Canadian beer
Canada has a beer brewing tradition that dates back to at least 1668 . With the British era, beer consumption increased, and most cities had breweries until Prohibition . Only then was the market able to recover. Apart from Moosehead, most of the larger companies were no longer in Canadian hands between the 1970s and 2006 . However, beer consumption has been declining since the mid-1970s, and wine is increasingly preferred. Some small breweries follow the regional traditions.
A constant 10% of beer sales are barrel goods . While canned and bottled beer were sold in equal quantities just a few years ago, the ratio is now (2016) 56% canned beer and 34% bottled beer .
history
Beer was introduced by European settlers in the 17th century. The first brewery was built in Québec in 1668 by Jean Talon . It was not until the British took over the colony in 1760 that beer consumption began to expand, then beer production. John Molson founded a brewery in Montreal in 1786 , Alexander Keith in Halifax in 1829 and Eugene O'Keefe in Toronto in 1891 . On July 6, 1842 the first state patent was granted to G. Riley for ale , beer and porter .
Although prohibition led to a sharp decline in beer production, it never completely disappeared. In addition, Canada saw its ineffectiveness earlier than the US and put an end to the bans. Prohibition only lasted from 1901 to 1948 on Prince Edward Island . Since it was officially no longer allowed to brew, there was a resurgence of numerous small breweries only after the end of the bans.
During the 1970s there was a strong process of concentration, at the end of which three companies dominated the market. These were Molson , Labatt, and Carling-O'Keefe. Labatt was bought in 1995 by the Belgian group Interbrew , which itself now belongs to the Brazilian-Belgian company Anheuser-Busch InBev , the largest brewery in the world. In 2005, Molson merged with the US Coors Brewing Company . This resulted in the Molson Coors Brewing Company , now the fifth largest brewery group in the world. Sleeman Breweries was again bought by the Japanese Sapporo Beer in 2006 . At the end of 2006, around 90% of Canadian beer was produced by foreign companies or licensed to Canadian companies. The market leaders are the Molson and Labatt breweries. Their two main brands are the Molson Canadian and the Labatt Blue, as well as some niche products.
Only Moosehead , based in Saint John (Province of New Brunswick ), is still a large brewery in Canadian ownership. The company has existed since 1867 and has been owned by the Oland family since it was founded, and is now in the sixth generation.
In many places there are so-called microbreweries that cater to regional specialties or a local audience. Québec beers, for example, tend to refer to northern French and Belgian brewing traditions, while British beers dominate in Atlantic Canada. In Ontario you can find beers based on the German tradition, but also based on those from the Midwest of the USA. British Columbia, on the other hand, is less influenced by Great Britain than by California, from where principles of environmental sustainability and purity were imported as well as the addition of fruit juices.
Until 1961 the default size of beer bottles was either quart , ie 625 ml, or pint (341 ml), which are found again in some places today, such as in the Gastown of Vancouver . The larger bottle was only found occasionally afterwards, the smaller one was often referred to as a "stubby". This slightly wider and short bottle dominated the market for twenty years, until narrow, long bottles based on the American model became established between 1982 and 1986. Labatts Crystal was the last brand to abandon the stubby form.
From 1976 to 2009, beer consumption fell in favor of wine per capita from 115.2 liters to 83.5 liters. A total of 2.3 billion liters were sold in Canada in 2009. In 1999, only 6% of the total came from abroad, in 2016 it was 15%.