The Big Book of Canadian Trivia

When Alexander Keith arrived in Halifax in 1817, he had all the tools necessary to run his own brewery. When it came to brewing, some said he was a perfectionist.

As a teenager in Halkirk, Caithness, in northern Scotland, his father, a highly respected farmer, financed his business education to prepare him for the world of commerce. At age 17, he was sent to Sunderland in northern England to learn the basics of brewing and malting from an uncle. He later gained practical experience in London and Edinburgh.

By the time he landed in North America, Keith’s recipe for beer-making had the ring of a modern-day television advertisement: Brew beer slowly and carefully and take the time to get it right, using only the finest pure barley malt and hops. At age 22, he was practising what he preached as a brewmaster and business manager at a small Halifax brewery owned by Charles Boggs.

Three years later, he purchased the business and began brewing under the name Nova Scotia Brewery.

Legendary for his hospitality and known as a devoted husband and father to his eight children, Keith was confronted by his first major business challenge when the economy weakened after the War of 1812. Although land and buildings were devalued and business stagnated, he decided to take a gamble by expanding his brewery. His hunch paid off: the economy improved and headed into a 10-year boom.

Keith made a name for himself as a brewer of strong ales and porter, as well as conventional ginger and spruce beers, which were milder brews with a distinctive taste that was popular in North America at the time. Prosperous times enabled him to move to larger quarters on Lower Water Street in Halifax.

When the boom ended and a cholera epidemic struck, the city was again in a slump. Keith again threw caution to the wind and enlarged his brewery; his instinct proved correct. In 1833, abolition of the slave trade in the sugar islands of the West Indies sent rum prices skyrocketing, making ale the most affordable and popular drink in Halifax.

In 1853, Keith’s only son Donald became a full partner in the firm and the brewery name was changed to Alex Keith & Son.

Although brewing his famous India Pale Ale was his first love, Keith always found time to play a leading role in Halifax’s social and business communities. He held directorships with the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Halifax Fire Insurance Company, the Halifax Gas, Light and Water Company, the Provincial Permanent Building, and the Investment Society. He helped found the Halifax Marine Insurance Association.

He served as commissioner of the Court of Common Pleas for Halifax before its incorporation and was a member of the city’s first council from 1843 to 1854. He served as mayor of Halifax three times. In the 1840 general election, he lost his bid to win a seat for the Conservative Party in Halifax. At the time of Confederation he was offered a Senate seat but declined. He was a leader of the Freemasons, and in 1869 became grandmaster of the Nova Scotia Freemasons. Keith was a respected philanthropist who was involved in several charitable and cultural societies. He died in Halifax in 1873, leaving an estate worth $271,000.

Following his death, Keith’s son continued to run the brewery, which maintained its family ties until 1928, when his granddaughter sold it to the Oland & Sons brewery. Keith’s and its India Pale Ale became part of the Labatt family in 1971, when the London, Ontario-based brewery acquired Oland. Keith’s continues to be Atlantic Canada’s best-selling brand and the company has launched a new product, Keith’s Red, which is made exclusively at the Oland Brewery in Halifax.

John Molson was an 18-year-old farm boy with few skills when he arrived in Montreal in 1782. Thirty years later, he was an established entrepreneur who helped Montreal develop into a major Canadian city.

Though known to most Canadians as the name behind beers such as Molson Canadian and Molson Export, the founder of North America’s oldest operating brewery was also involved in lumber, distilling, steamboats, a railway, a foundry, banking, politics, public libraries, hotels, and the founding of Montreal General Hospital.

Molson’s pioneering efforts laid the foundation for one of Canada’s most enduring and well-known business dynasties, a multi-million-dollar conglomerate with interests that later would include hockey, auto racing, music, building supplies, chemicals, and office products.

The eldest son of an English gentleman farmer, Molson was born on December 28, 1763 in Lincolnshire, England, where it appeared he was destined for a life in the country. That changed in 1772 when he was orphaned and became the head of his family at the tender age of eight. Eventually, he became the sole beneficiary of his father’s small estate.

When Molson stepped onto the shores of the New World, his ambition and thirst for opportunity more than made up for his lack of skills. His introduction to brewing began by sharing duties at a small brewery owned by Thomas Lloyd (also spelled Loid), a fellow Englishman who was 20 years his senior. The combined malting and brewhouse was strategically located on a 40-foot plot of river frontage where a broad rapids known as St. Mary’s Current met the St. Lawrence River, just east of what was then the walled city of Montreal. With a population of about 8,000, Montreal was the market centre of the fur trade, the colony’s principal export.

At the time, the economics of brewing were especially attractive. Land was cheap and the water, barley, and hops needed to produce beer were readily available at little or no cost. Locally brewed beer was not subject to tax or duties and most sales were made for cash. These factors, plus the lack of competition, attracted Molson to the brewing trade.

In January of 1785, Molson secured title to the property from Lloyd. He then returned to England to liquidate his assets and buy equipment for his new brewing enterprise, returning to Montreal in June of the following year. He brought with him 46 bushels of barley and seeds, a small quantity of hops, wooden casks, brewing equipment, and a copy of 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, Molson began brewing. On July 28, 1786, the 22-year-old officially opened his brewery in Montreal. Brewing was limited to four months of the year during winter. Over the summer, because there was no refrigeration, the ale was stored in stone underground vaults kept cool with ice taken from the river in winter. In his first season, Molson produced a modest 4,000 Imperial gallons of beer.

At five cents a bottle his ale sold quickly and thirsty Montrealers clamoured for more. Additional property was purchased, buildings were added or enlarged, and 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.

In 1801, after several years in a common-law relationship, he married Sarah Vaughan, with whom he had already had three sons, John Jr., Thomas, and William.

In the years leading up to his marriage, Molson had begun a pattern of diversification which later generations of Molsons continued long after he was gone. He started a lumberyard on his brewery property; launched the Accommodation, Canada’s first steamboat; formed the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company, also known as the Molson Line; and owned a large hotel. He was involved in a profitable family banking business, which in the 1850s became Molsons Bank, and from 1826 to 1830, he was president of the Bank of Montreal.

Molson entered politics in 1816 as the representative of Montreal East in the legislature of Lower Canada and that year opened the Mansion House, a large hotel in Montreal that housed the public library, a post office, and Montreal’s first theatre. He later invested in the construction of Canada’s first railway, the Champlain and St. Lawrence, which ran 16 miles between Montreal and Lake Champlain so that traffic could move freely to and from the Atlantic Coast via the Hudson River.

Gradually, Molson’s sons became active in the family’s growing enterprises and the business prospered. Soon the Molsons were among Montreal’s well-to-do families and were known to have explored almost every business opportunity 19th-century Canada had to offer. They were among the largest distillers in British North America, and their interest in steamboats involved heavy manufacturing and a small foundry next to the brewery. It was this diversification, however, that created disagreements that often pitted one brother against the other and father against son.

In 1828, John Sr. retired from his active role in the brewery and a partnership was drawn up between sons John and William, who alternated as brewmasters. Money was invested in new equipment, and a short time later, the senior Molson asked Thomas to return to the business. The brothers were united once again.

They Said it!

“Character is the real test of manhood. Live within your income no matter how small it may be. Permanent wealth is maintained and preserved by vigilance and prudence and not by speculation.”

— John H.R. Molson, grandson of the founder of Molson’s brewery, dictating a message for his descendants.

John Molson died in January 1836, on the 50th anniversary of the brewery’s founding. An obituary in Quebec City newspaper Le Canadien remembered Molson as “at all times a zealous supporter of every important commercial and industrial enterprise. Few men have rendered better service to their country in connection with its material development.”

Following Molson’s death, Thomas and William purchased their brother John’s interest in the brewery and an agreement was signed to conduct business as brewers and distillers under the company name of Thomas and William Molson and Company. Over the years, other members of the family ran the operation.

The company became Molson’s Brewery Ltd in 1911. By the middle of the century, Molson was producing an average of 1.5 million bottles of beer a day. In 1957, the Montreal Canadiens hockey team was purchased, and between 1968 and 1972 Molson went on a major diversification binge, purchasing Anthes Imperial Ltd., a company that specialized in office furniture and supplies, construction materials and public warehousing; Canada’s Beaver Lumber chain; and American companies that manufactured chemical cleansers and other chemical specialty products.

In 1993, the brewing company was partially owned by Australian and American companies, but in 1998, Molson bought out its foreign partners and the brewery was once again 100-percent Canadian.

In 2001, Molson’s sold 80 percent of the beloved Canadiens to a Colorado businessman. Molson Inc. sponsored the Molson Indy car race in Toronto from 1986 to 2005 and the Molson Indy car race in Vancouver until 2004. The family name is found on the Molson Amphitheatre at Ontario Place in Toronto.

Molson operates six breweries across the country, including the Creemore brewery in Ontario, and is involved in various charitable initiatives and sports and entertainment sponsorships. In 2005, the company merged with the Coors Brewing Company to form the Molson Coors Brewing Company. Its major markets are Canada, the U.K. and the United States.

Biz BITE!

In his will, John Molson stipulated that an oil painting of himself must hang in the boardroom at the Montreal brewery for as long as the Molson family retained control. His will also states that should the brewery pass into the hands of strangers, the portrait must be removed.

In a country famous for such brewmasters as Molson, Labatt, and Carling, Eugene O’Keefe is a different case. Though he ran one of the most successful breweries of the late 19th and the 20th century, O’Keefe knew almost nothing about the business when he started.

With banking and accounting as his career specialty, O’Keefe decided to get into brewing because he thought it was an industry with unlimited growth potential. It was a wise move.

The O’Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited made him a wealthy man; in fact, he was one of the wealthiest in that city. Born in Ireland in 1827, O’Keefe came to Canada with his family while still a child. He received a private school education, was an accomplished sportsman, and from an early age had strong ties to the Catholic Church — not an enviable position in what was then a predominantly Protestant Toronto.

His shrewdness in business helped make him a successful brewery owner. O’Keefe was innovative and aggressive in introducing new ideas to the business, becoming the first in Canada to install a mechanically refrigerated storehouse and using motorized vehicles to transport his product.

When his son died young in 1911, O’Keefe sold his shares in the business and became as well known as a philanthropist to many charities and the Catholic Church as he was for his beer. He died October 1, 1913, but the brewery that bore his name remained a popular one for most of the rest of the 20th century. O’Keefe ale is still sold today by Molson’s.

Making spirits was a family affair for the Worts and Gooderham clans. In the early 1830s, brothers-in-law James Worts and William Gooderham founded a milling business in Toronto which eventually became the Gooderham and Worts Distillery. In later years, the founders’ sons would play key roles in the company.

Worts, a mill owner in Suffolk, England, immigrated to Toronto with his son in 1831 and built a 70-foot-tall wind-driven flour mill at the mouth of the Don River in what was then York. A year later he was joined by Gooderham, son of a Norfolk, England farmer, and they formed the partnership of Worts and Gooderham.

In 1834, two weeks after his wife Elizabeth died in childbirth, Worts drowned himself in the mill’s well.

Biz BITE!

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO ) is the largest single retailer of beverage alcohol in the world, offering more than 12,000 products for sale through its stores, catalogue, and private ordering service from more than 60 countries. According to its latest annual report, the LCBO has more than 700 stores and some three billion dollars in annual net sales.

With his partner gone, Gooderham forged on, adding a distillery to the business in 1837 to process surplus grain. In 1845, he made Worts’s eldest son, James, a partner in the enterprise, which they renamed Gooderham and Worts. In 1861 the pair built the largest distillery in Canada West, also at the mouth of the Don River.

Biz BITE!

“Honest Henry Corby,” of Corby’s Distilleries Ltd., was mayor of Belleville in 1867 and sat in the Ontario legislature, representing the people of East Hastings from 1867 to 1875. Corby died in 1881 but his name lived on; the town where his distillery was located was named Corbyville.

Most of James Worts’s time was spent managing the distillery, which experienced rapid growth. Eventually, Worts and Goo-derham diversified their interests. Worts invested heavily in the Bank of Toronto, which Gooderham had helped found, and over the years both served as its president. Their other interests included railway building, livestock yards, retailing, and woolen mills.

Distilling, however, continued as their mainstay. In the 1870s, the company’s 150 workers were producing one of every three gallons of proof spirits manufactured in Canada. Gooderham was one of Toronto’s most prominent businessmen when he died in August 1881, leaving the distillery he and James Worts had started to their sons, James Worts and George Gooderham.

The two men, and in later years other members of their families, ran the distillery until it was sold in 1923 to wealthy Torontonian Harry Hatch. In 1926, Gooderham & Worts purchased distiller Hiram Walker & Sons of Walkerville, Ontario.

Gooderham & Worts whisky is marketed today by Corby’s Distilleries Ltd. Its historic Toronto distillery, which was closed in 1990, has been redeveloped. For years the site was a hot spot for movie producers, who used the 5.2-hectare property and its buildings to shoot more than 700 movies. The site was then purchased in 2001 by Cityscape Holdings Inc. and in May 2003, The Distillery was officially opened as a pedestrian-only village entirely dedicated to arts, culture, and entertainment. The cobblestone streets are lined with restaurants, art galleries, artist studios, cafes, and theatres and the area has become a cultural Mecca for the city of Toronto.

Biz BITE!

Officially opened in December 2002, the Mill Street Brewery is housed in an original tankhouse within the historic Gooderham &Worts Distillery complex, now known as the Historic Distillery District. Mill Street was named Canadian Brewery of the Year in both 2007 and 2008.

Even if he’d only stuck to politics and horse breeding, Joseph Seagram would probably be well remembered today. It was his wizardry with whisky distilling, however, that made the Seagram name world famous.

Joseph Emm Seagram was born April 15, 1841 near New Hope, Upper Canada, the son of an English immigrant who owned two farms and a tavern in the area around what is now the southwestern Ontario city of Cambridge. Seagram’s father died when he was seven and his mother died just four years later, which put Joseph and his brother Edward in the care of an Anglican clergyman nearby.

Seagram studied at a business college in Buffalo for a year before taking a job as a junior bookkeeper at an axe-handle factory in what was then Galt, Ontario. He had a fist fight with another bookkeeper, however, and left for other jobs. When he hooked up with Wilhelm Hespeler a few years later in a milling operation, Seagram got his first taste of the distilling business. It was also where he met his future wife, Hespeler’s niece, Stephanie Urbs.

In 1868, seeing the potential for the distilling business, he bought out Hespeler’s share in the business and then acquired another partner’s share a few years later. He changed the name of the business to Seagram and Roos (named for William Roos, another partner), and then two years later owned the company outright. He renamed it the Joseph Seagram Flour Mill and Distillery Company.

By the 1880s, Seagram had developed his best-selling brand, Seagram’s 83, and also sold Seagram Old Rye and Seagram’s White Feather. His distillery prospered, and he began selling to customers in the United States and Britain. His success south of the border soon surpassed the business in Canada.

By 1911, the company, now known as Joseph E. Seagram and Sons Limited, was established firmly as a family-run business. In fact he had a special whisky blend created, known as Seagram’s V.O., which stood for “very own,” to celebrate his son Thomas’s wedding.

Thanks to his business success, Seagram was able to pursue his hobby of horse racing and breeding throughout the late 19th century and into the 20th until his death. He imported horses from the U.S. and Britain to improve the quality of animals in Canada and had several winners. By 1900, he was dubbed “perhaps the greatest Canadian horse-breeder.”

He also entered politics beginning in 1881. Starting as a member of the Waterloo Town Council, Seagram eventually became a federal MP and an MPP for Ontario. It was said that his campaign contributions against a young William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1911 were a major reason for King’s defeat that year.

Seagram also had his philanthropic side, supporting the Berlin and Waterloo Hospital and the local branch of the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. He remained active in his business and hobbies until his death on August 19, 1919. In 1928, the Seagram Company was bought by the Bronfman family of Montreal, who led it to even greater prosperity. Among the products they introduced was Crown Royal, which was commissioned in 1939 in honour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Canada that year.

In December 2000, it was announced that Seagram’s Spirits & Wine was sold to a consortium of Diageo plc, based in London, England, and Pernod Ricard of Paris, France, for $8 billion. At the time of the announcement Seagram’s was generating revenues of $5.1 billion annually and its products were sold in 190 countries and territories around the world.

Biz BITE!

Joseph Seagram’s success as a horse breeder was never more evident than at the Queen’s Plate. He first tasted victory there in 1891, and his horses would win the renowned race 10 times before his death.

A: Jamaican rum has long been a mainstay in Newfoundland, having been acquired originally in exchange for salt fish. According to the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation, the government took over control of the liquor business in the early 20th century and began selling rum in unlabelled bottles.

During the Second World War, an American serviceman was having his first taste of the rum and downed a drink in one gulp. Apparently, he let out such a loud howl that many locals came running to see what was the matter. An American sergeant arrived on the scene and demanded to know what “that ungodly screech” was. The serviceman’s Newfoundlander host replied “The screech? ‘Tis the rum, me son.”

The legend surrounding the drink’s origin was born. The liquor board pounced on the new name and began labelling the rum “Screech.”

Canadians love their beer, eh? Here’s a case of 20 we hope you’ll find refreshing. Cheers!

1. True or false? John Carling, who ran the Carling Brewery &Malting Company of London Ltd. in the late 19th century, never drank beer because it disagreed with his system.

2. In the 1990s, Interbrew S.A. became owner of the Toronto Blue Jays. In what country is this brewery based?

3. Name the Waterloo, Ontario-based brewery that brought stubby beer bottles back to the market in spring 2002.

4. According to the Brewers Association of Canada, one of the main reasons American beer tastes different from the Canadian variety is that ours contains more malt barley. What do American brewers use more of?

5. John Labatt Ltd. says its founder, John Kinder Labatt, is responsible for introducing the idea of a certain national holiday. Which one?

6. Before Eugene O’Keefe started the brewery that bears his name, he had a background in a different business. What was it?

8. When George Sleeman ran the Sleeman Brewery in the late 19th century, it was said that the driveway leading up to his manor was inlaid with what?

11.In the early 1980s, Canada’s brewers abandoned stubby bottles in favour of “long neck” bottles because stubbies:

13. In 1968, a regulation was passed in Manitoba that allowed patrons of beverage rooms to:

14. When John Molson began brewing beer in Montreal in 1786, what did a bottle of his ale cost?

15. Besides brewing, which of the following businesses has the Molson family been involved in over the years?

a) 50	i) Hey Mabel, ______.
b) Canadian	ii) ____ says it all.
c) Budweiser	iii) Me and the boys and our ___.
d) Black Label	iv) I am ______!
e) Ex	v) ______, the King of Beers

a) Creemore Springs Brewery Ltd.	i) Alberta
b) Moosehead Brewing Company	ii) Saskatchewan
c) Great Western Brewing Company Ltd.	iii) Ontario
d) Big Rock Brewery Ltd.	iv) New Brunswick