Brewed in Canada: The Untold Story of Canada's 350-Year-Old Brewing Industry

BREWED IN CANADA

The Untold Story of Canada’s

350-Year-Old Brewing Industry

Allen Winn Sneath

Copyright © Allen Winn Sneath, 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.

Editor: Barry Jowett

Copy-Editor: Julian Walker

Design: Jennifer Scott

Printer: Transcontinental

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Sneath, Allen Winn

Brewed in Canada : the untold story of Canada’s 350-year-old brewing industry

ISBN (paper) 1-55002-364-0

ISBN (cloth) 1-55002-373-X

1. Brewing industry--Canada--History. I. Title.

HD9397.C22S54 2001 338.4'76633'0971          C2001-902188-7

1    2    3    4     5            05     04     03     02     01

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

Printed on recycled paper.

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BREWED IN CANADA

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writing of a book of this scope required an enormous amount of research, sifting and sorting of information, reading, filing, writing and rewriting.

While this process is essentially a solo effort, the final work could not have been achieved without the help of many people. The judgement and insight of my copyeditor, Julian Walker, contributed greatly to the clarity of the final book and my daughter Ainsley provided endless hours in developing my computer graphic archives from private collector files.

I am grateful to the many breweries who responded to my request for factual verification and pictorial material: Big Rock Brewery Ltd., Brick Brewing Company, Creemore Springs Brewery, Fort Garry Brewing Co., Granville Island Brewing Company, Great Western Brewing Company, Hart Brewing Co., Labatt Breweries of Canada, Lakeport Beverage Corp., La Brasserie McAuslan Brewing Inc., Molson Inc., Moosehead Breweries Limited, Northern Breweries Limited, Pacific Western Brewing Company, Sleeman Breweries Limited, Wellington Brewery and Unibroue Inc. The Brewers Association of Canada has been supportive as well.

Other former brewery founders who provided their insight include John Mitchell, Frank Appleton, Frank Heaps, Drew Knox and Glen Dalzell.

A special thanks goes to Labatt Archival Curator Nellie Swart, Commodore Bruce Oland and Stephen Molson (Molson Foundation) for providing me access to their archives.

In addition, I am indebted for research and graphic material provided by members of the Canadian Brewerianist Society: Ian Bowering, Ben Bromley, Chuck Berry, Dave Craig, Phil Greenwood, Dennis Inkster, Richard Jacobs, Phil Mandzuk, William Marentette, Loren Newman, Dennis Oland, Doug Sargeson and Richard Sweet.

Special recognition goes to my business partner Jim Zeppa for his steadfast commitment to the success of this venture. Thanks also to James Monaco and Terry Teather and Karen O’Reilly for their support.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge my publisher Kirk Howard of the Dundurn Group, who shared our vision and understanding of the importance of this book.

Cover photography, courtesy of Richard S. Brown, Toronto.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Part One

The Foundation: Legendary Colonial Brewers

INTRODUCTION

In 1982, an unassuming English immigrant in his fifties established a small brewery in British Columbia that would spark a quiet revolution in this country’s three-hundred-year-old brewing industry. It was a modest beginning, but John Mitchell’s business venture gave birth to an idea that in time would challenge the very foundation of Canada’s brewing establishment.

Slight in stature, with the demeanour of a prep school teacher, John was outspoken about the homogenization of the beer being produced at that time. He was the first to produce cask-conditioned real ale in North America, and clearly pioneered the way for others to follow. In reflection, I’m sure John was not motivated by the idea of starting a brewing renaissance, but if credit goes to anyone for inspiring the microbrewery movement in this country, it must go to him.

John came to Canada in 1954 from England, where he had trained at London’s Westminster Technical Institute and had worked as a chef at the Mayfair Hotel. He’ll be the first to admit his main interest in beer in those days was drinking it. After settling in Vancouver, he worked for the next twenty years in the hotel business as a bar manager. It was during this period that neighbourhood pubs began to appear in the city, a trend Mitchell saw as a business opportunity. But an English-style pub serving the existing ersatz beer on tap was incongruous. John had no training as a brewer and when I asked him about this, he explained, "As chance would have it, a friend gave me a copy of an article in Harrowsmith magazine by a writer named Frank Appleton. The story echoed my sentiments about the sad state of Canada’s mass-produced brews and went on to provide a step-by-step process for brewing beer with taste and character." Frank was a classically trained English brewmaster, and their chance meeting laid the groundwork for the brewing renaissance in Canada.

Mitchell lobbied for legislative changes to enable the establishment of brewpubs and microbreweries. In 1982, British Columbia became the first province to pass legislation making brewpubs legal. In typical Canadian fashion the approval was restricted. Seating was limited to just 65 patrons and required the brewery to be housed in a separate building from where the beer was to be sold. But it was a significant start.

The plan was financially supported by John Mitchell’s two investment partners, Dave Patrick and Don Wilson. Frank schooled John in the intricacies of the brewing process and designed the brewery from scratch. As Mitchell tells the story, We did it as cheap as possible, because nobody knew if it would be a success. Over $50,000 was spent on used equipment and building modifications. In May of 1982, they received their brewing licence – only the fifth such licence ever issued in B.C. The first real ale from the tiny Horseshoe Bay Brewery was served a month later at the Troller Pub. The venture was a great success from the outset.

My first visit to the Troller Pub came a few years after it opened. I was producing television commercials for Carling O’Keefe’s Extra Old Stock Ale and found his real ale nostalgically reminiscent of the brews I drank in England while working there in the mid-Sixties. Initially, for my Canadian palate, nurtured on icy-cold lagers, British beer served at cellar temperature had been a culture shock. But in time I came to appreciate the hoppier, fuller flavour of the ales.

Little did I think that in a few years I would become a founding partner in an Ontario microbrewery, or that I would one day write a book about the business. The word microbrewery wasn’t even in my vocabulary at that time. As I sat in the cozy, wood-paneled pub, my thoughts dwelt on the two-day rain delay we were facing – just one of the joys of filming in Vancouver in the spring.

The pub and brewery were strategically located near the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal to Vancouver Island, which provided steady customer traffic. The pub overlooked the Bay and the brewery on the opposite side of the road granted more charm to the location. On any given morning, one could see the casks of Bay Ale being brought by john truck from the brewery, across the road to the pub, in total compliance with the regulations.

Although the ownership changed and it eventually closed, the Troller Pub is regarded as Canada’s first brewpub and Mitchell’s pioneer Horseshoe Bay Brewery as the country’s first microbrewery. By any standard it was a small facility, producing just 200 Imperial gallons – which was all they were legally allowed. It was sufficient stock to supply the pub, yet it marked the first significant change in the Canadian brewing business since Prohibition.

To put the story of Canada’s brewing renaissance in its proper perspective, we must return to the roots of the brewing business in this country. From its inception, the foundation of the economy of New France was built on the supply and demand of a few basic commodities – fish, furs, lumber, and beer. The abundant fish population was the first natural resource the adventurers capitalized on for export. Furs were the fashion statement of the time in France and England and trading companies were formed to supply the need. Virtually every new settlement began with the felling of trees, and lumbering also provided the raw materials required to establish a booming ship building industry. Brewing helped lay the foundation for the colony’s economy with a tax on beer that provided the provisional government with an immediate source of revenue. Beer was a commodity in demand on a daily basis by both colonists and army garrison troops alike and construction of a brewery became a priority in every new settlement. In the 1700s, these needs were satisfied by the Jesuits who established brewing facilities. As the country expanded, the demand was met by tradesmen the likes of John Molson, John Labatt, Thomas Dawes, William Dow, John Sleeman, Patrick Shea, Alfred Cross, Fritz Sick, Eugene O’Keefe, Thomas Carling, the Oland family, and Alexander Keith. Their interests went beyond brewing. As men of influence, these brewers made significant contributions to their local communities and the country. In addition, their breweries created employment and a ready market for Canada’s growing agricultural community.

The beer industry witnessed the early colonial brewers’ struggle for survival through the trials of the Temperance movement. Businesses both large and small endured the hypocrisy of Prohibition and suffered through the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. The industry has witnessed two World Wars and risen to the challenge of Free Trade. This is the untold tale of personal successes and failures, bankruptcies, mergers, and takeovers. The story of individual power, unique characters, family rivalries, and foreign ownership.

Beer has been a part of our Canadian culture for as long as any of us care to remember. We Canadians are as passionate about our beer as we are of any icon that defines our culture. Beer is as Canadian as hockey, Stompin’ Tom Conners, the maple leaf, back bacon or the beaver; but it was not until the middle of the twentieth century however that Canada was able to boast of having national brands sold in every province from sea to shining sea. Until a few decades ago, federal and provincial laws protected the industry and made brewing in Canada a regional business, producing regional beers for regional tastes.

What was once a business that thrived on its parochialism is today part of the growing trend of globalization. Canadian beers are popular all over the world ranking the country seventh among the global beer exporters. Our brewing industry continues to play a significant role in the Canadian economy. The Brewers Association of Canada Annual Report reveals that the brewing and marketing of beer represents 1.3 per cent of our Gross National Product. In dollar terms, StatsCan tells us that Canadians spent $6.5-billion on beer, 4 per cent more than in 2000, proving beer is still the country’s favourite alcoholic beverage. More than one in every 100 Canadians in the workforce depends on the brewing business for their livelihoods. This amounts to more than 180,000 people whose careers are directly related to the production of beer. Brewers purchase $780-million worth of ingredients and materials in Canada and pay $875-million in salaries, wages, and commissions. Close to 98 per cent of the beer consumed in Canada is produced by 25 conventional breweries and 59 microbreweries located throughout the country. These microbreweries, which nay-sayers saw as a passing fad when they first appeared on the scene back in 1982, were collectively responsible for the revival of full-flavoured, natural brews. The balance is represented by imported specialty beers, a category that has shown increased growth at some expense to domestic products.

Despite the efforts of the microbreweries, Canada is still a two beer nation. According to Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon’s industry analyst Michael Palmer, this trend is not unique to our country: The beer business worldwide tends toward duoplacy. You always have some small guys buzzing around – but the bulk of the market is controlled by the two major players. They spend as much as $117-million a year promoting dozens of beer brands. They don’t have to have Molson or Labatt stamped on the label, but the brand will usually belong to one of them.

This is a highly competitive business where a one per cent market share might be worth $15-million in revenue to the brewery. A share point that is hard to gain and easy to lose.

As Canada and one of its most proud industries have grown together, individual profiles and selected aspects of the history of brewing in Canada have been well documented by many authors. Nonetheless, a comprehensive history of the industry and its brewers has never been told. Brewed in Canada has been written to fill this void. It is a passionate chronicle of the people who built one of our country’s most colourful and enduring industries, a business whose one constant is change. The book is divided into three parts. Part One tells the story of the evolution of the brewing industry from the early colonial years through Confederation, and up to the turn of the century. Separate chapters cover the growth of the Temperance movement and the early merger and acquisition period. Part Two spans the tumultuous decades of the two World Wars, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and the Post War Boom. Part Three then deals with the renaissance of Canadian brewing, detailing the development of the microbrewery movement and how history is repeating itself with the subsequent merger and acquisition trend. The scope of the subject matter has not allowed me to give due credit to the contribution brewpub entrepreneurs have played in the success of the brewing renaissance. Their stories are deserving of a separate book.

It is my hope that you will find Brewed in Canada a fascinating read. So crack open your favourite Canadian beer and enjoy!

PART ONE

The Foundation: Legendary Colonial Brewers

CHAPTER 1

Brewing in the New Land

Beer was considered a dietary staple of everyday life in the early North American colonies. Jacques Cartier no doubt had beer aboard in 1534 when he made his claims in the New World for France. Because of the danger of the water not being potable, it was a common practice for most ships to carry ale on long voyages for both practical and medicinal purposes since the malted brew helped prevent scurvy.

Cartier’s journals describe a spruce concoction the Amerindians brewed and gave to his crew as both a therapeutic and for their drinking pleasure. A knowledge of brewing and the remedial benefits of spruce beer were well known to French herbalists like Louis Hébert who emigrated to Quebec in 1617. His arrival marked the earliest attempt to establish agriculture in the new colony. Under agreement, he was granted farmland on which he grew wheat and barley, making Hébert the first Canadian settler to support himself and his family from the soil. The former apothecary also became the colony’s first home brewer. From grain grown on their land, both he and his wife brewed beer in a large boiler for their personal use as well as for their friends and neighbours and for ceremonial purposes.

WATER, WATER AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK

Canada’s early colonists brought with them the centuries-old distrust of drinking water. In the Old World, during the Middle Ages, plagues had ravaged the population. The rivers and streams were a medieval toxic waste dump for butchers, ironmongers, leather tanners, and a score of other infant industries that provided a breeding ground for disease. The natural sources of drinking water for the masses had become unfit for human consumption.

Wine and spirits were plentiful, but not necessarily affordable for everyone. Cocoa and coffee were popular in the Royal Courts. Milk was not an alternative and tea was unknown.

Ale, the oldest of all brews, was the one potion ready to fulfil the people’s needs. Because the water was boiled during the brewing process, the dangerous bacteria and microbes were killed. As beers, ales, and other similar brews were economical to produce, they were affordable for the common people. From generation to generation, beer was the beverage of choice for rich and poor alike, men and women, grandparents and children.

Beer was often consumed throughout the day and was considered health-giving because the malt ingredient helped prevent scurvy. So it is no surprise that the colonists who set sail from the Old Country brought with them a hearty predisposition for beer and a deeply ingrained fear of most sources of drinking water.

Many of the early settlers came from regions in France, such as Brittany and Normandy, where cider and beer, rather than wine, were the everyday drink of choice. They brought this preference with them to New France, where, in the beginning, home-brewing provided their only means of supply. In 1634, Father LeJune, the first superior of the Jesuits in Canada, reported to France: As for drinks, we shall have to make some beer; but we shall wait until a brewery is erected. Twelve years later, construction of a brewery began at Sillery, and by the following March, the Brothers were enjoying their first beer. Le Journal des Jesuites (Jesuits Journal) recorded that our Brother Ambroise had made it his occupation from the first to the twentieth day of that month. The brew was strictly for the use of the Fathers, who had no access to wine since their arrival from France.

There is evidence of another brewery in Quebec during this period. La brasserie de l’Abitation supplied beer to the locals, but it was destroyed by fire in 1648 after just two years of operation. By virtue of a royal decree, Louis Prud’homme established the first commercial brewery in 1650, eight years after the founding of Fort Ville-Marie (Montreal). Located outside the protective walls of the city, the Iroquois made several attempts to burn the wood building down, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

The new colony’s first intendant, Jean Talon took brewing to the next level. At the time of his arrival in Quebec in 1665, New France was on the brink of ruin. There was little concern at the time for settlement or economic diversity as most officials were only interested in profits from the fur trade. This tiny possession of about 2,000 immigrants and disbanded soldiers, settled on land stretching one thousand kilometres up a treacherous river in a harsh northern climate, was simply means to an economic end for the kings of France. The fact that navigation on the St. Lawrence was shut down for six months in winter and ships could make only one trip a year back across the Atlantic did little to help the development of the local economy.

Public Archives of Canada

Jean Talon. As intendent, his two terms of office totalled less than six years.

THE ECONOMY OF NEW FRANCE

Though silks, spices, gold, and silver were the riches sought by the early explorers in New France, furs were the life-blood of the colony. No other product was developed to the extent that it would serve as a staple export. New France was barely able to produce enough to feed itself in good times. The lack of sufficient exports and the colony’s inability to compete with English settlements to the south disappointed all initial hopes of building an economic base. In time, the fur trade created the foundation of prosperity and provided the essential export that enabled the colony to import manufactured goods and such luxuries as it could afford.

The reliance on fur as the single staple commodity meant that trade was, in the main, restricted to France. It was an uncertain and unstable business at best. Fur supplies fluctuated from year to year as did prices when changes in fashion led to changes in demand. Complaints that the growth of the settlement were being hindered by the demands of the fur trade were ignored, and the interests of those individuals who sought their fortunes by trading pelts were greatly encouraged by the kings of France.

Talon’s mandate was to convert this ailing fur-trading and missionary outpost into a profitable, well-populated province capable of fending for itself. He bore the title of intendant of Justice and Finances and was responsible for industry, trade, and administrative affairs. In this role, he encouraged commercial farming, shipbuilding, and fisheries, established a brewery and fostered trade with the French West Indies. To boost the population, he granted rewards for early marriage.

At this time New France was spending one hundred thousand livres each year on the importation of wine and spirits. In order to keep this money in the colony and put the surplus barley and wheat to use, the intendant had the Conseil Souverain limit the annual importation of alcoholic beverages to 1,200 hogsheads (a large barrel with a capacity of 100 to 140 gallons or 455 to 635 litres).

In 1667 Jean Talon received permission from the King to begin construction of a brewery and requested two large vats for the purpose of making beer. His next step was to introduce the growing of hops and barley. To set the example, Talon had 6,000 poles of hops planted on his seigneury.

In honour of Louis XVI he named his venture La Brasserie du Roi, the King’s Brewery. Constructed during the period between Talon’s two terms of office, the brewery began production in 1670. The following year, Talon informed the King that over and above meeting the domestic needs, the brewery could also provide 2,000 hogsheads of beer for export to the West Indies.

But Talon’s stay was all too brief and his departure prevented the fruition of his work. Jean Talon’s dreams never returned the hopes he had placed in them. The Crown lost interest in investing large sums of money in colonial development. The regulations concerning the importation of wine and spirits were eased and in 1674 the brewery was dismantled. After the building served as a military prison for a number of years, it was sold to the Ministry and converted into a palace residence for future intendants. For a number of years the former brewery served as the seat of government in the French colony.

The next brewing enterprise was begun in 1690 by Charles le Moyne, Seigneur of Longueuil. By all accounts this was an imposing stonework structure conveniently located within the walls of the fort and was no doubt welcomed by the inhabitants. We have no record of how long the brewery remained in operation, however when the land was deeded in 1735, the building was in ruins.

The Frères Charron, members of a charitable religious order, operated a hospital for the destitute in Montreal. In 1704, the Brothers decided to add a small brewery to serve the needs of those in their care and the soldiers garrisoned nearby. The military was less than diligent in paying its debt, and after four years, financial difficulty forced the Brothers to lease their brewery. The new owners, Jacques Charbonnier and Pierre Crépeau, were unsuccessful in running the brewery as a profitable enterprise and shut the business down after four years.

The practice of brewing seemed to fall out of favour among the French as imported wine became more affordable. There were a number of individual home-brewers, but organized breweries had long disappeared by the time Wolfe’s army defeated Montcalm’s forces on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. As a British possession under English rule, the colony’s brewing industry would flourish.

During the French regime, despite the widespread use of wine and spirits, the problem of drunkenness was only seen as an issue among the Amerindians and to some degree the soldiery. British occupation created a profound change as immigration increased and trade with the West Indies made cheap rum readily available. In an effort to exercise some control, General Gage, the first British civil administrator, introduced regulations for the sale of alcoholic beverages in 1762. Within four years, 203 licences had been issued: ninety-four in Quebec City, twenty-seven in Montreal, four in Trois Rivières, and the balance in the remainder of the province.

THE INVASION OF THE LOYALISTS

After the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1776, the intendant’s residence in Quebec was occupied by revolutionaries Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, who tried without success to storm the walled Upper Town and save the colony from British rule. Montgomery was killed and Arnold was wounded. During the siege the superstructure of the former brewery was totally destroyed. However, the brewing vaults below ground, with walls eight feet thick, remained intact.

After the Americans defeated the British, the colonies to the north of the newly independent states became a haven for refugees who remained staunchly loyal to the English Crown. Some 30,000 of these United Empire Loyalists emigrated to the Maritimes, expanding Nova Scotia to the point where in 1784 the separate province of New Brunswick was created. Another 10,000 entered Quebec. At this time, the colony’s western frontier stretched just past what is now Windsor and boasted a population of 115,000 settlers. With the enactment of Canada’s Constitutional Act of 1791, the colony was partitioned into Upper and Lower Canada.

Beyond these nascent colonies was seemingly endless wilderness and scattered, far-flung fur-trading posts. Montreal– the country’s first boom town – was at the centre of the flourishing fur trade.

The role of our pioneer brewers was tied directly to the settling of the country. Beer was more than a staple beverage of the colony, it also provided the government with one of the earliest sources of taxable revenue. As well, the breweries were among the first industries to create employment in many of the settlements. Besides the brewers and maltsters, each brewery employed trained coopers skilled in the craft of building the wooden storage barrels. Horse power provided the sole mode of transport and stable help was needed to care for the horses that pulled the delivery wagons.

Pre-Confederation Canada was primarily an agrarian society. Barley malt and hops were essential to the brewing process and the brewer provided the farmer with a ready market for his crops. The communities that grew up along the stagecoach routes all had inns and taverns which were the central meeting places for locals as well as travelers. In the days before refrigeration, their beer supply was readily available from a brewery conveniently located no further than a horse-drawn wagon ride away.

As the country grew, brewing production kept pace. In the ensuing years hundreds of breweries contributed to the development of the industry and their individual stories laid the foundation of the brewing business in Canada. The following chapters chronicle the industry’s progressive growth as brewing spread from Lower Canada to the Atlantic region and from Upper Canada across the Prairies to British Columbia.

CHAPTER 2

The First Masters of the Brew

The oldest existing brewery in North America today was established by John Molson in 1786 and pre-dates Anheuser-Busch, the giant American brewery, by one hundred years. Only a few decades earlier, in 1759, Arthur Guinness had opened his first brewery for business just west of Dublin, Ireland and in 1777 William Bass had recently started his famous brewery at Burton-on-Trent in England. By 1863, the third generation of Molsons was running the family business when Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought an old brewery in Amsterdam, Holland and began his journey to becoming one of the largest brewers in the world.

This is the story of the longest-lived family firm in Canadian history. The founder of the dynasty, John Molson, was the eldest son of a gentleman farmer in Lincolnshire, England. John was orphaned at the age of eight years and eventually became the sole beneficiary of his father’s small estate.

The eighteen-year-old farmboy was skilled in no particular trade when he first arrived in Montreal in 1782, but was fired with ambition and a thirst for what opportunities he might find in the New World. Molson’s introduction to the business of brewing began by sharing duties at a small brewery owned by Thomas Loyd, a fellow Lincolnshireman twenty years his senior. The combined malting and brewhouse was just thirty-six by sixty feet in size and constructed of four-inch, squared white cedar logs. Built four years earlier, the building was strategically located on a forty-foot plot of river frontage at the juncture of a broad rapids known as St. Mary’s Current and the St. Lawrence River, a short distance east of what was then the walled city of Montreal. It was the market centre of the fur trade, the colony’s principal export at the time, and marked the country’s western trade frontier. The harbour boomed with river traffic as the voyageurs brought the furs by canoe to the port where they were traded and shipped down river to Quebec on ships bound for Europe. Traveling upstream, British emigrants and United Empire Loyalists passed through seeking their fortunes in the west. With a population of around 8,000, the busy port was a logical choice for the location of a brewery. The majority of the city’s merchants were either Scottish or English and their taste favoured the ales and porters of the old country, while the French preferred wine or spirits. In addition, there was high demand in the young city for Thomas Loyd’s beer from the British garrison troops.

The economics of brewing were especially attractive in those early days. The initial capital required to get started was minimal. Land was cheap and the main ingredients required to produce beer, namely water, barley, and hops, were readily available at little or no cost. Locally brewed beer was not yet subject to tax or duties and most sales were made in cash. These were some of the factors the young man carefully considered which no doubt attracted him to the trade. The only substantial cost consideration was for brewing supplies that could only be purchased in England and transported across the Atlantic.

In January of 1785, John Molson secured the title to the property from Loyd and assumed the mortgage of £100. Molson then went back to England to liquidate his Lincolnshire assets and buy equipment for his new brewing enterprise, returning to Montreal in June of the following year. With him he brought 46 bushels of barley and seeds, a small quantity of hops, some wooden casks, brewing equipment, and a copy of the Theoretical Hints On An Improved Practice of Brewing written by John Richardson in 1777.

Test runs on the ale started in September and by Christmas he began brewing. Planning ahead for his next season, John distributed free barley seeds to local farmers. On July 28, 1786, the 22-year-old John Molson marked the official opening of his brewery in Montreal. Brewing was limited to four months of the year during the winter months. Over the warm summer, because there was no refrigeration, the ale had to be stored in underground stone vaults and kept cool with winter ice from the St. Lawrence. During his first season, Molson produced a modest 4,000 imperial gallons of beer. At five cents a bottle, his ale sold out immediately. Since imported English ale sold for more than rum, it was clear that a demand for cheaper alcoholic beverages was there to be met and a prosperous future waited in the business of brewing.

Molson Archives

Sketch of Molson’s original brewery site as it appeared in the early 1800s.

In the next two years additional property was purchased, expanding the brewery’s river frontage to 176 feet. Necessary new additions included a delivery-horse stable, a barn for the animals, and an enlarged ice house. A new stone building was erected to house more brewing equipment brought from England. By 1791, Molson was brewing about 30,000 gallons a year and had invested about £2,750 in his business. His gross revenues were around £800 a year, of which some £300 was profit.

Molson was not alone in his pursuit of making a name for himself in the brewing business. The ensuing years saw a number of like-minded, independent brewers establishing small breweries to serve the needs of local communities as the colony grew. Richard Sweet’s comprehensive Directory of Canadian Breweries lists 83 breweries that were established in Lower Canada between 1800 and 1900. A third of these were unable to stay in business for more than five years and less than twenty survived past the turn of the century. The following profiles provide insights into the competitive nature of the brewing industry in Canada and the developments of the Industrial Revolution. It was primarily these factors that led to the first mergers and acquisitions, which proved to be the only means of survival for brewers in these formative years of the industry.

Molson Archives

John Molson, aged 47 — circa 1810.

Before he entered the brewing trade, Thomas Dunn worked as a miller in Montreal. Four years after John