cocktails. And finally, Heineken says fuel costs tied to the Iran war are lifting its Asian brewing inputs, per Bloomberg, with seventy to eighty percent of inflation passed on.