Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 3, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba S E A R C H R E A L E S TAT E F O R S A L E I N A N D A R O U N D W I N N I P E G , M A N I TO B A homes.winnip egfreepress.com New Homes • Resale Homes • Open Houses • News • Agents • Parade of Homes LISTINGS REAL ESTATE email: repics@winnipegfreepress.com or call: 204.697.7100 Wednesday, noon deadline Call now to place your Real Estate picture listing ad Open House Sat. and Sun. 2:00-4:00 pm 206-495 Lindenwood Dr. E Joanne Lesko 204-798-0084 Patrick Reality Ltd Lindenwood Estates 55+Reassignable Life Lease Rarely available 1050 sf, 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit with insuite laundry, gorgeous views of the grounds, sunny enclosed balcony. Heated underground parking, concrete construction & amazing amenities. Open House Saturday 12:00-2:00 pm 1081 Seiler Rd - West St Paul $724,900 Beautifully updated 5 Bedroom/3 Bath bungalow just minutes from the perimeter. Spacious open concept with newly remodelled kitchen. 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Boutique Luxury Apartments – Available for Lease Atelier Living isn’t just a residence - it’s a lifestyle, designed for those who expect more with layouts ranging from 1,119 sq ft - 1,501 sq ft available. 300 TUXEDO winnipegfreepress.com/paradeofhomes Tour over 140 new homes B8 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2025 Labatt launches alcohol-free Michelob as Canadians seek alternatives S OMETHING different is increas- ingly brewing at bars across the country. The beer pours the same, smells the same and even tastes the same. But there’s one thing missing: the hangover. Demand for alcohol-free beverages has been growing for some time as Canadians increasingly shy away from drinking. And longtime brewers want a piece of the action. “It’s the growth of the category that opens the door for us to bring more of our iconic brands over into non-alco- hol,” said Doug Port, vice-president of ready-to-drink and non-alcoholic bever- ages at Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. At a small pub inside Labatt’s down- town Toronto headquarters, Port sat by the wide-countered bar featuring two of its best-known beers — Budweiser and Labatt 50 — on tap. He has been spearheading innovation in ready-to- drink cocktails and non-alcoholic bev- erages at the company’s brewery in London, Ont. The company debuted the non-al- coholic version of Michelob Ultra on Thursday, expanding its existing array of booze-free beverages in Canada. It’s the latest of the brewer’s non-alcohol- ic offering as it hopes to capitalize on shifting consumer tastes. Non-alcoholic beverages have seen double-digit growth in Canada over the years, according to a 2024 report by marketing agency NIQ. And non-al- coholic beers dominate that share, ac- counting for 76 per cent of total non-al- coholic beverages sold. While growth for non-alcoholic drinks is still in the early stages, Port said it now represents about four per cent of Labatt’s beer category by vol- ume. He thinks there’s much more room to grow. “We know that in markets like Eur- ope, non-alcoholic beer represents 10 per cent of the beer industry,” he said. “We can more than double the size of the category here in Canada, which opens the door for us to bring more choices to Canadians.” Sales of beer dropped 4.5 per cent be- tween 2023 and 2024, Statistics Canada data shows. It’s the eighth consecutive and largest sales volume decline since the agency started tracking alcohol sales in 1949. “Simply put, consumers are looking to drink less,” said Candace Baldas- sarre, senior research analyst at Min- tel. “That therefore means that these breweries are facing competition from other non-alcoholic brands, so they need to pivot and innovate if they want to still remain competitive,” she said. Large breweries have an advantage though: they already have a strong cus- tomer base. Baldassarre said consumers are like- ly to pick a non-alcoholic version from the brewer they’ve loved for years be- cause they know the taste. “It has to be quality, because con- sumers aren’t just looking for any non-alcoholic beer,” she said. “They want something that tastes and feels as comparable as possible.” At Labatt, it takes months to match the flavour profile of the original beer. On average, Port said a beer launch like Michelob Ultra Zero takes roughly 18 months to ensure the taste sits right with customers. Generally, a non-alcoholic beer starts the same brewing and fermentation journey as its boozy counterpart, but with an extra, complex step of separat- ing out the alcohol. Labatt uses low-tem- perature de-alcoholization methods, such as vacuum distillation, which re- moves the alcohol but preserves its fla- vour and aroma. And just like any new product, it goes through several rounds of testing with focus groups and taste experts. “The bar is high,” Port said. That’s because this isn’t a new prod- uct but an iteration of a beer with ex- isting fans who are expecting that the brewery would deliver on the flavour and feel. Labatt installed a $5 million rectifi- cation system to better separate alcohol from its beers at its London, Ont., brew- ery in 2016. “With this technology, it’s a process in which it really ensures we match very closely that of the existing beer brand’s taste characteristics,” Port said. Other major breweries have also realized that’s where the demand is headed. Molson Coors, for example, has a range of alcohol-free beers such as Coors Edge that aim to mimic the taste of its originals. Labatt first ventured into the alco- hol-free space in 2016 with Budweiser Prohibition Brew, then Corona Cero a few years later. However, the brewery doesn’t ne- cessarily see the non-alcohol category operating like other big growth cat- egories seen over the last 10 years, such as in craft, where brewers need to launch many brands, Port said. Zero-proof drinks are more popular among young Canadians. A 2023 Statis- tics Canada survey found 67 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 22 reported not drinking any alcoholic beverages in the previous week, while an average of 53 per cent abstained in the other age groups. Port said young Canadians are a big source of growth for the brewer’s non-alcoholic beers. “Perhaps they’re the designated driv- er, they’re a group of friends on a social occasion, maybe they have a big exam the next day,” he said. “Whatever their reasons might be, it is a big pocket of growth behind the non-alcoholic beer category.” Baldassarre agrees. She said the shift is going to continue as more health- and budget-conscious young Canadians gain more importance in the markets, she said. “We’re really seeing a shift in how people consume, and how people care about their health,” she said. The trend picked up after the Can- adian Centre on Substance Use and Ad- diction updated guidelines on alcohol use in 2023, saying that anything over two standard drinks a week raises the likelihood of health consequences, in- cluding cancer. Health Canada funded the research that resulted in the up- dated guidelines, but has not endorsed them. Even as momentum for non-alcohol- ic drinks has continued, Baldassarre thinks the growth isn’t necessarily go- ing to accelerate. “There will be gradual increase and steady increase, but this isn’t a run- away train,” she said. — The Canadian Press RITIKA DUBEY SAMMY KOGAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS Budweiser Zero, Corona Cero and Michelob Ultra Zero non-alcoholic beers are shown at Labatt’s office in Toronto last week. Superior Court authorizes class action against Horne smelter MONTREAL — A Quebec Su- perior Court judge has author- ized a class-action lawsuit on behalf of citizens who claim to have been affected by emissions from Glencore’s Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Que. In a 50-page decision released Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Daniel Dumais authorized the lawsuit against the copper smelter and the Quebec government. The plaintiffs had wanted to claim damages dating back to 1991, but the judge limited that to 2020 due to a statute of limitations. The Swiss-owned smelter has come under fire in recent years for arsenic emissions that Que- bec had allowed to be 33 times the provincewide standard. In 2022, the province said it would permit the smelter to emit arsenic levels five times the norm, but the company had only succeeded in getting its annual average down to 15 times the standard in 2023. Justice Daniel Dumais wrote in his decision that the plaintiffs’ claims of damage were based on abundant evidence of contamin- ants that exceed the norm. He also noted a 2022 report by Quebec’s public health institute that indicated that past and cur- rent exposure to arsenic and cad- mium concentrations from the smelter could put residents at a higher risk of cancer. The allegations contained in the lawsuit have not been tested in court. A spokesperson for Glencore Canada said it would not comment on matters before the court. However, Fabrice de Dongo added: “We are confident that the Horne smelter’s operations are safe for the population. They were safe 20 years ago when ar- senic concentrations in the air were much higher, and they are safe today when approximately 99 per cent of the urban area of Rouyn-Noranda has 15 ng/m³ or less of arsenic in the ambient air (annual average).” The class action also targets the Quebec government over “the in- adequacy of government and min- isterial actions since 1979, and of the remediation authorizations issued since 2007.” The plaintiffs are claiming dam- ages that could reach or exceed $315,000 for each member of the class action. — The Canadian Press ;