Canada's stubby beer bottle finds new meaning in an age of American bluster

Colin Butler · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 29, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Forty years aft its status arsenic the manufacture modular vessel for brew successful Canada, the stubby is being reinterpreted in an property marred by tariffs and American grievance — not arsenic a taste icon, but arsenic a discreet way of protecting a nationalist industry. 

In a probe insubstantial published this spring, Heather Thompson, a caller postgraduate of the nationalist past programme astatine Carleton University successful Ottawa, argues that the stubby — squat, recyclable and truthful mostly unappealing to overseas brewers — functioned arsenic a quiescent and distinctly Canadian form of protectionism. 

"At the time, the Big Three, [Canadian Breweries Limited], Molson and Labatt's, they spot the Americans coming and they knew they were precise funny successful the lucrative Canadian market. They needed something," she told CBC News. "The stubby is not a tariff, it's not government-imposed. It's arsenic overmuch an economical merchandise arsenic it is simply a taste product."   

In today's clime of rising tariffs, "buy Canadian" policies and deepening commercialized tensions, the communicative of the stubby mightiness consciousness little similar historical footnote and much similar a blueprint — for however Canada tin inactive navigate beingness beside an economically ascendant and often unpredictable neighbour. 

The stubby was introduced successful 1961, astatine a clip erstwhile Americans, who favoured non-recyclable aluminum cans, made their products successful ample centralized facilities and shipped their beer across the U.S. and to the world. 

The stubby, by contrast, was glass, but it was besides cheap, durable and lightweight, making it casual to transport. It was besides capable to beryllium reused up to 100 times. It was the keystone successful a closed-loop Canadian bottling strategy that kept costs down for home brewers portion it kept overseas brewers retired by raising the cost of marketplace entry. 

The vessel besides acceptable neatly wrong Canada's fragmented home economy. Thanks to interprovincial commercialized barriers, brewers looking to merchantability successful a fixed state often had to nutrient their brew there or look tariffs and restrictions erstwhile crossing provincial lines.

By 1962, the year aft the stubby was introduced, Canada's Big Three brewers controlled astir 95 per cent of the Canadian brew market. They owned astir each of the country's 61 breweries, which gave them a carnal beingness successful each portion of Canada.

The Big Three besides held a bulk involvement successful Ontario's Beer Store, known past arsenic the Brewing Warehousing Company Limited. When the stubby was made a packaging request for each brew sold astatine its stores successful Ontario, Thompson argues, the Big Three efficaciously locked each overseas brewers retired by creating an other hurdle for introduction into the market.

"To vessel successful the stubby, [American brewers] are going to person to marque their ain enactment astatine their works to vessel specifically for Ontario," she said, noting immoderate outgo savings for American brewers done the reusable stubby would beryllium eaten up successful proscription costs by archetypal shipping the brew to Canada past shipping it backmost the U.S. for a refill. 

Since astir each of Canada's breweries were owned by lone 3 companies erstwhile the stubby was introduced successful Ontario, the remainder of the state followed suit successful adopting the stubby due to the fact that the bottle could beryllium filled and reused successful immoderate bottling works successful immoderate state by immoderate Big Three brewer. 

On par with bagged milk, says past podcaster

That benignant of marketplace consolidation meant for a procreation of Canadian brew drinkers, from 1961 to 1984, the stubby was conscionable astir everywhere: connected barroom counters, fridges oregon sweating connected the dock from St. John's to Victoria.

It was besides immortalized arsenic a awesome of Canadian individuality by the beer-swilling, tuque-wearing McKenzie brothers, who were a parody of Canadian moving people civilization successful the aboriginal 1980s, adjacent the extremity of the bottle's manufacture dominance. 

"When we deliberation of the stubby, astatine slightest for me, I deliberation of Bob and Doug McKenzie," said Craig Baird, big of the Canadian History Ehx! podcast, a amusement that looks backmost connected the country's history.

Baird said the lone happening that comes adjacent to what the stubby did, in terms of uniquely Canadian plan and function, is bagged milk. Like the stubby, it's efficient, cost-effective and mostly incomprehensible to outsiders, making it both a applicable solution and marker of nationalist identity.

"If you look online, radical accidental Canadians usage bagged beverage adjacent though lone Ontario and immoderate different localized areas usage bagged milk."

Canadian brewers dropped the stubby successful 1984, switching to taller, non-recyclable agelong necks arsenic American brands similar Budweiser and Coors entered the marketplace thanks, first, to licensing agreements with American brewers and past escaped commercialized with the U.S. The caller bottles held the aforesaid 341 millilitres but offered much branding appeal.

WATCH | Saying goodbye to the stubby:

The stubby began to beryllium phased retired successful 1985 and present mostly exists lone successful antique stores and our corporate memory. 

Reviving the spirit, if not the bottle

In a planetary marketplace shaped by commercialized battles and overseas ownership, Thompson sees the stubby arsenic much than nostalgia. It's a reminder of what Canadian brewers erstwhile did to support their marketplace — and what they mightiness bash again.

"We're seeing much involvement successful buying Canadian," she said. "It's a large accidental for trade brewers to revive the stubby and its taste power."

While fewer brewers person returned to the squat bottle, its tone lives connected successful projects specified as Glorious and Free, a patriotic IPA archetypal brewed by Dominion City Brewing successful Ottawa.

The look is shared with 40 breweries crossed Canada that person utilized hometown ingredients to make their ain versions.

"The thought for the run truly came from a locomotion successful the snow," Dominion City co-founder Josh McJannett said with an evident motion to erstwhile premier curate Pierre Trudeau, a person whose status followed "a locomotion successful the snow" successful 1984, the aforesaid twelvemonth the stubby was enactment retired to pasture. 

"The thought of stubby brew bottles astir again is surely appealing to the nostalgia successful me," McJannett said, noting Glorious and Free is disposable successful tallboy cans only.

He said the look was crafted as a nonstop effect to immoderate of the vexation helium was feeling implicit U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and speech of annexation. 

"This was a mode to harness that feeling and instrumentality immoderate benignant of an action." McJannett said. 

Firm, but polite. A brew that, similar the stubby, refuses to beryllium poured into anyone else's mould.