‘Mixed messaging’: lack of local brands at first Liquor Mart pop-up decried By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 5:23 PM CST Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025

Despite symbolically pulling American booze off its shelves, the province hasn’t stocked its first pop-up Liquor Mart with Manitoba-made drinks.

The outlier is Crown Royal (the internationally owned brand is distilled in Gimli): on Wednesday morning, the company’s apple and blackberry whiskies were listed on the Westport Pop-Up Liquor Mart’s digital menu.

Brands such as Coors, Captain Morgan and Budweiser were among the 84 available items. Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp. did not directly answer if any other pop-up products have Manitoba ties.

“It is a bit of a shame that there are no products featured, given how … there’s been such a focus on the government pulling U.S. liquor from stores and using that as kind of a platform to promote buying local,” said Colin Koop, co-owner of Devil May Care Brewing Company in Winnipeg.

“It’s a bit of a weird move, and kind of mixed messaging.”

MLL launched the pop-up — a converted construction trailer — near a new Costco retail location on Portage Avenue West. The goal was to open alongside Costco and be available for sales throughout the holiday season, leadership said at the time.

Premier Wab Kinew attended the grand opening on Nov. 13. He called the pop-up a way for Costco shoppers to have “a one-stop shopping experience.”

The trailer sits off Festival Drive, near Costco’s parking lot (which has more than 1,000 stalls).

MLL is responsible for stocking the site. It selected its most popular products, like it does at its Liquor Mart Express locations, the Crown corporation’s executive vice-president of liquor and cannabis wrote in a statement.

“These were selected to provide the greatest convenience to the largest number of customers,” Robert Holmberg said.

He pointed to Costco members’ appreciation of large format and discount goods: MLL’s pop-up sells its most popular 18- and 24-packs of beer, large boxed wine, “value-based” spirits and sales items.

“We are limited in what we can carry due to the very small footprint of the pop-up,” Holmberg wrote. “We therefore had to be highly selective in ensuring only the most popular and profitable products are available.”

More local options are found at full-size Liquor Marts, including the Crestview location roughly three kilometres east, Holmberg said. Stock at the pop-up “may adjust slightly” in the coming days as MLL tracks customer demand.

However, local brewers decried the lack of Manitoba-made representation.

“It’s a huge, huge disappointment,” said Chris Warwaruk, Farmery Estate Brewery’s co-owner. “If they’re not going above and beyond to support local, then it’s a huge missed opportunity.”

Not representing local brands contradicts New Democrat government messaging that “the economic horse pulls the social cart,” Warwaruk said.

“All the (local) breweries hire sales people. We buy the water, we buy Hydro,” he said, adding MLL is investing Manitoba tax dollars in its pop-up.

The facility’s set-up cost $34,000, said Minister Glen Simard, who oversees the MLL file.

“We have a strong history of supporting local industry here,” Simard said when asked about brewers’ concerns.

He referenced local sections, and freezer and shelf space, in standard MLL locations. The pop-up is small and the first of its kind, he added. “If there were (a customer) presenting at that location and said ‘Hey, I think you should carry X, Y or Z,’ we would take that suggestion seriously and look to meet their needs.”

The pop-up comes during a national trend of decreased beer sales. Purchase volume has declined for eight years ending in 2023-24, Statistics Canada shared in July.

Sales dropped 4.5 per cent year-over-year in 2023-24 to 1.95 million litres.

Farmery (based in the Neepawa area) has leaned into non-alcoholic drinks; it’s seen growth as beer purchases lag, Warwaruk said. Devil May Care Brewing — and most, if not all, local brewers — is preparing for a spike in sales during the winter holidays.

So-called “Dry January” follows.

“I think people’s wallets are a little stretched,” Koop said, reflecting on past months. “Inflation has hit people pretty hard.”

Manitoba brewers face increased costs from the U.S. trade war, interprovincial barriers preventing them from greater sales nationally, high markups in Manitoba and regulatory red tape, said Tyler Slobogian, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“I think the province should really be doing everything they can to put local entrepreneurs front and centre,” Slobogian said.

He called the lack of local drinks at Manitoba’s Liquor Mart pop-up a “missed opportunity.”

Manitoba had 26 brick-and-mortar breweries and 12 contract breweries in 2023-24. The sector contributed $14 million directly to the provincial GDP.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com