Canadian Brewing Companies
Is Canada about Hockey?
Nooo...
Is Canada about Curling?
Nooo...
Is Canada about string bikinis and long legs (gimme a sec....ok, I'm back) I'll have to give that one a maybe...
No.. we're all about ...
Canadian Beer
Canada has an extensive tradition of beer brewing, often intertwined with the country's history. While the Canadian beer industry is massive and plays an important role in Canadian identity, globalization of the Brewing industry has seen major players in Canada be acquired by or merged with foreign companies. The most notable of these have been thetwo biggest beer producers in Canada, Molson and Labatt, though others, such as Sleemans, have also suffered this fate.
Canadian Beer History
Beer was first introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century, as Canada had an ideal climate for making beer before refrigeration was introduced. The first commercial brewery was built by Jean Talon in Quebec City, in the year 1668. Over a century later a number of commercial brewers thrived, including some that became the staple of the Canadian industry: John Molson founded a brewery in Montreal in 1786, Alexander Keith in Halifax in 1820, Thomas Carling in London in 1840, John Labatt in 1847, also in London, and Eugene O'Keefe in Toronto in 1891.
Prohibition in Canada did not last as long as in its southerly neighbour, the United States, and was largely over by the mid 1920s (apart from the small province of Prince Edward Island, where it ran from 1901 to 1948). Nevertheless, it had a similar effect of leaving very few brewers, and it was only in the late twentieth century that there has been a revival and microbreweries have started. Brewpubs are still illegal in some provinces, however.
Bottle Labeling
Government regulations require that all beer sold in Canada show the alcohol concentration (alcohol concentration by volume) on the label. A standard bottle of beer (341 ml and five percent alcohol by volume) contains 17.05 millilitres of alcohol. However, Canada employs a minimum percentage labeling. In most other nations, the labeled alcohol percentage is either the average or maximum percentage allowed. In Canada, as of 1927, most provinces require the minimum alcohol percentage to be labeled rather than the average. This move was meant to eliminate inaccurate nonalcoholic labeling as well as fraudulent advertisement.
The rationale for standardizing alcohol content (since loosened and disproved) was that consumers would tend to select only higher alcohol beers and the breweries would have an "alcohol content" war with ever escalating alcohol content.
In the USA this was solved by keeping the alcohol content a mystery to the consumer who does not make an extra effort. When alcohol content is shown on U.S. beer, it is often labeled by weight. Since alcohol is lighter than water, this can leave the mistaken impression that U.S. beer has much less alcohol, on average, than Canadian beer. A 3.2% beer in the U.S. (by weight) would be equivalent to a 4% beer in Canada (by volume).
Known Brewers:
Agassiz
Alley Kat Brewing Company
Big Ridge
Big River (Richmond)
Big Rock Brewery
Brasal
Brasserie artisanale L'amère ? boire
Brick Breweries
Canadian
Central City
Cheval Blanc
Dieu du Ciel
Dix
Dockside
Double Deer (InBev)
Fort Garry Brewing Co. Ltd.
Gold Crown
Granville Island
Great Western Brewing Company
Löwenbräu Munich (Toronto)
Labatt Breweries of Canada
Legends Beer
Les Brasseurs du Nord
Les Brasseurs RJ
Lighthouse (Victoria)
Marine Pub
McAuslan
Mission Springs
Molson Coors Brewing Company
Moosehead
Nelson
Niagara Falls
Okanagan Spring Brewery
Perrys Bridge Brewery
R&B
Russell
Scotch Irish
Shaftebury Brewing Company
Sleeman Brewing Company
Steam Whistle Brewing
Steamworks (Vancouver)
The Black Oak Brewing Company Ltd
Tin Whistle
Unibroue
Upper Canada Brewing Company
Vancouver Island
Whistler
Yaletown
|
