The Fort Garry Brewing Company Ltd is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Canada.

History

The company was bought by the Hoeschen family in 1930, and operated by them until it was sold to

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...

in 1960, and incorporated as Molson's Fort Garry Brewery Ltd. In 1990, Molson merged with

Carling O'Keefe Carling O'Keefe was a brewing company in Canada that is now part of Molson Coors. The company's origins can be traced to Canadian Breweries, which bought the Carling Brewery in 1930 and the O'Keefe Brewery in 1934. Canadian Breweries purchased ...

and closed the Fort Garry facility. In 1994, Richard D. Hoeschen resurrected the company. At the time, Fort Garry Brewing was the only

micro-brewery Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

in Manitoba, and the beer was originally intended only to be available in kegs. Before opening the doors, Hoeschen hired Gary De Pape as

brewmaster A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

and the two developed the company's flagship beer Fort Garry Dark. Richard D. Hoeschen died on September 16, 2002. In 2003, Fort Garry Brewing amalgamated with Winnipeg's Two Rivers Brewing Company (established in the 1990s), keeping the Fort Garry name, but adding some of Two Rivers’ brands to its product line. On 15 October 2004, Fort Garry Brewing signed an agreement with its former Manitoba rival, New Manitoba Brewing, to warehouse, distribute and market the

Agassiz Brewing The Agassiz Brewing Company was a Canadian brewery, founded by former Fort Garry Brewing Company brewmaster Gary De Pape. Established in 1998 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it operated there until 2010. The company was named for the prehistoric glacial L ...

brand, Catfish Cream Ale. In 2010, Fort Garry Brewing ceased production of the product. Since 2005, Fort Garry Beer is sold in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. In 2007, Fort Garry began to brew and bottle ''Nubru Blend'', the first

gluten-free beer Gluten-free beer is beer made from ingredients that do not contain gluten, such as millet, rice, sorghum, buckwheat or corn (maize). People who have gluten intolerance (including celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis sufferers) have a react ...

in Manitoba, for FarmPure Beverages of Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. On October 22 that year, Fort Garry Brewing Company amalgamated with Russell Brewing Company as wholly-owned subsidiaries of Russell Breweries Inc., of

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

, in a deal worth $4 million in cash and stock. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, the brewery produced a custom brew for Winnipeg's

Folklorama Folklorama is an event that runs for two weeks each August in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Visitors to the festival are invited to sample cuisine and celebrate the cultural and ethnic heritage of people from dozens of cultures who have made Winn ...

festival, called "Folklorama Beer". In 2012, Fort Garry Brewing Company partnered with the

Winnipeg Goldeyes The Winnipeg Goldeyes are a professional minor-league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Goldeyes play in the American Association of Professional Baseball, which they joined in 2011. Previously, the Goldeyes were members of ...

to produce a

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewery. History ...

called "Angry Fish" to promote the team's new secondary logo. As of May 2021, the current brewmaster at Fort Garry is Josh Berscheid.

References

{{reflist Beer brewing companies based in Manitoba Manufacturing companies based in Winnipeg Cuisine of Manitoba Fort Garry, Winnipeg

History

See also

References