Carling O'Keefe

Merged with Molson in 1989 IDENTITY, 2026-09-24: this record carries a COMPANY name (1973-1989) on a brewery record; set CLOSED 1989 at the Molson merger. The Toronto brewing operations behind it are separate matters: Eugene O'Keefe's Victoria Brewery (bought 1861, incorporated 1891 as the O'Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited, acquired by Canadian Breweries 1934), whose building "survived until 1996, when it was sold to Ryerson University and demolished" per Heritage Toronto — a search summary said 1966; unresolved — and the Carlingview Drive plant in Etobicoke, now Molson's. A future pass should open the O'Keefe Brewery (Toronto) as its own record and consider retyping this one as a COMPANY. RELATED 2026-09-24: the Toronto brewing operation is now its own record, okeefe-brewery-toronto (TB-Q4E5PV4Q), c.1840s-1966. Carlingview Drive opened 1955 (Molson Coors) or 1962 (trade press: 'just-built, $12,000,000'); both kept. THE 1930-1945 ACQUISITIONS now on record (2026-09-24): Brading, Kuntz, Carling, Dominion, Regal, Grant's Spring, Budweiser of Canada (Belleville), Taylor & Bate, British American, Riverside, Welland, Cosgrave, O'Keefe, Canada Bud, Walkerville, Capital, Bixel. Copland was Labatt's, not Taylor's.

A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.

1. 1930
   Founded

   Carling O'Keefe begins brewing in Toronto, Ontario.

2. 1930
   The company behind the name

   Brewing Corporation of Ontario, March 1930 (Brading + Kuntz); Brewing Corporation of Canada, October 1930; Carling of London bought 1930; O'Keefe of Toronto bought outright 1934 for $2.07 million; Canadian Breweries Limited from 1937 (Canadian Breweries article).

3. 1973
   Renamed Carling O'Keefe

   Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada took control of Canadian Breweries in 1969 — an outright sale in one account, a stake raised to 50% in another — and the company "renamed itself Carling O'Keefe in 1973".

4. 1989
   Merger

   Merged with Molson in 1989.

5. 1989
   Merged with Molson

   "Carling O'Keefe was bought by Elders IXL of Australia in 1987" and "merged with Molson Brewery to form Molson Breweries Canada in 1989" (Wikipedia; Canadian Encyclopedia). The name ended there; the Carling brands are Molson Coors'. Effective date of the merger: UNKNOWN.

6. 1930
   "Trading pieces of paper for other pieces of paper"

   E. P. Taylor's own description of how he controlled new large companies by merging older, smaller ones, as quoted by Pierre Berton (Maclean's, 1 March 1950), who wrote that this is essentially what he did in 1930, at 29, when he began the merger of 20 Ontario breweries, paying in stock of the new Brewing Corporation of Ontario.

7. 1930
   The early 1930s: "a period of hectic finance"

   Shares in the company sold as low as 25 cents and at times there was no cash on hand; one legend had Taylor juggling cheques between bank accounts in Ottawa and Toronto to meet wages. Taylor, in 1950: "Let's just call it a period of hectic finance." (Pierre Berton, Maclean's, 1 March 1950)

8. 1950
   Six brands, where there had been more than 100

   Pierre Berton (Maclean's, 1 March 1950): Taylor had reduced the number of brands "until now there are six where once there were more than 100", and "old beer drinkers still curse him for killing off unprofitable brews such as Brown October Ale and Dominion No. 1". He "merged some breweries within the larger merger, closing down others."