F E AT U R E
The Ontario Craft Cider Association warns that
the rapid expansion of Ontario’s craft cider
industry may be unsustainable due to unfair
taxation policies
By Mark Halsall
James McIntosh, the chair of the
Ontario Craft Cider Association
(OCCA), has an interesting story
about how he came to be in the apple
cider business.
“I grew up in the southern Georgian Bay
region, which is the largest apple-producing
area in Ontario. We were surrounded by
apple orchards,” he said.
In 1994, a teenaged McIntosh
accompanied his grandfather, a Second
World War veteran, to Normandy,
France, for a ceremony marking the 50th
anniversary of D-Day in Europe.
“He introduced me to hard cider when
I was over there and it really sparked an
interest. I thought, ‘Well, if this is made
from apples, why is nobody doing this back
home?’” said McIntosh.
The idea stuck with him, but it wasn’t
until two decades later that McIntosh
started to make his own apple cider. He
established The Duxbury Cidery Co. in
Meaford, Ont., in 2007, and five years later
the cidery launched its first product.
McIntosh says craft cideries weren’t
that common in Ontario back then, but
that’s not the case today. The craft cider
industry has expanded rapidly since the
early 2010s – the number of cideries in the
province now tops 100.
Terry Sauriol, the vice chair of the
OCCA, says with more craft cideries
opening up and providing more choices
on the shelf for cider drinkers, “consumer
interest in Ontario cider has just exploded.”
Both Sauriol and McIntosh agree that’s
a good thing, but they’re quick to point
out that Ontario’s growing thirst for home-grown
cider doesn’t mean those in the
province’s craft cider industry are making
money hand over fist. They maintain that
because of unfair taxation rules, it’s getting
harder and harder for cider producers to
make a profit.
“We’re in one of the higher tax brackets
for the alcohol category in Ontario. It’s great
that more and more people are buying our
product, but if we lose money to produce
cider to meet the demand, this growth is
unsustainable,” said McIntosh.
“I think there’s a chance the industry
could slow down because of the challenge
of investing in this business if we don’t
have more equitable treatment under
government taxation policies,” said
Sauriol, who is vice president of sales at
Thornbury Village Craft Cider and Beer in
Thornbury, Ont.
McIntosh and Sauriol say it’s the
OCCA’s position that its members are at
a competitive disadvantage due to the
Ontario government’s taxation policy
for cider. McIntosh says the provincial
government has a tax rebate program in
place for craft cider producers, but it is
a capped, limited-term program which
expired last year.
“We’re hoping the Ontario government
finally deals with the taxation inequities
through its ongoing alcohol modernization
project, which is still underway, sometime
Photos courtesy of James McIntosh
WINTER 2021 § POURED CANADA § 21