When was this brewery founded?

How Tally knows

Labatt traces its founding to 1847, when John Kinder Labatt invested £2,000 in a brewery Samuel Eccles had bought from John Balkwill in February of that year. The brewery itself dates to 1827-28. Tally publishes 1847 because it is the defensible founding date of the Labatt business and the date the company uses, and says plainly what it does and does not date — an undated founding year is how a brewery ends up twenty years older or younger than its own building.

Evidence

• LABATT, JOHN KINDER — Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9 — Dictionary of Canadian Biography / University of Toronto & Université Laval Proves: John Kinder Labatt invested £2,000 in a brewery operated by Samuel Eccles — the oldest brewery in London, established by John Balkwill in 1827-28 — and acquired Eccles's interest on his retirement in 1854, renaming the firm the London Brewery.
• London Brewery — Fanshawe Pioneer Village Proves: The London Brewery was established by John Balkwill in 1828, destroyed by the great fire of 1845, rebuilt in stone, and sold by Balkwill to Samuel Eccles in February 1847.

Connections

• labatt-brewing-company → FOUNDED_IN → 1847 (1847–present) · grade B
• labatt-brewing-company → PREDECESSOR_FOUNDED_IN → 1827-1828 (1827–present) · grade B

What we still don’t know

• Balkwill's establishment of the brewery is given as 1827-28; the exact year is not resolved. The month of Labatt's 1847 investment is not established either.