{"id":"TBU-ANSWER-00000009","questionId":"TQ-004","questionSlug":"when-founded","entityTuid":"TB-QYCWESEY","entitySlug":"labatt-brewing-company","entityType":"brewery","entityTallyId":"TBU-BREWERY-0000002","question":"When was this brewery founded?","canonicalAnswer":"1847","dateSemantics":"The year John Kinder Labatt invested in an existing London, Ontario brewery. It dates the Labatt business, not the brewery: the London Brewery was established by John Balkwill in 1827-28 and had been trading for two decades when Labatt bought in.","answerStatus":"PARTIALLY","verification":"VERIFIED","answerType":"FOUNDING","effectiveFrom":"1847","effectiveTo":null,"lastVerified":"2026-09-06","evidenceStrength":"B","howTallyKnows":"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.","alternativeDates":[{"year":"1827-1828","semantics":"John Balkwill establishes the London Brewery — the founding of the brewing operation itself","sourceId":"src-answers-pass02-0022"},{"year":"1847","semantics":"John Kinder Labatt invests in the existing brewery — the founding of the Labatt business, and the date the company uses","sourceId":"src-answers-pass02-0022"},{"year":"1847-02","semantics":"Balkwill sells the brewery to Samuel Eccles, months before Labatt buys in","sourceId":"src-answers-pass02-0023"},{"year":"1854","semantics":"Labatt becomes sole owner on Eccles's retirement and renames the firm the London Brewery","sourceId":"src-answers-pass02-0022"}],"publicCitations":[{"sourceId":"src-answers-pass02-0022","title":"LABATT, JOHN KINDER — Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9","publisher":"Dictionary of Canadian Biography / University of Toronto & Université Laval","url":"https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/labatt_john_kinder_9E.html","sourceType":"scholarly-reference","accessedDate":"2026-09-06","whatItProves":"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.","public":true},{"sourceId":"src-answers-pass02-0023","title":"London Brewery","publisher":"Fanshawe Pioneer Village","url":"https://www.fanshawepioneervillage.ca/londonbrewery","sourceType":"museum-reference","accessedDate":"2026-09-06","whatItProves":"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.","public":true}],"timeline":[],"researchGaps":[{"gapType":"DATE_PRECISION","description":"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.","status":"OPEN"}],"uncertaintyNote":"1847 is a real date for a real event, and that event is not the founding of a brewery. The two are separated here rather than averaged into one number.","relatedAnswerIds":["TBU-ANSWER-00000008"],"revision":2,"previousRevisionId":"TBU-ANSWER-00000009","createdAt":"2026-09-06T00:00:00Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-06T00:00:00Z","publicationStatus":"PUBLIC","claims":[{"claimId":"TBU-CLAIM-00000010","subject":{"id":"TBU-BREWERY-0000002","tuid":"TB-QYCWESEY","type":"brewery"},"predicate":"FOUNDED_IN","object":{"value":"1847","type":"year"},"validFrom":"1847","validTo":null,"verification":"VERIFIED","evidenceStrength":"B","citationIds":["src-answers-pass02-0022"],"note":"Dates the Labatt business — Labatt's entry into an existing brewery — not first brewing on the site."},{"claimId":"TBU-CLAIM-00000204","subject":{"id":"TBU-BREWERY-0000002","tuid":"TB-QYCWESEY","type":"brewery"},"predicate":"PREDECESSOR_FOUNDED_IN","object":{"value":"1827-1828","type":"year"},"validFrom":"1827","validTo":null,"verification":"VERIFIED","evidenceStrength":"B","citationIds":["src-answers-pass02-0022","src-answers-pass02-0023"],"note":"The London Brewery, established by John Balkwill; the oldest brewery in London."}],"hasInternalEvidence":false,"indexing":{"index":true,"reason":"PARTIALLY + VERIFIED with substantive content"},"canonicalRoute":"/answers/when-founded/labatt-brewing-company","apiRoute":"/api/answers/when-founded/labatt-brewing-company"}