'Glorious and Free': London breweries among dozens tapping into Canada-wide beer campaign

Matthew Trevithick · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 04, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Two London breweries are showing their Canadian tone arsenic portion of a nationwide brew run launched successful effect to U.S. threats of annexation and punishing tariffs.

The campaign, "Glorious and Free," was launched successful February by Ottawa-based Dominion City Brewing Co., to enactment section breweries and constituent suppliers done the economical uncertainties caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Since then, much than 40 Canadian trade breweries person signed on, including London's Anderson Craft Ales and Forked City Brewing Co. Both are selling their ain Glorious and Free beers this month, based connected an India Pale Ale (IPA) look provided by Dominion City.

"The thought is that we each brew a akin IPA utilizing each Canadian ingredients, and past donate a important information of the proceeds to a foundation of our choice," said Gavin Anderson, president and brew maestro astatine Anderson Craft Ales. 

"I deliberation the extremity of the inaugural was truly to bring radical together, and (for) radical who privation to enactment Canadian, (to) marque it casual for them to bash so."

Each brewery has agreed to donate a information of their proceeds to a non-profit oregon foundation that makes a quality successful ways stipulated by Dominion City, including ones that "contribute to a assemblage wherever everyone belongs."

Anderson volition statesman selling its Glorious and Free brew connected April 21, with $5 from each six-pack going to the London-based non-profit Investing successful Children. Anderson estimates they'll marque a afloat pallet of cans, and could marque much depending connected the response.

Forked River's mentation of Dominion City's recipe, reimagined arsenic an India Pale Lager, went connected merchantability past week, with immoderate proceeds going to the London Food Bank, said co-owner David Reed. 

"It truly resonated with a batch of our restaurants and bars that they privation to enactment Canada," helium said. "The kegs person gone beauteous quick, they're astatine retired astatine bars and restaurants. We did a tenable magnitude of cans. I would presume, for the adjacent fewer weeks astatine least, we'll person cans here."

Amid a commercialized warfare and threats against Canada's sovereignty, Canadians tin marque a quality with their wallet, helium said.

"If we tin enactment Canadian businesses and Canadian maltsters, Canadian hop farms, and trim what we're buying retired of the U.S. oregon destruct it, that's the champion mode we tin combat back."

It's a connection resonating with customers, said Josh McJannett, Dominion City's co-founder. The brewery launched its IPA successful February, and sold retired successful a small implicit a week.

"This is simply a nonstop effect to waking up each greeting feeling acrophobic and disquieted astir what immoderate feline successful the White House decided overnight," helium said. "I deliberation a batch of people, myself included, person recovered themselves … feeling this consciousness of urgency, this request to bash something."

Craft brewers person faced economical headwinds connected respective fronts, from inflationary pressures connected earthy materials, to U.S. tariffs connected Canadian aluminum and steel, the Canadian Craft Brewers Association (CCBA) says. The 25 per cent tariff took effect past month.

Canada is the fourth-largest shaper of superior aluminum successful the world, but the bauxite needed to marque it is imported. There are besides nary rolling mills making aluminum tin expanse successful Canada, CCBA says, and definite cans, similar the "tallboy," are lone made successful the U.S.

Participants indispensable usage Canadian ingredients, including hops, which for decades person been mostly imported from the U.S. and Europe. The run provides a database of home suppliers, astatine slightest 2 of which are adjacent London — Tavistock Hop Company, and Aylmer-based Hayhoe Hops.

Hayhoe Hops has supplied Dominion City for six years, and is being tapped by Anderson Craft Ales for the initiative, said Scott Hayhoe, who started the institution with his member successful 2014. The workplace grows 4 hop varieties connected 10 acres of land.

Four orders had already travel successful from brewers extracurricular the 10 they typically bash concern with, helium said. He hopes the run entices trade brewers to crook much toward section hops to assistance the market.

"I've seen truthful galore antithetic radical enactment wealth and clip and effort and enactment into increasing the harvest and conscionable conflict and conflict and conflict to marketplace it," Hayhoe said.

"It's a bully harvest to turn successful Ontario, we tin turn truly bully hops here."