Tariffs prompt Edmonton ice creamery to pivot on popular flavour

Kind Ice Cream has replaced American bourbon for Canadian whisky in one of their most popular flavours in response to the Canada-U.S. trade war. (Galen McDougall/CTV News Edmonton)

A classic flavour is getting a Canadian twist at a local ice cream parlour.

Kind Ice Cream has switched up its maple bourbon pecan recipe in response to the Canada-U.S. trade war.

“Hearing about the tariffs, we knew we had to take a look at all of our ingredients and see where we might have to make some adjustments,” Candyce Morris, Kind Ice Cream co-owner, said.

“And the first one that kind of was glaringly obvious was our maple bourbon pecan.”

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The new flavour replaces the American corn-mash bourbon whiskey with Alberta-made Canadian whisky made by Hansen Distillery in Edmonton.

“This is one of our most popular flavors, so we had to make sure that we got it right,” Morris said. “I actually think it is better … I think that our customers are going to be pretty happy with the change.”

Morris said the bourbon was the only ingredient the ice creamery has had to swap, because they have always used predominantly local ingredients.

“This was kind of the big one for us to pivot and make a change here and I think it’s one of those things that actually worked out for the best,” she added.

In March, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis stopped the sale of American alcohol products as part of the province’s plan to protest tariffs from the U.S. administration.

Multiple other provinces pulled American booze off the shelves earlier this year as part of their own trade war responses.